16 BULLETIN 14 7, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



water gaps. The gap between the islands of Sombrero and Anegada 

 is about 50 miles. 



The approach to the island of Haiti from Porto Kico must origi- 

 nally have been along the northern shore of the island rather than 

 the southern, as the Carib raiders were still following the northern 

 route when their activities were brought to an end by the advent 

 of the Spanish. Mona Passage, separating Porto Rico from Santo 

 Domingo, was much used by the Arawak in the late fifteenth and 

 early sixteenth centuries. The passage is 64 miles wide, but was 

 traversed daily by the aborigines at the time of the discovery. Mona 

 Islanders were noted for their excellent cassava bread, while the 

 natives of Gonave Island, on the opposite or western end of Haiti, 

 achieved fame as workers in wood. Mona Island, in mid-channel, 

 afforded a convenient shelter, and, later, a haven of refuge from the 

 Spanish encomienderos. 



Topography of Samand. — The West Indian Archipelago in recent 

 times has undergone subsidence, although recent uplifted strata ex- 

 tending over limited areas, as in Samana, are marked by continuous 

 ocean cutting. The land mass extending from Cuba to the Virgin 

 Islands is now submerged in part, but is still represented by the 

 islands of Cuba, Haiti, and Porto Rico. A central axial mountain 

 range traverses these islands and reaches its highest elevation on 

 the island of Haiti. In Santo Domingo the highest section of the 

 axial Cordillera is known as the Cordillera Central. Another range 

 paralleling the central cordillera on the north is known as the Cor- 

 dillera Set«ntrional. Samana Peninsula, in northeastern Santo 

 Domingo, forms an outlying spur of this range. 



No traces of recent volcanic activity appear on the peninsula ; the 

 oldest rocks are metamorphic and igneous and form a group of 

 schists, shales, serpentines, limestones, and conglomerates. On the 

 south shore of Samana Bay the mountain ridges east of Sabana de 

 la Mar are composed of sedimentary schists, while west of that point 

 limestones prevail. 



The peninsula called Samana is a continuation of the northern 

 cordillera, while the southwestern peninsula of Haiti connects with 

 the central cordillera. Samana Peninsula is a mass of irregular 

 mountain ridges and spurs with a small fringe of lowlands along 

 the coast. Although it extends approximately 50 kilometers east- 

 ward from the mountainous area of Cordillera Setentrional, the 

 peninsula's average width scarcely exceeds 15 kilometers. Samana 

 is the native Arawak term for the territory roughly corresponding 

 to the present boundaries of the Dominican Province of Samana. 

 It was formerly also written Xamana. Similarly, the term Haiti, 

 or Aiti, is the Arawak term for the entire island. The Spanish 



