THE ISLAND OF CUBA 43 



of Paleozoic origin, flanked by highly disturbed Cretaceous 

 and Tertiary beds. Interspersed between these mounta ins 

 are numerous fertile valleys, giving to this part of Cuba 

 its beautiful and diversified landscape. 



The three dominant groups of mountains above described 

 may be either topographic irregularities surviving from 

 earlier epochs or eminences pushed up with the great 

 sheets of white Tertiary limestone. This white limestone 

 is one of the most marked features of the Cuban structure, 

 and in all the intermediate and coastal areas the dominant 

 formation of the island. It makes a thick crust, gently 

 warped and undulated in many directions, and has great 

 variation in altitude. Its maximum elevation (2500 feet) 

 is in the extreme east ; it gradually decreases to the center 

 of the island, and rises again to the west. In the eastern 

 and northern parts of the province of Santiago de Cuba 

 it constitutes an elevated plateau, attaining a height of 

 nearly 1800 feet, and embeds the base of the Sierra Maestra. 

 Here it is so dissected by drainage that it gives a most 

 rugged and picturesque relief to the district which it occu- 

 pies, and presents on the seaward side a remarkable series 

 of terraced cliffs, previously mentioned as rising in stair- 

 like arrangement above the sea, representing successive 

 elevations of the island in Pliocene, Pleistocene, and recent 

 time. This topography culminates in extensive flat-topped 

 summits like the Mesa Toar and the Junki (anvil) of Bara- 

 coa (1827 feet), which are so symmetrical in outline that 

 they have been frequently mistaken for volcanic craters. 

 The older and upper terraces are cut into numerous 

 sharp, knife-edged salients, known as cuchillas, the Span- 

 ish word for knives. The lower terraces are cut straight 

 across by wonderful vertical canons, through which 

 beautiful and limpid streams find outlet to the sea. In 

 our wide travels in tropical regions we have never seen 

 landscapes so unique as in this wild region of eastern 

 Cuba, nor so beautiful, withal, in their rugged scarps 

 and exquisite foliage. These terraces extend completely 



