Bulletin 29 170 



where it passes over the crest of the Sambas. As the road lay 

 in a low pass, the maximum height of the Sambas was estimated 

 at 1000 feet. This range of hills viewed from the south near 

 Sabaneta appears as a straight, little-broken ridge, cut into by 

 the Rio Cana. The hills are capped with rather hard limestone. 

 They are covered with a heavy growth of timber, — a hard wood 

 forest, the most striking tree being the almacigo, with very yel- 

 low scaly bark. 



On beginning the descent down the Sambas, the forest opens 

 up and discloses a magnificent view of the Las Caobas (mahog- 

 any) plain, and behind it the frowning Cordillera, always capped 

 with ranks of cumuli. The mountains also stand in ranks, with 

 Pico Gallo, 8000 feet high, towering in their midst. The higher 

 peaks disappear into the clouds which seem a continuation of the 

 mountains. 



The Las Caobas plain is covered with masses of apartillo 

 (bunch) grass. This grows as tall as four feet and bears spikes 

 of reddish flowers which give the entire plain a reddish appear- 

 ance. The plain is rolling with a general dip towards the Sam- 

 bas, that is to the north. Among the bunch grass is the taba- 

 quela, a scraggly, crooked shrub, used for making canes when 

 well grown, as it is very tough. 



Coming down the road the party branched off into an ar- 

 royo on the west, where a yellow fossiliferous clay with Pectens 

 was found at an altitude of 540 feet. There is no village of Las 

 Caobas, but this region is marked by the pulperia (country 

 store, indicated on the sketch map as 11). Three or four miles 

 east of this pulperia of Las Caobas the Sambas break up into 

 more than one range towards the Rio Gurabo. Even further 

 west they are given local names, as Cerros de Martin Garcia, 

 de Cerro Gordo, etc. Not far from Las Caobas the party ob- 

 served a small amphitheater superficially resembling a cirque, a 

 couple of hundred feet deep, the slopes wooded except where 

 cleared for planting bananas, and the bottom well culti- 

 vated. The whole effect was that of a great arm chair. A 



