OVERLAND FROM LA FE TO FINALES 221 



rocky belt is narrow, and having crossed it the 

 train enters the wide Vuelta Abajo, with pine 

 lomas in view off to the north. 



At Pinar del Rio we proceeded once more to the 

 Ricardo hotel and arranged for a motor to take us 

 immediately to Vihales. We had the pleasure at 

 the hotel of encountering our good friends, Mr. 

 Morse and Sr. Diaz, of the Matahambre mine, 

 who had so hospitably received us at their house 

 when we had been en route to Azucar. We were 

 very impatient to get started, as we had planned 

 upon this occasion to make an examination of 

 the little mogotes to the west of the road at Kilo- 

 meter 14. The larger one to the east of the road 

 we had thoroughly explored a month before, and 

 the gratifying results of our collecting there had 

 filled us with desire to complete the work by doing 

 the others. These mogotes, as already noted, are 

 remnants of a line of sierras now almost wholly 

 eroded away, leaving but widely scattered frag- 

 ments amid the lomas. Their special fauna, as 

 a relic of a practically extinct one, is of special 

 interest. 



The two mogotes to the west of the road are 

 about a mile away, small and inconspicuous. We 



