171 
each have a home on the old Pitajones tract, and are engaged in 
planting coffee in the forests, both virgin and second growth. 
Their method is quite different to that practised in Oriente, as 
they remove very little of the forest growth the first year and 
undergrowth as the coffee plant requires the space. This 
method is an inexpensive one and is used by the Cubans, some of 
whom it is said have been very successful with coffee. 
The valley of the Rio Unimaza is quite broad and fertile in 
this vicinity, its altitude being about 1,000 feet. It is very 
thinly settled, but there are abundant evidences of a former 
prosperity, such as a very large individual of the Mexican rain 
tree, Pithecolibium Saman, in the forests and that African pest, 
Dichrostachys nutans, \ocally called ‘‘aroma,’”’ forming thorny, 
impenetrable thickets of great extent, some of these trees attain- 
ing a trunk diameter of six inches. In the forests, especially 
along the streams many interesting plants were seen and collected. 
The surrounding hills vary considerably; some are very rocky, 
quite dry and barren; others being moister, support a rich 
growth of trees and smaller plants. I got as far north as Ciegos 
de Ponciano where, in a rich rocky valley, I saw for the first 
time the Cuban walnut, Juglans cubensis, a fine large tree with a 
trunk diameter of three to four feet. 
I remained here until the morning of March 3, during which 
time the Harrisons did all they could to aid me. One of them 
usually accompanied me on my excursions into the forests, and 
to them I owe my sincere thanks. Returning to Sancti Spiritus 
by the same route, with frequent stops for collecting and at a 
place called Rincon, secured specimens of the leaf fiber of the 
“‘ corojo ”’ in two grades; the finest called ‘‘ pita corojo”’ is stripped 
from very young leaves of this spiny palm. It is plaited into 
bridles, and various other parts of harnesses. ‘‘Cascara corojo”’ 
is a coarser grade and is used to make rope. Several days were 
required to dry and pack the collections preparatory to moving 
on to Manzanillo in Oriente, the environs of which are mostly 
sugar-cane plantations or pasture-lands and little was obtained 
in the hill or coastal thickets which I examined. I operated as 
