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south of Canete Bay, was supposed to be the farthest point 
inland in the entire region that had been reached by any pros- 
pecting operations. They also assured me that I was welcome 
to visit it and that I required nothing but my collecting outfit 
to make the trip. Accordingly, I left Baracoa on the morning 
of February 21 in the little sailboat, chartered by the company 
to carry supplies. 
I stopped at Navas, where Mr. Fitch had his headquarters, 
and then continued westward to Canete Bay, where we 
anchored. The captain informed me that it was too late in 
the evening for the tender, a small rowboat, to take me up 
the river to the first camp, so the night was spent on the boat. 
_ Early next morning the tender called and after loading it with 
provisions, took me across Yamaniguey Bay and about one mile 
up the river to a palm-thatched shack used for storing supplies, 
and from which all provisions for the men working in the moun- 
tains were packed on man-back. Several hours were lost in the 
delay here, during which the man in charge had sent off the mail 
carrier and several pack-men, and also elaborately prepared 
breakfast for me consisting of a box of sardines and a freshly 
opened can of red pepper skins. All this time the pack-men, 
awaiting their loads, were discussing with much surprise the 
Americano and his intention of going ‘‘arriba’’ and tried to dis- 
suade me by gestures and exclamations of ‘‘camino malo,” ‘‘muy 
alto,” ‘‘mucha distancia,” etc. I learned that the trip was all 
“4 pie” and that but one pack-man could be spared to go with me, 
so I reduced my outfit to a liberal supply of collecting paper, a 
change of dry clothing, and my sleeping bag, for I had learned 
by experience on the Sierra Nipe that the nights are very cool 
in the mountains and that it was impossible to sleep with the 
ordinary hammock and blanket. 
The trail passes through a dense tropical forest on the 
alluvial banks of the river for a mile or more and then into 
the hills, through alternating stretches of scrub-covered serpen- 
tine rocks ‘and open, hard-packed, red ore lands with scattered, 
stunted pine trees, a few shrubs, and a tall dracaena-like plant 
not seen in the red ore lands at Nipe. As higher elevations 
my 66 
