GEOLOGY OF THE PROVINCES OF BARAHONA AND AZUA. 195 



kilometers of fertile land in river bottoms or near springs that are used for 

 irrigation. Some contain no more than two or three huts; others are vil- 

 lages of several hundred households. Some of the best farming land is on 

 mountain slopes where the rainfall is generally sufficient for cultivation 

 without irrigation. 



Azua, the center of a large sugar industry, is the principal town in the 

 region and by far the most progressive. It has a population of about 3,000 

 people and is surrounded by thickly settled country. The town is built 

 on a broad plain that extends from Loma El Numero on the east to the 

 Yaque watershed on the west. Azua itself stands about 80 meters above 

 sea level and a little more than 5 kilometers from the coast. About 

 15 kilometers southwest of Azua is Puerto Vie jo, near which are the ruins 

 of the old town of Azua, which is said to have been destroyed by an earth- 

 quake about 200 years ago. South of Azua are the Azuano and Ansonia 

 sugar estates, which are connected with the port, to the east, by narrow- 

 gage railroads. 



San Juan, a town of about 2,000 inhabitants, is in the central part of the 

 fertile San Juan Valley, about 75 kilometers northwest of Azua. Beans, 

 rice, tobacco, and other products of the country are marketed here in 

 exchange for goods from the outside world. Las Matas and Comendador, 

 smaller towns that stand farther west, are also in the great San Juan Valley, 

 which will be highly productive when communication with the coast is 

 facilitated by good roads. 



Barahona, the capital of the Province of that name, is little more than a 

 village. It is on the west side of Neiba Bay. A wharf is accessible to small 

 ocean-going steamships, but the only boats that call regularly are sailing 

 craft, which carry away large quantities of coffee as well as lignum vitae, 

 mahogany, and other hard woods. Extensive improvements will be 

 necessary to make the port fit for use by large steamships. 



Along Rio Yaque north of Barahona there is a large agricultural popu- 

 lation. Cabral, Pefion, Hatico, and Alpargatal are the principal villages. 

 The people, by irrigation in a primitive manner, have brought under culti- 

 vation much of the valley bottom. In this same region is the site of the 

 large irrigation project of the Barahona Company, which plans to establish 

 one of the largest sugar plantations in the world. 



The basin that includes Lake Enriquillo, although semi-arid and of 

 saline soil, is bordered by mountains along whose bases emerge large springs 

 that are used for irrigation and that form the centers of a number of agri- 

 cultural communities. The principal villages are Neiba, which has 600 or 

 700 inhabitants, and Duverg6, which has nearly 1,500. There are also 

 other villages that contain several hundred people. Several villages are 

 scattered through the valleys of Sierra Bahoruco. Puerto Escondido, for 

 example, is a prosperous farming community of over 500 people. 



