122 bulletin: museum of compakative zoology, 



shores of the bay are low, consisting mainly of decomposed limestone anr 

 of red earth, making an exceedingly fertile soil. Harbors like Nipe, 

 Banes, Padre, and the like, which are so common on the north coast of 

 Cuba, were of little use before the days of steamers. Their entrances, 

 facing the full force of the prevailing trades, make it nearly impossible 

 for a sailing craft to weather the shores and get an offing. It was simple 

 enough to sail in, to tack out against the trades was quite auotl ei 

 matter. 



After passing Point Lucrecia four terraces can be distinguished be- 

 tween it and Point Sama, but owing to the extensive denudation and 

 erosion of the district only isolated parts of the several terraces are 

 left, and it is often difficult to determine to which terrace they belong. 

 Port Sama is an indentation formed by a break in the shore hills. To 

 the westward of the port a long ridge extends, at the extremity of 

 which the four terraces composing it stand out very clearly ; and here 

 we have an excellent guide for the determination of the terrace to which 

 the isolated saddles of the country both east and west belong. We then 

 come upon a stretch of shore eastward of Naranjo crowded with isolated 



LIMESTONE HILLS BACK OF NAEANJO. 



saddles and peaks, giving a peculiar aspect to that part of the coast. 

 All the way to Gibara the shore hills are eroded into the most fantas- 

 tic shapes, leaving no trace of any of the higher terraces. Thus the 

 limestone hills appear from the sea to be one continuous mass from the 

 base to the summit. A careful examination of the slopes and valleys 

 would however probably reveal in favorable localities the lines of the old 

 terraces. To the westward of Gibara the high limestone hills, so char- 

 acteristic of the shore line all the way from Baracoa to Gibara, recede 

 from the coast, and we now only find low shore hills, the highest point 

 of which can scarcely be as high as the fourth ten-ace. 



The coast as seen from the sea is now low as far as Sagua la Grande, 

 where the Sierra Morenas approaches the coast again. The spurs of 

 the main range which receded from the coast westward of Gibara are 

 again within sight from the sea, and continue to form the principal part 

 of the background of the shore line past Cardenas and Matanzas, and 

 well towards Havana. 



