400 MEXICO, CENTRAL AMERICA, WEST INDIES. 



peaks, sucli as Entre los Rios, Gallo and Jicoma, rise to a height of 9,000 feet. It 

 was this section of the San Domingan highlands to which the aborigines applied 

 the name of Cibao, that is. " Mountain " in a pre-eminent sense. 



But the two culmin&ting summits lie beyond the axis of the Cibao range. 

 These are the rugged Pico de Yaqui, often called Rucillo, or " Grey," from its 

 cloud-capped crest, and farther south the Loma Tina, neither of which has yet been 

 ascended. They are both probably about 10,000 feet high, Yaqui, the more central, 

 being also the loftier of the two. North-westwards the range terminates in the 

 long promontor}^ of St. Nicholas Mole, so named from its resemblance to an 

 artificial breakwater. 



The group of uplands branching off south-westwards from tlie Cibao range, 

 about the centre of the island, are so completely interrupted by the broad basin of 

 the Rio Neyba or Yaqui that they may be regarded as forming an independent 

 system. After rising to heights of 6,260 and 7,540 feet in the Loma Paciencia 

 (Pansa) and Loma Barranca respectively, they fall in the direction of the west, 

 where they are divided by the running waters into irregular sections. They are 

 continued south of the Artibonite river in offsboots running parallel with the 

 Cahos mountains, which dominate the opposite slope of the valley, and which are 

 connected with the northern range by the Monts Noirs branch. Gonave Island, 

 in the bay west of Port-au-Prince, forms a chain of hills disposed in the same 

 general direction as the neighbouring coast-ranges. 



The south-west peninsula of Haiti, from Neyba Bay to Cape Tiburon, con- 

 stituting the fourth mountain system of the island, has its origin within San 

 Domingan territory, where it develops a huge triangular mass terminating south- 

 wards at Cape Beata (Petit Mongon) near the islet of like name. This hilly and 

 densely-wooded region has not yet been visited by scientific explorers. It is 

 skirted on the north by the Buburuco (Bahuruco) crest, which, after penetrating 

 into Haiti territory, culminates in the Sierra de la Selle (8,900 feet). One of its 

 spurs, running north-west towards Port-au Prince Bay, rises in Prince's Peak 

 (Mont Noir) to a height of 5,000 feet. 



Beyond a depression near the neck of the peninsula the system again rises to 

 a considerable altitude, developing the magnificent La Hotte range with Mount la 

 Hotte (7,400 feet) and terminating in the abrupt headland of Cape Tiburon 

 (2,870 feet). From Neyba Bay to this point the system has a total length of 

 230 miles. 



Rivers, Lakes, Fringing Reefs, 



San Domingo is abundantly watered, having a heavier rainfall than the two 

 western islands, while the limestone caverns where the surface waters disappear 

 are far rarer than in Jamaica. Every district has its rivulet or river, and the 

 whole island might be transformed by irrigation into a vast plantation capable of 

 supporting millions of inhabitants. 



The Yaqui peak in the main Cibao range is the chief centre of the hydro- 

 graphic system. From its slopes descend two rivers, the North or Great Yaqui, 



