217 
mountains; this coincides with my observations of all streams 
flowing over serpentine rocks, which appear always to be devoid 
of sand or sand-bottomed pools. From here an ascent to an 
altitude of about 1,700 feet brought us to a flat, wet plateau of 
yellow soil containing many small pieces of the supposed sand- 
stone. It was covered with a forest of scattered pine trees, 
appearing different from the Cuban pine. These trees were ten 
to forty feet tall with trunks three to six inches in diameter, and 
branches two-leaved, somewhat spreading, and bearing rather 
small cones. There were also thickets of low shrubbery, promi- 
nent among which was a bright scarlet-bracted euphorbiaceous 
plant, and on the margins of numerous small pools along the sides 
of the trail a small creeping Lycopodium with erect club-shaped 
spikes. Passing again into the ordinary scrub of the region, we 
crossed a stream of rather large volume flowing to the left of 
our course and came to another abandoned camp similar to the 
one already mentioned. This was known as ‘‘Camp La Barga,”’ 
elevation about 1,600 feet. Here we took breakfast, ‘‘sardinas 
solas’’ forming the entire meal. I was informed that we must 
hurry, as we should have made this our starting point early that 
morning. Accordingly, I made no further attempt to collect 
on the remainder of the way, except such small plants as I feared 
might be overlooked on the return trip. We went through a 
shallow stony pass, and over a high ridge covered with a very 
peculiar thicket, most of which was scarcely three feet high. 
Here I found a number of scattered pine trees which were only 
five to ten feet tall, their leaves bunched at the ends of long 
black twigs, the cones small and cylindric and the branches 
covered with a black hair-like lichen. Another striking plant 
standing above the top of the shrubbery at this weird place, was 
a small silvery star-leaved palm from four to six feet high, of 
which, however, no inflorescence wasseen. Aside from the region 
described above, which was one of but three or four points 
along the entire trail from which a view of the surrounding 
country could be obtained, the growth was a dense forest-like 
scrub about ten feet high, its roots creeping over the rocky 
soilless surface and covered by a thick mat of long green moss, 
