CHAPTER XVIII 



Sierra de Vinales 



Sunday, May 31st. The town of Vinales is 

 dominated by the forested height of El Tumbadero 

 which conceals from view the main range (Sierra 

 de Vinales) to the north. The southern face of 

 the main range presents an almost continuous 

 paredofiy or vertical wall of rock, extending from 

 the Puerta del Ancon, on the east, to a western 

 termination far beyond sight. This paredon is 

 buttressed by a high and very steep talus covered 

 with guinea grass and in places by a thin scrub 

 forest. Above this talus of some two hundred feet 

 elevation the paredon presents the somewhat un- 

 usual sierra feature of an approximately horizontal 

 stratification which is warped and undulating, 

 showing the effect of former great pressure and 

 strain. The rock is discolored and considerably 

 altered by metamorphic process. It is just pos- 

 sible that the limestone of this southern range of 

 the Organos Mountains is a shade older than that 



234 



4 



