84 CRUISE OF THE BARRERA 



lips. It was at this very spot that Arango stopped 

 fifty years ago and made the first scientific explora- 

 tion of the region. Since that time the mountain 

 has not been visited by naturalists, or at least no 

 published records of such visits exist. 



Notwithstanding the labors of Charles Wright, 

 who, as already noted, for four years collected the 

 Cuban plants for Asa Gray and Ghiesbach, it would 

 seem that the botany of the sierra is even yet very 

 imperfectly known. Standing at the base of 

 Azucar — or any other typical sierra of the Organos 

 ranges — one is a little dazed by the heavy mass 

 of vegetation composed of an infinite number of 

 species of trees and shrubs. The lower portions 

 of the sharp elevations are densely covered with 

 a tangle of vegetation almost impossible to 

 penetrate. The "pull and haul" vines {Pisonia 

 aculeata), that in the more favored situations 

 attain almost the dignity of trees, present a barrier 

 as effective as barbed wire. The curved spines of 

 this vine point in two directions and are so dis- 

 posed upon the stems that they catch and hold 

 the bewildered victim in a double grip tearing 

 his clothes and lacerating his flesh. It was to us 

 a frequent occurrence to become so hopelessly 



