A GEOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF THE JUAN FERNANDEZ ISLANDS 



Fig. 22. Cumberland Bay from Pta Loberia to Cordon Central, seen from the air in looo m 



elevation. From left to right, Pangal, Cordon Escarpado, Quebr. Minero-Damajuana, La Dama- 



juana, Valle Anson with El Yunque. — Photo B. Frodin ^/^ 1952. 



but winds from these quarters are uncommon also during the winter. The sudden 

 squalls coming down through the valleys with great force should be looked out for. 

 Four valleys end in the bay, from E to W Pangal, Minero-Damajuana, Anson 

 and Colonial. The scenery round the bay is very impressive, a semicircle of bold 

 mountains, green gorges and gray precipices (figs. 22, 27). Many of the names quoted 

 by Guzman are unknown to me, for inst. Cordon de la Falda Larga ("falda" in the 

 sense of "long skirt"), perhaps = the back wall of Q. del Minero, Picacho con la 

 Piedra con Letras (.^Cerro Piramide), Cerro de los Munoces, Picacho de la Mona 

 (= she-monkey) and Cerro el Tope ("top"). Pico Central, a long established name, 

 is not mentioned by Guzman. 



ii/ Pangal. The entrance to this picturesque gorge is crossed by the trail to 

 Centinela, but it is also easy to land on the stony beach. The main branch is a 

 blind alley and the only true canyon on Masatierra, recalling on a small scale the 

 magnificent gorges of Masafuera. The U-shaped gorge ends in a high wall, luxuriant 

 with verdure, through which a small waterfall leaps down. The altitude of the val- 

 ley bottom at the foot of the fall is only about 200 m. Pis. 'j'^, 87 and 98 (Skottsb. 3) 

 give a good idea of the vegetation with its stately tree-ferns and giant pangues 

 {Gunnera peltata) which gave its name to this valley. No wonder that Walpole 

 found that the "rhubarb" grew so luxuriantly on Masatierra, that it was too coarse 

 to be good! Above the waterfall the valley widens and is filled with primeval forest 

 (I.e. PI. 89: i). A branch with a patch of forest comes down from the Centinela 

 ridge (fig. 23). 



