270 BULLETIN OF THE 
old Pre-Tertiary nucleus. From this summit one can look down upon 
the Cuchillas, the Yumuri terraces, the elevated reefs, and the wide 
expanse of the ocean; and inland toward a country showing its own 
level, overreached by still higher mountains of the Sierra Maestra to the 
south. On every side the drainage has cut deep below this peculiar 
mountain, carving the low-lying country into an intaglio of serrated 
hills. 
No one can view this summit without being impressed with the won- 
derful story it tells of the great erosion that has taken place around it, 
as well as the fact that the difference in elevation between its plateau 
and that of the lower-lying Cuchilla level represents a vast hiatus in the 
history of the island’s elevation, — a long period during which land 
stripping and degradation ensned, reducing the surrounding areas to 
the old Cuchilla erosion level. The relation of this peculiar remnant 
to similar phenomena in other parts of the island will be discussed later, 
The accompanying illustration (Plate I. Fig. 5) of the harbor of Baracoa 
gives a clear presentation of the various levels seen in the east end 
of the island. Let us now examine the kindred phenomena in other 
localities. 
The Havana Levels. — The western half of the island also presents an 
interesting series of topographic surfaces that, for convenience, we will 
denominate the Havana levels, which, although varying in expression, 
have genetic relations to the cliff phenomena of the eastern end of the 
island. In the Havana region the wider area of the terraces makes 
the cliffs less conspicuous than in the east. The highest of the dis- 
tinctly preserved levels coming under my observation is the one that 
encloses the harbor of Havana as seen on the summit of the Moro penin- 
sula to the east (Plate I. Fig. 2), and its continuation west of the city, 
known as the Castillo Principe Plateau. These have an avérage altitude 
of fifty meters (or one hundred and sixty-five feet) as determined by Mr. 
Gould, who has made a contour survey of the region. From the still 
higher eminences back of Havana, or from nearly any point of view, the 
contour of this plateau can be easily recognized, and it clearly represents 
an old level of erosion, — either a very wide beach level, or a base level 
of erosion. The Castillo Principe peninsula, which represents a portion 
of the Moro Plateau, is a narrow flat divide of the land extending north 
and south, lying between Rio Armendaris and Havana Bay. Its struc- 
ture consists of the gently disturbed older limestone series surrounded 
by lower beds of cantera and soboruco, constituting the lower levels 
upon which the main portion of the city of Havana and the suburb of 
