40 GEOLOGICAL RECONNAISSANCE OF THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC. 



many cattle. The north front of the range is composed chiefly of massive, 

 steeply tilted, overturned and faulted limestone. The Cerros de Sal, foot- 

 hills 150 to 200 meters high west of Laguna del Rincon, consist of nearly 

 vertical beds of rock salt, gypsum, shale, and sandstone. 



Tucked away in the mountains south of Duverge is Puerto Escondido, 

 a settlement of prosperous, contented farmers. A trail leads through this 

 village southward past Rancho Viejo, a cattleman's shelter, to Pedernales, 

 on the Caribbean Sea at the Haitian border. 



SOUTHERN PENINSULA. 



The peninsula south of the Sierra de Bahoruco was not visited during this 

 reconnaissance. The coast charts show a spur of the Sierra de Bahoruco 

 reaching nearly to the shore at Cabo Falso and a range of hills parallel to 

 the coast and not far inland, extending from Cabo Falso to the southern 

 extremity of the peninsula. The triangular areas between these two 

 ridges and the Sierra de Bahoruco are probably terraced plains. The region 

 is said to be thickly wooded and to have a more abundant rainfall than the 

 regions farther north. 



COASTAL PLAIN. 



Fringing the Caribbean Sea from Calderas Bay to the eastern extremity 

 of the island is a series of terraces, which rise gradually from the shore to 

 an altitude of 100 meters or more at the edge of the foothills of the Cordillera 

 Central. The coastal plain, as the entire area may be called, increases in 

 width from a narrow fringe only a few kilometers wide at the west end to a 

 maximum width of perhaps 65 kilometers (including Saona Island) in the 

 vicinity of Higiiey. Near Santo Domingo the coastal plain is about 16 

 kilometers wide. The part of the coastal plain east of Rio Jaina is some- 

 times called the Eastern Valley, or the Seibo Plain, and the narrower 

 western part is called the Bani Plain. The Seibo Plain is more humid than 

 the Bani Plain, which verges on aridity and is dependent partly upon irri- 

 gation. The Seibo Plain contains extensive forests and savannas. The 

 soil is fertile and productive. Sugar cane is the most valuable crop. Sev- 

 eral sugar mills have been established in the vicinity of San Pedro de 

 Macoris and La Romana. 



Three terraces are crossed on the road from San Pedro de Macoris to 

 Consuelo. (See PI. VII, A.) The lowest slopes gently from a little less 

 than 6 meters at San Pedro de Macoris to 9 meters at kilometer 1.4 from 

 that city. An intermediate terrace plain, 18 meters above sea level at 

 kilometer 1.8, rises gradually to 26.5 meters at kilometer 5. The upper 

 plain, which is very slightly dissected, ranges in altitude from 42 meters 

 at its outer margin (kilometer 5.7) to about 51 meters above sea level. 

 It extends to kilometer 25.5 on the road to Hato Mayor. 



