GEOGRAPHY. 33 



San Jose" de Ocoa, better known by its old name of Maniel, is charmingly- 

 situated on an outwash slope and well- developed terrace at an altitude of 

 about 50 meters above Rio Ocoa and about 450 meters above sea level. 

 The town is nearly surrounded by sharp ridges of limestone, but from it 

 can be seen the high mountains at the headwaters of the Ocoa. It boasts 

 a church and plaza and three coffee mills, in which the coffee berries are 

 shelled through hoppers. Besides coffee, the neighborhood produces large 

 quantities of red beans (habichuelas) . A small detachment of the Guardia 

 Nacional is stationed here. 



Communication with the outside world is maintained over three difficult 

 trails. One little used trail leads northeastward across Loma Nizao (alti- 

 tude of pass about 875 meters above sea level) to Nizao Arriba and thence to 

 Cotui, meeting the Bonao trail from Santo Domingo to La Vega at Piedra 

 Blanca. Another very hilly trail, which is slippery in rainy weather, after 

 passing numerous ridges descends from Loma de Portezuelo, which is 

 about 650 meters above sea level, and comes out upon the plain at the village 

 of Estebania, from which an easy trail leads to Azua. The third descends 

 the gorge of Rio Ocoa, fording the river 15 times between San Jose de Ocoa 

 and the little settlement of Los Ranchitos, where it turns southeastward to 

 Bani. This trail, of course, is impassable when the river is in flood. 



The highest mountains on the island rise from the area north of the Sierra 

 de Ocoa. The top of Loma Tina, said to be the highest peak in the West 

 Indies, is reputed to be 3,140 meters above sea level. Monte Culo de 

 Maco, less famed but perhaps equally lofty, towers out of the canon of Rio 

 del Medio opposite the little settlement of Las Caflitas. As viewed from 

 the west the mountain resembles a great wedge with a long, smooth, 

 southward-sloping flank, strongly suggestive of a dip slope of sedimentary 

 rocks and steeply truncated at the north end. The western face is very 

 steep. El Rucillo, or Pico del Yaque, said to be 2,955 meters high, is 

 nearly midway between San Jose de las Matas and Tiibano and about 

 20 kilometers north of Monte Culo de Maco. 



CONSTANZA TRAIL. 



The part of the Cordillera Central that lies north of the Sierra de Ocoa is 

 crossed by the Constanza trail, which leads from Santiago and La Vega 

 through Jarabacoa and Constanza to San Juan and Tiibano. From San- 

 tiago the trail leads up the east side of Rio Yaque del Norte and two or 

 three kilometers below Angostura enters hills of coralliferous limestone 

 and massive Miocene conglomerate. From Baitoa, a village of several 

 hundred inhabitants, the trail passes southward or southeastward across 

 steeply tilted conglomerate (Tabera formation) for about 2 kilometers, 

 circles around a prominent double peak of hard limestone, and winds along 

 a narrow, crooked ridge, which maintains a general southward trend and 

 reaches a maximum altitude of about 415 meters above sea level. It then 



