1901.] NATURAL SCIENCES OF rillLADELPHIA. 55/) 



risiug precipitously from the sea, extendiDg in all directions and 

 apparently jumbled up in hopeless confusion. The mountains 

 consist of lofty forest-covered peaks, resembling the Alleghenies, 

 the Alps or the Pyrenees, but with this difference, that they are 

 always without snow. There are four ranges of mountains which 

 run in a general east-and-west d'rection, as follows: The northern 

 fragment is the Monte Cristi Range; the main orographic section, 

 the Sierra Cibao, consists of lofty mountains, with the third range 

 as an outlier toward the southwest, and the fourth mass is formed 

 by the tall mountains of the southwestern peninsula. Between 

 these ranges lie extensive fertile valleys, threaded by streams of 

 limpid water. Many of these streams debouch on the plains which 

 fringe the sea-coast, and irrigate those coastal areas which are 

 more or less arid in condition, beiug shut off from the prevailing 

 winds and rains by lofty mountain summits. There are many 

 central valley plains in the island. The largest of these, lying 

 between the Monte Cristi Range and the Coi'dillera Cibao, extends 

 from the sea at the Haitian border to Samana Bay, its eastern 

 prolongation. The western portion, watered by the Yaqui, is an 

 arid region covered by chaparral, where arborescent opuntias and 

 cereuses abound. The windward area, or eastern division, watered 

 by the Yuna, is covered by beautiful deciduous plants. South of 

 the Cibao Range is the extensive plain of Seylo, covered in part by 

 open prairie and forest. The terraced Caribbean coast supports a 

 belt of forest averaging twelve miles in width. The tension line 

 between coastal forest and inland prairie is parklike in aspect, 

 carpeted by green grass and dotted by clumps of trees. At Azua,^ 

 the whole neighborhood is barren, dry and thorny. The only 

 lakes are salt, occupying the east-and-west depression which sep- 

 arates the southern peninsula of Haiti from the main portion of 

 the island. This basin, formerly an oceanic inlet, is said to be 

 inhabited still by sharks, porpoises and even crocodiles. 



The coutiguration of the Haitian division of the island appears 

 an agglomeration of mountains, hills and valleys most irregular in 

 form. There are precipices, deep hollows, vales apparently with- 

 out outlet, but with water glistening below. The whole of the 

 Republic is more or less mountainous. The La Haute Mountains 

 are most noted and they form a continuation of the great axial 

 sierra of the island. There are many beautiful slopes and valleys. 



