SIERRA DE FINALES 241 



apprehensive. In time, however, he worried less 

 about the hermits, and we, on the other hand, be- 

 came sufficiently valiant to help in the capture of 

 his snakes — provided they were decently small 

 and not too resentful. One of these (a small boid, 

 Ungalia maculata) Clapp and I undertook to cap- 

 ture while Rodriguez was busy at something else. 

 He was probably not over two feet in length but 

 the amount of excitement and nerve force ex- 

 pended on our part would hardly be more than 

 justified in the capture of Lange's fifty-foot 

 Amazon snake. Ungalia represents a genus of 

 smaller Cuban boids. It is also met in other 

 islands of the greater Antilles and has Central 

 American affinities. 



From the top of the talus, a superb view of the 

 valley below is obtained. Above, the paredon rises 

 perpendicularly, though not smoothly as is usually 

 the case. Here the horizontal strata permit of a 

 form of erosion that provides many little shelves 

 and projections upon which air plants and agaves 

 find lodgment and relieve the monotony of a solid 

 wall. From above, the sierra forest sends down 

 long streamers of lianes and vines that often swing 



free from the wall. Here and there clusters of 

 16 



