6 BULLETIN 15 5, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



which supports a dense rain-forest with many peculiar botanical 

 elements. 



Coastal plains of more or less extent are found around much of 

 the island, cut at many points where the interior mountains send 

 down spurs to form sea cliffs, the different sections being designated 

 by a variety of local names. 



Saona Island, at the southeastern extremity of the main island, is 

 about 22 kilometers long and from 3 to 5y 2 kilometers wide. The 

 greater part of the island, which is wooded, is low, the land rising at 

 the eastern end in a rocky bluff 35 meters high. Saona is located on a 

 shallow bank connected with the adjacent coast. 



On the same shallow bank north of Saona is found Catalinita 

 Island, a small brush grown island 12 meters high, where there is a 

 spring of fresh water and where, according to the West Indies Pilot, 

 many birds are found. 



Catalina Island, about two kilometers off the port of La' Romana, 

 Dominican Republic, is about four kilometers in extent. The north- 

 ern portion is low and flat while the southern part rises to 35 meters 

 above the sea. The island is wooded and there is a sandy beach on 

 the western side. 



Beata Island, or lie de la Beate, situated off the most southern 

 point of Hispaniola near the center of the south coast is a little more 

 than 6 kilometers broad and rises to a height of 100 meters. It is 

 connected with the main island by a shallow bank. On the northeast 

 and west there are said to be sandy beaches. 



Alta Vela Island, a short distance southwest of Beata, is about a 

 kilometer long by a little less than a kilometer wide, rising in a great 

 hill 152 meters high. 



lie a Vache, opposite Les Cayes on the south shore of the south- 

 western peninsula of Haiti, is more than 12 kilometers long by 4 

 kilometers wide. The eastern end is low and thickly wooded, while in 

 the west are several small hills 30 meters high. The channel between 

 it and the main island is shallow. 



Grande Cayemite Island, opposite Les Basses and east of Jeremie, 

 is more than 9 kilometers long by 5 kilometers wide, is thickh 

 wooded, and rises to a height of 152 meters above the sea. Petite 

 Cayemite a short distance to the west is less than 2 kilometers long. 



Gonave Island, the largest separate island in the group here con- 

 sidered, lies opposite Port-au-Prince, in the great bay between the 

 northwestern and southwestern peninsulas of Haiti. It is 57 kilo- 

 meters long and averages 15 kilometers wide. The highest points, 

 Morne Chien Content and Morne la Pierre, near the eastern end, are 

 elevated 755 meters above the sea. The southeastern part of the 

 island is more rugged than the other portions. The Plaine Mapou in 



