12 MEMOIRS OF THE NUTTALL ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB 



or capped therewith, stand the lomas. Sterile, rounded hills these, they 

 represent inequalities of the ancient metamorphic substratum from which 

 the limestone has been worn away. 



The traveller will soon notice that ridges and ranges of limestone are 

 in general stretched along the north and south coasts with the exception 

 of relatively undissected remnant-massifs, which are scattered. Thus, as 

 if the Island had been folded longitudinally, the uptilted limestone has 

 been most worn away along the central axial region, leaving the tilted and 

 cut-up remnants near the coasts, and allowing the igneous and metamorphic 

 base to appear as areas of semi-arid savannas which are scattered nearly 

 the whole length of the Island except in the Province of Oriente. In this 

 region the two main local mountain systems are very high and extensive, 

 and their detritus has rendered fertile the rich Cauto Valley and the 

 Guantanamo Basin, leaving but small areas of savanna land, called here 

 saos, about Jobabo and Bayamo, and near Santiago itself. 



The drainage system of Cuba is extensive, as is characteristic of a 

 land where rain falls torrcntially at certain seasons, and which was probably 

 even more humid in the past. The streams usually flow from the central 

 back-bone toward the north and south coasts. Here and there, owing 

 to the permeability of the limestone or caliza, the drainage may be under- 

 ground. Disappearing streams and sink holes are commonly to be observed. 

 Indeed I recall that in the Valley of Luis Lazo the river flows directly 

 under one of the high limestone ranges. This river has a name which is 

 probably of Indian origin, the Cuyaguateje. The natives, however, declare 

 the origin to have been el rio cuyas aguas teje — the river whose waters weave. 

 In such a country, as may readily be believed, lakes and ponds are few. 



Americans do not usually realize that Cuba is really a large country. 

 The Island lies wholly within the tropics, and is no less than 730 miles long 

 and from 20 to 90 miles wide. The area of the Republic, including the 

 dependencies, such as the Isle of Pines and Cayo Romano, is probably 

 about 44,000 square miles, thus about equaling the State of Pennsylvania 

 in size. It has in addition a complicated coast-line reliably estimated at 

 about 6,800 miles. If a map of Cuba were to be superposed on one of the 

 United States of the same scale, and Cape San Antonio, the western 

 extremity, put down at St. Louis, then the easternmost, Cape Alaisi, would 

 just reach Jacksonville, Florida. 



The following outline, based upon Hayes, Vaughan and Spencer, 

 but somewhat amended, serves to summarize the geologic history of 

 Cuba, and may well close these notes. 



