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flat and covered with broken stone of all sizes among which 
were found, to our great surprise, many species already collected 
along the rocky arroyos 1,200 to 1,500 feet below. The northern 
and western slopes are much steeper and more moist, and are 
covered with a denser and richer growth and larger trees. It had 
been our intention to go down this, but it was found to be im- 
practical to do so without remaining in the bush over night. 
This we were unprepared to do, and it was almost dark by the 
time we returned to our camp, one of a series of manaca-thatched 
shacks used by mining engineers in their exploration work 
several years ago. We remained here for several days, making 
excursions across the pinelands to the falls of Rio Naranja, and 
into several of the areas of deciduous trees, called ‘‘cayos. 
They are like islands of deciduous growth in a sea of pines, 
the largest ones having local names applied to them by the 
Cubans, who come here from the Mayari Valley and elsewhere 
to hunt wild pigs, which are quite plentiful. These forests 
are made up of much the same species as occur near the 
streams in the northern part of the plateau, but appear to average 
larger. The soil is rich and black and many ferns and orchids 
abound. The manaca-palm, so highly prized for thatching, is 
very abundant and of large size. Another kind of thicket oc- 
” 
curring in the pinelands is made up of smaller trees and shrubs, 
growing among boulders of a very hard brownish iron ore, prob- 
ably hematite. The most interesting feature of the thicket is 
a species of Juniperus, upright trees thirty to forty feet high 
with a trunk diameter of four to eight inches, the branches more 
spreading than our northern red cedar. These trees are easily 
illed by fire and many more dead trees were seen than living. 
It was also observed in shrub form on a flat ledge of the same 
kind of ore, but was not seen on either the serpentine rock or 
limonite formations, nor at any considerable distance from 
Loma Menqura, although it was not observed upost it. 
The return from this excursion was made by way of the Plancha 
trail, which passes through dense deciduous woods that yielded 
a number of species not secured elsewhere. 
No attention was given to the Mayari Valley, which is highly 
