MARACCAS. LAS CUEVAS. 297 



finest cacao estates to be found in the island. They were once ex- 

 clusively owned by the Spaniards the first settlers and proprietors 

 of the island but the greater number have changed hands within 

 the last twenty years. Nearly at the entrance of the valley, two 

 small sugar estates were established since emancipation ; but they 

 are now in an abandoned state. Coffee and provisions are culti- 

 vated on the hills. The valley of Santa Cruz branches off into 

 several smaller glens, each being irrigated by its respective stream, 

 which also carries off its water to the Aricagua river. The road 

 to Santa Cruz traverses the village of San Juan, and establishes a 

 communication with Maraval over the saddle, whilst another sec- 

 tion crosses the mountains, at the end of the smaller glen of Gas- 

 parillo, to Maraccas bay, in the ward of Las Cuevas ; it is, how- 

 ever, but a mere path through the high woods. Santa Cruz is a 

 catholic parish, with a village. 



The valley of Maraccas extends northward of the town of St. 

 Joseph, from which it is separated by an elevation of the land ; it 

 is much more contracted than Santa Cruz, and the surround- 

 ing "ridges are higher, particularly at its extremity. Cacao, coffee, 

 and provisions, are the only cultivations. The vale of Acono is a 

 dependency, or branch of the Maraccas valley. 



Las Cuevas is still more hilly than Maraccas, and does not 

 contain above 800 acres of flat land : these form the two estates of 

 Maraccas and Las Cuevas, situated respectively on the bays of the 

 same name, and separated by a steep ridge. These two estates 

 are cacao plantations, drained by the two streams of Maraccas and 

 Quelrada de Hierro, or the iron ravine. The produce from the 

 above estates is carried to town in large open boats, or small 

 sloops. 



The highest mountain of the colony is situated between Las 

 Cuevas and the extremity of Maraccas valley ; it is called Las 

 Cuevas, or el Tocmclie, and is 3,100 feet high. At the bottom of 

 Maraccas valley is a water-fall, from a height of about 340 feet, 

 and remarkable for the nearly perpendicular cliff of the mountain 

 from which it descends ; this may be regarded as the source of the 

 St. Joseph river. About one mile and a half from the cascade, 

 on the right bank of the river, almost within its bed, and at the 

 foot of a high hill, is the mineral spring of Maraccas ; it contains a 

 small proportion of sulphuretted hydrogen gas, epsom salts, &c. 

 These mineral waters have not yet been tested to an extent suffi- 



