AGASSIZ: BAHAMAS. 123 



Padre to Nuevitas. 



Plate I. ; Plate XIII. Fig. 1 ; Plate XIV. Fig. 7. 



The entrance to Padre is very wide, fully a third of a mile. It is 

 straight, and has all the appearance of being the mouth of a great river. 

 After about two miles it opens into a Y-shaped channel formed by isl- 

 ands lying opposite its western end, and then spreads into a bay (Plate 

 XIY. Fig. 7). The shores behind the beaches are low, and wherever 

 there are any rock exposures the same reef rock is found which occurs 

 all along the coast, and the same limestone half-way up the low hills 

 to the westward of the town. There is a great deal of red earth, and 

 the soil is very rich. 



The shores on both sides of the channel are flanked with low mangrove 

 islands. We find here the beginning of the extensive system of cays 

 which runs uninterruptedly from Nuevitas to Cardenas ; but to the 

 south of Nuevitas the channel which separates the cays from the main- 

 land is not as yet cut through the space sepai'ating consecutive harbors 

 to the north of Padre. With little more erosion the condition of things 

 existing to the north of Nuevitas would be extended as far as Padre. 

 To the westward of Padre are a number of low mangrove islands within 

 the reef which extends from the western side of the entrance. South 

 of Padre an extensive reef with coral heads awash extends from Herra- 

 dura Point to the entrance of the harbor. The shore line of the first 

 terrace is now frequently obliterated by the sand formed from the debris 

 of the reef outside and constantly thrown against the shores by the pre- 

 vailing winds. The remnants of the second and third terraces form the 

 hills west of Manati, which may be about two hundred feet in height, 

 and are the only high land in this vicinity. 



The Cays from Nuevitas to Cardenas. 



Plate I.; Plate XIII. Figs. 1 to 5 ; Plate XIV. Figs. 1, 2. 



The entrance to Nuevitas is very similar to that of Padre. A coral 

 reef has formed a prominent spit to the south of the entrance, enclosing 

 a shallow lagoon open to the north. Such elongated patches or spits, 

 like the reef at Padre, are found all the way from Mangle Point, and 

 north of Nuevitas they form a nearly continuous living reef to the west- 

 ward outside of the cays, with here and there a break or passage for boats 



