PHYSICAL FEATUEES OF HONDUEAS. 257 



Honduras orographic system appears to culminate in several peaks exceeding 10,000 

 feet in height. Farther on the uplands fall and again rise in the direction of the 

 east, where they develop the Opalaca and San Juan ranges. At the extremity of 

 this chain is opened the great depression forming the natural highway of communi- 

 cation between the two fluvial basins of Humuya on the north, and Goascoran on 

 the south. Here the waterparting is indicated only by the relatively low passes 

 of Guajoca (2,300 feet) and Rancho Chiquito (2,400), which are already traversed 

 by a road, and which will probably soon be crossed by a railway of easy ascent and 

 free from tunnels. 



Rocks of tertiary formation overlying the older strata recall the epoch when 

 this depression was still flooded by a channel flowing between the two oceans when 

 Central America formed a chain of islands, not, as at present, a continuous 

 isthmus. 



Beyond the depression the main range, here called the Sierra Lepaterique, 

 soon ramifies into a northern and a southern chain, the former running north-ea'jt 

 to Cape Gracias-à-Dios, the latter southwards to the main range of Nicaragua. 



The igneous system, which in Salvador and Nicaragua runs between the main 

 range and the Pacific coast, disappears altogether on the Honduras mainland, but 

 is represented in the islets of Fonseca Bay. A slight upheaval of the marine bed 

 would suffice to connect Sacate Grande and the other volcanoes in this bay with 

 the opposite coast. Sacate Grande, largest of the group, rises to a height of 2,000 

 feet, while the neighbouring Tiger Island is 600 feet higher. 



On the Atlantic side the Merendon main range is continued north-westwards 

 by the long crest of the Espiritu Santo and Grita chains, which run at a mean 

 altitude of over 6,700 feet between the valleys of the Guatemalan Rio Motagua and 

 the Honduras Rio Chamelicon. The system rises probably to 10,000 feet in the Omoa 

 group, which forms its seaward terminus near the port of Omoa. A northern 

 spur of the Opalaca hills terminates in the huge and nearly isolated bluff of 

 Mount Puca, while the San Juan crags, dominating the interoceanic depression, 

 are continued in the same northerly direction by the Montecillos and the Sierra de 

 Canchia, which confront the Comayagua Mountains on the opposite side of the 

 depression. 



Eastwards the Lepaterique hills are connected with the central mass of the 

 Sierra de Chile, whence various ridges ramify between deep valleys in different 

 directions. Lastly, the parting line between Honduras and Nicaragua is formed 

 by the Cordillera de Dipilto, which is continued seawards to the converging point 

 of the rectilinear Honduras and Mosquitia shore-lines. 



In the interior of the state the Sierra Misoco runs due north-east nearly 

 parallel with the Sulaco and Pija ridges, and Mount Paya, rising to a height of 

 3,730 feet, near Cape Cameron, probably belongs to a branch of the same system. 

 On the northern edge of the Honduras plateau the Congrehoy ridge, which cul- 

 minates in a peak 8,200 feet high, seems to form a distinct chain disposed parallel 

 with the neighbouring Bay Islands. 



Some of the mountains of the interior have been spoken of as volcanoes, but 

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