QUATERNARY DEPOSITS 505 



A magnificent view may be had from the top of the Lone Star Hill. 

 Toward the northeast it is limited at the distance of 5 to 7 miles by the 

 "Wava Peaks/' a high, very uneven-crested ridge, whose principal peak 

 may attain an altitude of 3,000 feet. To the left and much farther dis- 

 tant can be seen several long, uneven-crested mountain ranges. Directly 

 north is a broad, fiat-floored valley that may extend from the Big Falls 

 on the Pis-Pis River to the Wanks River. It seems bordered on the north 

 by low mountain ranges in Honduras. A little farther west of north 

 there is a group of high mountain ridges. Ten miles due west (mag- 

 netic) would take one into the heart of a group of mountains, whose 

 summits probably average 2,000 feet above sealevel, rising westward into 

 a higher range. After a group of lower mountains there is an isolated 

 high peak bearing about south 55 degrees west (magnetic) from Lone 

 Star Hill. Another high peak may be seen to the left. These are the 

 Cerro Salai (reputed altitude, 6,500 feet) and the Cerro Pia (reputed 

 altitude, 6,000 feet). In the foreground is a country of low mountains. 

 Over all the mountains, no matter how high and rugged, is the dense 

 tropical forest, except possibly at the summits of the two high peaks. 

 No volcanic cones are in sight. It is a rather old erosion topography 

 with some unusual features due to the great forest and the humid cli- 

 mate. The land has been reduced far below the original volcanic surface, 

 and if a peneplain was developed subsequent to the cessation of volcanic 

 activity it has been completely destroyed. In short, all the hills are 

 residuals, but the valleys are not baseleveled except locally by hard ribs 

 of rock. The topography indicates the relative resistance to decomposi- 

 tion and erosion of the rocks to a great degree. 



In descending the Tunkey River 20 miles from Barbones, we found 

 the same alternation of alluvium-floored sections of valley and relatively 

 narrow rocky gorges. The village of Tunkey is situated on the high 

 bank in the angle between the Tunkey and Banbana rivers. The latter 

 stream at about 5 miles west seems to break through a high mountain 

 range apparently trending north. From the village it flows southeast- 

 wardly in a moderately broad, even-floored valley, near which there are 

 several hill peaks. To the south the country is evidently rolling, with- 

 out any prominent peaks, but northward, toward the Oconguas country, 

 the ridges rise higher in the distance until they culminate in a high and 

 abrupt range. 



The Banbana River in the first 8 or 10 miles below Tunkey evidently 

 winds about in a rather narrow valley. The banks are generally 30 to 35 

 feet high, and consist in part of clay produced by the decomposition of 

 the bedrock and in part of the brown sand of the Modern alluvium. 



