16 CRUISE OF THE BARRERA 



the very acme of arboreal grace. In the Havana 

 province, where a rich limestone soil is the rule, 

 they reach their greatest splendor of even smooth 

 straight stem and rich color of leaf. They are 

 perhaps slightly less perfect in Pinar del Rio where 

 their presence always indicates the best patches of 

 soil. The beauty of these trees along the railway 

 line is often marred, however, by the cutting of 

 the great leaves for use in thatching the native 

 houses or bohios, and the alternate thinning and 

 swelling of the trunks indicate the successive 

 despoilment of their foliage. 



Proceeding west, a gradual change in vegeta- 

 tion becomes apparent. A straight stemmed 

 cabbage palm (Inodes umbraculifera) , tall growing 

 and of stiff formal appearance, appears more and 

 more frequently, the royals gradually disappearing. 

 It suggests at once its near relative, the Floridan 

 palm, Inodes palmata. Besides this cabbage palm, 

 one or more copernicious palms of low growth and 

 large fan-shaped leaves appear, and in places 

 almost dominate the landscape. Then comes the 

 Acrocomia lasiospatha, a palm of swollen fusiform 

 stem, thickly covered with spines, first appearing 

 singly and then scattered about in groups. 



