270 BULLETIN OF THE 



old Pre-Tertiary nucleus. From this summit oue can look down upon 

 the Cuchillas, the Yumuri terraces, the elevated reefs, and the wide 

 expanse of the ocean ; and inland toward a country sliowiug its own 

 level, overreached by still higher mountains of the Sierra Maestra to the 

 south. On every side the drainage has cut deep below this peculiar 

 mountain, carving the low-lying country into an intaglio of serrated 

 hills. 



No one can view this summit without being impressed with the won- 

 derful story it tells of the great erosion that has taken place around it, 

 as well as the fact that the difference in elevation between its plateau 

 and that of the lower-lying Cuchilla level represents a vast hiatus in the 

 history of the island's elevation, — a long period during which land 

 stripping and degradation ensued, reducing the surrounding areas to 

 the old Cuchilla erosion level. The relation of this peculiar remnant 

 to similar phenomena in other parts of the island will be discussed later. 

 The accompanying illustration (Plate I. Fig. 5) of the harbor of Baracoa 

 gives a clear presentation of the various levels seen in the east end 

 of the island. Let us now examine the kindred phenomena in other 

 localities. 



The Havana Levels. — The western half of the island also presents an 

 interesting series of topographic surfaces that, for convenience, we will 

 denominate the Havana levels, which, although varying in expression, 

 have genetic relations to the cliff phenomena of the eastern end of the 

 island. In the Havana region the wider area of the terraces makes 

 the cliffs less conspicuous than in the east. The highest of the dis- 

 tinctly preserved levels coming under my observation is the one that 

 encloses the harbor of Havana as seen on the summit of the Moro penin- 

 sula to the east (Plate I. Fig. 2), and its continuation west of the city, 

 known as the Castillo Principe Plateau. These have an average altitude 

 of fifty meters (or one hundred and sixty-five feet) as determined by ^Mr. 

 Gould, who has made a contour survey of the region. From the still 

 higher eminences back of Havana, or from nearly any point of view, the 

 contour of this plateau can be easily recognized, and it clearly represents 

 an old level of erosion, — either a very wide beach level, or a base level 

 of erosion. The Castillo Principe peninsula, which represents a portion 

 of the Moro Plateau, is a narrow flat divide of the land extending north 

 and south, lying between Rio Armendaris and Havana Bay. Its struc- 

 ture consists of the gently disturbed older limestone series surrounded 

 by lower beds of cantera and soboruco, constituting the lower levels 

 upon which the main portion of the city of Havana and the suburb of 



