From Caibarien to 

 Yaguajay it was a 

 short sail by motor 

 boat along the 

 coast in shoal water 

 where one could 

 wade' most of the 

 way and where the 

 only navigable 



course is marked 

 out by tree branch- 

 es. Seaward were 

 long lines of low- 

 lying sandy keys, 

 the feeding-ground 

 of countless bril- 

 liant flamingos 

 magnified by the 

 mirage into regi- 

 ments of giant 

 British soldiery. 

 Another short jour- 

 ney by narrow 

 gauge road, more 

 sugar plantations 

 and palms and we 

 had reached the 

 high land border- 

 ing the Sierra de 

 Jatibonico. 



It was in these 

 mountain fastness- 

 es that many 

 Cuban patriots se- 

 creted their fami- 

 lies, where they lived in limestone caves and fissures during the period 

 of Weyler's concentration movement. One of these refugees, Ramon 

 Gonzalez, while dipping water from a fissure one day discovered a jawbone 

 that he recognized was different from that of any creature now living in Cuba. 

 It is of interest to recall here that besides the bats which are more or less 

 migratory, but two other mammals are at present peculiar to the island — 

 namely, the rare insectivore Solcnodon, and the more abundant ratlike 

 tree rodent Capromys. The latter is protected by common consent and 

 now almost venerated by the country people because during the war these 

 •creatures stood between the refugees and starvation. 



223 



Fissure of Jatibonico during the work of excavation. Left to 

 right. Dr. La Torre, Mr. Brown and the discoverer Senor 

 Ramon Gonzalez 



