PAN DE AZUCAR 95 



and was bubbling over with mirth. At such times 

 he is so comical that one cannot help joining in his 

 laughter. The arriero is one of the most in- 

 teresting members of the Cuban avifauna. The 

 color of the bird is pale grayish brown with a metal- 

 lic flush, the throat and the anterior part of the 

 under surface are grayish, washed with pale 

 brown, while the posterior portion is pale reddish 

 brown. The large, broad tail feathers, excepting 

 the inner ones, which are the longest, are tipped 

 with white and crossed by a broad band of black 

 just within the white tip. 



During the course of the afternoon we sur- 

 mounted a low crest at the eastern end of the 

 Pan and entered a hoyo or crater-like depression 

 within, on the floor of which some enterprising 

 families cultivated tobacco. These hoyos, or simk- 

 en round valleys within the sierras, are another 

 manifestation of the cave formations constantly 

 going on. In the case of all hoyos the roof has 

 long since fallen in and disintegrated into a soil 

 of excessive richness, which produces by the most 

 primitive cultivation a superior grade of tobacco 

 leaf. As a rule the dweller within the hoyo must 

 obtain water for his family use from rivers without, 



