142 
As the above described region is quite extensive, barren and 
uninhabited with no guides available, its satisfactory exami- 
nation would have been a difficult proposition had it not been 
for the opportune presence of a corps of engineers of the Cuban 
Irrigation Commission, who were making an exhaustive study 
of the region. With a letter of introduction from 
Earle, who had made some special studies in the region for the 
commission, as well as a chance acquaintance with Sr. Augusto 
F. Cuervo, chief engineer, in charge of the work, I secured com- 
fortable quarters at their camp, situated on the shore of Laguna 
Jovero, where every comfort available in a well regulated camp 
was accorded me. The camp at the time was very short-handed 
so that a man could not be assigned to me, but access to the 
sketches of their various surveys and personal directions enabled 
me to go about the region with perfect knowledge and full 
confidence as to my whereabouts. It is to be hoped that the 
studies being made by these gentlemen will appear in published 
form in due time, as they would certainly be a distinct contri- 
bution to the geographical and topographical knowledge of Cuba. 
I here express my sincere gratitude to Mr. Cuervo and his 
associates for the kindness shown me during my stay with them. 
January I, 1912, I finished packing and moved to Los Palacios, 
where I was fortunate in securing accommodations with the 
family of Superintendent E. W. Halsted of the El Caimital Fruit 
Company, and which was made my base until February 8. On 
January 5, I went to Havana to arrange with Mr. Percy Wilson 
for the transportation of the Guane collection to New York with 
him, and after seeing him aboard the ship for New York returned 
to Los Palacios, which is surrounded by a flat region almost 
entirely given over to cultivation and pasture. The soil is a red 
clayey one underlined with a porous limonite rock and very low 
in iron. Small fresh-water lagoons are abundant; their muddy 
margins are usually grassy swamps and their surface largely 
covered by a yellow water lily, but none of the sand-loving plants 
secured in the region above described were observed. Many 
thickets were examined with indifferent results. The marsh 
ands along Rio Los Palacios, known as La Macurijes, were 
partly explored. 
_ 
