222 CRUISE OF THE BARRERA 



apportioned to them an hour each, obtaining from 

 both a valuable catch of highly prized material. 

 On one of these mogotes, Bartsch met with a 

 painful accident, though fortunately not serious. 

 When hopelessly entangled among lianes and beset 

 with "pull and haul" vines, he fell into a patch of 

 cactus on a rock-level some six feet below, receiving 

 many wounds from their thorns and considerable 

 shock from the fall itself. We northern people, 

 whose physical adjustment is not in perfect tune 

 with the conditions of tropical life, usually suffer 

 when there more ill effect from any shock or 

 accident, or indiscretion, than do the natives 

 themselves. 



Late in the afternoon, we resumed our journey 

 to Vinales, stopping for a few minutes at the top 

 of the descent into the valley to enjoy, once again, 

 the superb view. Words cannot picture the charm 

 of that view any more than can they describe the 

 fragrance of a flower. 



The ideal innkeeper of "El Central," in Vinales, 

 appeared to be delighted to see us and assigned to 

 us our old room of four cots, with a veranda facing 

 the town square and the ancient church with the 

 bell tower. We counted upon two full days in 



