OVERLAND FROM LA FE TO VINALES 217 



slight depressions now occupied by shallow lakes 

 and very thinly covered by straggling pines (P 

 occidental is), grasses, and some cabbage palms. 

 The sandy soil is unevenly mixed with clay 

 derived from the sierras from which source 

 came also a trace of leached-out iron salts that 

 now give the characteristic reddish stain to the 

 ground. 



The country traversed along the twenty-one 

 mile road from La Fe to Mendoza interested us 

 greatly, as it is different from anything seen before 

 in Cuba. The general aspect is that of a northern 

 country, and we were continually reminded of the 

 pine barrens of Georgia or, better, of the pine 

 regions of the Atlantic coastal plain of the United 

 States. The northern aspect is made the more 

 striking by many wild flowers that carpet por- 

 tions of the ground, and also by the fact that cer- 

 tain of these flowers, themselves of northern type, 

 grow in considerable profusion — a northern rather 

 than a tropical habit. By removing from sight 

 the occasional clumps of palmettoes it would be 

 difficult here to imagine oneself in Cuba, or even 

 in the semi-tropics. 



Barring a few indications of fresh-water shells 



