4 BULLETIN 15 5, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



Samana Bay it is swampy with broad, wet savannas grown with 

 palms, or extensive stretches of wet forest, penetrated with difficulty, 

 that at the sea become mangrove swamps. 



The central mountain system of the island is a broken series of 

 ridges and peaks that present no systematic arrangement to the 

 eye of the traveller. The Cordillera Central, as it is known in the 

 Dominican Republic, begins in a series of low hills in the arid 

 eastern end of the island and extending westward broadens and be- 

 comes better watered until in its central portions it receives heavy 

 downpours of rain. It continues through northern Haiti as the 

 rugged Massif du Nord to a point northwest of Gros Morne, and at 

 the south in Haiti is extended through the Montagnes Noires into 

 the Sierra de Neiba that runs back into the Dominican Republic 

 between the valleys of San Juan and Enriquillo. At the north the 

 central mountain mass is limited by the Cibao Valley, while at the 

 south in the Dominican Republic one spur reaches the vicinity of the 

 sea at Sabana Buey. The system is 130 kilometers wide near its 

 middle, and in its greatest extent is between 400 and 500 kilometers 

 long. The summit of Loma Tina, in the Dominican Republic, near 

 its center, reputed to be the highest mountain in the West Indies, is 

 reported to rise 3,140 meters above sea level, while Culo de Maco 

 nearby is about its equal. Loma Rucillo, also called Pico de Yaque, 

 not far from Culo de Maco, is recorded as 2,955 meters high. Broad 

 stretches through these central mountains are covered with beautiful 

 forests of pine mingled with areas of rain-forest jungle. The 

 climate of the high interior valleys is invigorating, with hot days 

 and cool nights, with occasional frost in the highest altitudes in 

 winter. Rainfall is abundant in the Dominican Republic while to 

 the west in Haiti the land is drier. 



The northwest peninsula of Haiti is cut off from the Massif du 

 Nord by the deep trough of the Trois Rivieres valley, and is 

 traversed by several mountain ranges, extending mainly from east to 

 west, and rising to a maximum elevation of 700 meters above the 

 sea. In the southern part of the western end is the extensive Bom- 

 bardopolis plateau 20 by 25 kilometers in size, elevated to an average 

 of 400 to 500 meters. 



The great Central Plain, or Plaine Centrale of Haiti, begins near 

 St. Michel and extends to the southeast as a level floored valley 

 between the Massif du Nord and the Montagnes Noires, crossing 

 the Dominican frontier to be known as the San Juan Valley. It 

 forms a great interior basin cut off by hills from the bordering low- 

 lands of the island. The plain of Azua extends from the eastern 

 end of the Sierra de Neiba to the sea at the Bahia de Ocoa. 



