15° 



C. SKOTTSBERG 



#■%♦%' 



Fig. 66. The grass-covered table-land between the Casas and Vacas valleys, looking N. The 

 stone-building, an observation post overlooking the ocean, dates from the first convict settlement. 



— Photo C. Skottsberg "/a 1917. 



in Masatierra, because the hard basalt layers have not been removed by denuda- 

 tion, but are left as a cover right down to the sea, forming gently sloping, wide 

 plains. Farther inland the ridge gradually narrows. See figs. 57 and 58. Beds of 

 greater resistance form ledges along the valley slopes and thresholds across the 

 streambed. 



The south half of Masafuera. 



Shrouded in clouds most of the time, Los hiocentes rises above the west 

 vi^all, an imposing dome forming the south half of the island. Opinions have 

 differed very much regarding the altitude: 2000 m on the older charts as well 

 as on Johow's map, 1836 (Lopez), 1850 (Viel ; 850 is a misprint), 2300 (v. Rodt), 

 1624 (Branch!) and 1840 (Guzman). My single reading, carefully worked out, 

 gave only 1500 m, a figure possibly too low. Toward W, N (fig. 62) and NE 

 the summit falls precipitously; it is connected with the north table-land by a 

 ridge, C. Atravesado, bordered on both sides by a precipice and so narrow that the 

 stretch above the Vacas valley, where a pinnacle rises from the knife-edge, is not 

 passed by the goats. Above Casas the highest point is c. 1370 m. Where Ermel 

 got the idea from that the summit is covered with eternal snow (p. 113) is hard 

 to understand. 



