The frequent occurrence, both in the mountains and in the 

 river beds, of gigantic boulders of granite, add amazingly to the 

 rugged aspect of the landscape, and incidentally to the difficulty 



The climatic conditions can scarcely be discussed in such a 

 short report, but there are two rainy seasons, one in April and 

 May and the other in October. The wind, as in the other West 

 Indies, is the prevailing Northeasterly Trade, and, coming as it 

 does across the lowlands of the island, it deposits great quanti- 

 ties of moisture on the windward side of the Maestra. This may 

 account for the dryness that we everywhere encountered, as long 

 as we were in the lee of the mountain range. At this time the 

 drought was particularly noticeable, as all the lower mountains 

 and hills were carpeted with a bed of dried leaves. 



After spending two or three days in the vicinity of Chiriviquo, 

 learning the principal trees from our guides, we started on our 

 first trip, which was to be an ascent of the Guama river. Along 

 the coast there is a trail accessible to horses ; but after leaving 

 the coast line this trail disappeared. By cutting our outfit down 

 to the essentials, however, it w.as possible to transport it in packs 

 each of us carrying one ; and this we did for the remainder of the 

 expedition. Our first stop was at a point only about two miles 

 from the shore, where the plants particularly representative of 

 the lower river basin were collected. This might almost be con- 

 sidered xerophytic in character, such plants as ferns, Araceae, 

 Piperaceae and other moisture-loving plants being absent. From 

 here we pushed on up the river until we were seven or eight 

 miles from the sea ; and, making a favorable camp on the river 



tains. The collecting, however, was disappointing, as the slopes 

 were almost completely covered with Oxandra virgata and a 

 species of Calyptranthes. There were also some trees of the 

 Spanish Cedar {Cedrela odorata L.) and Mahogany (Swietenia 

 Mahagoni L.), with the ever-present Cecropia and Spondias lutea. 

 An interesting species of Equisetum was found in the river bed, 

 and a balanophoraceous parasite (Scybalium jamaicense Schott & 



