GEOGRAPHY. 37 



stream several meters wide flowing in a gorge about 40 meters deep. Joca, 

 on the south side of the valley, is a station of the Guardia Nacional. From 

 this lonely post patrols of two men are daily sent to meet the patrols from 

 Restauracion at Guayajayuco. Constant vigilance is needed to prevent 

 the passage of bandits and smugglers across the Haitian boundary. 



VALLEY OF SAN JUAN. 



The great valley of San Juan occupies an area in the western part of 

 Azua Province lying between the Cordillera Central on the north and the 

 Sierra de Neiba on the south. On the west it merges into the central 

 plain of Haiti; on the east it is separated from the Azua Plain by spurs 

 from the Cordillera Central and the Sierra de Neiba. A low divide near 

 Las Matas forms the watershed between Rio Macasia, which flows west- 

 ward into Riviere Artibonite, and Rio San Juan, one of the larger tribu- 

 taries of Rio Yaque del Sur. The part of the valley within the Dominican 

 Republic extends northwestward for about 80 kilometers and ranges in 

 width from 15 to 20 kilometers. It includes low hills, rolling plains, and 

 large tracts of nearly level prairies or savannas. 



Glowing accounts of the beauty and fertility of the valley of San Juan 

 are brought out by travellers. The valley is favored with a larger and more 

 evenly distributed rainfall than that of the adjoining Azua Plain, so that 

 water for irrigation is more abundant. 



San Juan de la Maguana is the center of the social and commercial life 

 of the valley. It is connected with Azua by a wagon road, which is at most 

 times passable by automobiles, and which, when the improvements now in 

 progress shall have been completed, will afford easy access by motor car to 

 Azua. Automobiles can also continue westward nearly or quite to Com- 

 mendador. The valley is so nearly level that roads can easily be opened in 

 most parts of it. The greatest obstacles to travel are the thick brush and 

 the superabundant gravel in some areas. 



AZUA PLAIN. 



The Azua Plain extends from the foothills of the Sierra de Ocoa of the 

 Cordillera Central on the north to the Sierra de Martin Garcia on the south, 

 and from Rio Yaque del Sur in the vicinity of Los Giiiros to the foot of 

 Loma El Numero east of Bahia de Ocoa. The continuity of the plain 

 along the shore is interrupted by Loma de la Vigia, a limestone ridge rising 

 from the water's edge at the entrance to the Bahia de Ocoa to an altitude 

 of about 425 meters above sea level. Inland the plain is broken by several 

 hilly areas. 



The Azua Plain is drained by Rio Tabara, Rio Jura, Rio Via, and several 

 smaller streams. All these streams are intermittent in their lower courses, 

 but their perennial headwaters furnish water for domestic use and for 

 irrigation. 



