Dr. N. L. Britton, Director-in-Chief, 



Sir .- — Acting under your instructions, I left New York on 

 the eighteenth of August for the Island of Cuba, accompanying 

 Professor B. E. Fernow, who went for the purpose of making a 

 forestry survey of the mountains west of Santiago. My best 

 thanks are due Dr. Fernow for his great kindness and consider- 

 ation, as well as for many practical suggestions in the field. 



Arriving in Havana on the morning of the twenty-second, the 

 Botanical Garden and University were visited ; and also numerous 

 lumber yards, so that we might become somewhat more familiar 

 with the native woods. In the evening we left for Santiago, 

 getting there early on the morning of the second day. Here, 

 with the kind assistance of Mr. E. A. Whiting, we procured 

 the necessary camp outfit, with the exception of a tent, which it 

 was impossible to get. In the afternoon, the Museo y Biblioteca 

 was visited, where much was learned of the Cuban woods and 

 their rather confusing local names. 



On the twenty-fifth we left for our real destination. Steam- 

 ing out of the now historic harbor of Santiago, we turned to the 

 west and cruised along the coast where the Spanish fleet was 

 destroyed. Some forty miles to the westward we came to Chi- 

 riviquo, which was to be our headquarters for the rest of the 

 expedition. The second floor of an old abandoned store-house, 

 one of the two buildings in the place, made a very comfortable 

 and tolerably dry spot to store the outfit. 



Before giving a detailed itinerary of our various trips, it will 

 render such an account more intelligible to describe some of the 

 general features of the property. 



The portion of the Sierra Maestra visited is a tract facing the 

 Caribbean Sea and stretching from the Sevilla River on the 

 east, some forty miles to the Peladeros, its western extremity. 

 Its northern line is approxi 

 Sierra Maestra. This gi 



