398 



MEXICO, CENTRAL AMEEICA, WEST INDIES. 



Chico, and on the south by a chain of lakes ; lastly, the fourth segment is formed 

 by the south-western peninsula and the mountains in which it is rooted. 



The northern chain itself consists of two distinct groups very unequal in size. 

 The Samana peninsula at its eastern extremity, even Avithin quite recent times 

 formed a separate island, and at the beginning of the present century a branch of 

 the Yuna known as the Gran Estero ("Great Inlet") still communicated east of 

 the peninsula with Escocesa Bay. The bed of the sound, although now completely 

 silted up, might easily be restored and transformed to a navigable canal. 



Nevertheless, the northern range of San Domingo begins in the Samana penin- 

 sula in the abrupt Pilon de Azucar (" Sugarloaf "), about 2,000 i:eet high, and the 



Fig- 189.— Monte-Ceisti Range and Vega Plain. 

 Sn.ile 1 : l,'250,noo. 



^1° West or ureenwich 



''■^-^irv:./"^, e\:-^..-s"MVV-.,';:> 



70° 



18 Miles. 



neighbouring Monte Diablo rises somewhat higher. Farther west the uplands 

 develop a coast-range running west-north-west for about 136 miles entirely within 

 San Domingan territory. This range, which takes the name of Monte Cristi from 

 the bluff at its western extremity, gradually contracts westward, but increases in 

 altitude from 1,200 or 1,300 feet to its culminating point, the Diego Campo, 4,000 

 feet. Farther on the range again falls, and its last crest, the Sella de Caballo, or 

 " Horse-saddle " (3,900 feet), terminates in the table-shaped Monte Cristi, so 

 named by Columbus, which rises sheer above the sea to a height of 790 feet. 

 The whole ^system has its steeper escarpments facing southwards, while its longer 

 slopes terminate on the north or Atlantic side in limestone cliffs with fringing 



