PAN DE GUAJAIBON 265 



cease boxing the compass and head directly for 

 our destination, which at last it did. We made a 

 final sharp descent into a rain-soaked valley of 

 limestone soil — a perfect quagmire of slippery clay, 

 traversed by many streams feeding into the San 

 Marcos. Fording many of these as well as the 

 larger river itself, we swung at last into the finca 

 of San Juan de Sagua, a tobacco estate, situated 

 at the western end of the Pan and close under the 

 foot of a southwestern spur of the big mountain. 

 Guajaibon at last! 



The tobacco plantation of San Juan de Sagua 

 is a very old estate. The owners have cultivated 

 the rich valley lying within a "bay" formed by 

 an insweeping curve of the "shore line" into the 

 western end of the Pan. The mountain rises 

 everywhere precipitately from its base and is 

 densely forested. The valley portion, occupied 

 by the finca, having been reclaimed from the wild 

 state, is now a series of open fields bordered by 

 royal palms and patches of exceedingly dense 

 growth. There is a central house of some preten- 

 sion, a barn, a large drying shed of semi-open 

 construction with high palm-thatched roof, and 

 scattered about within the palm groves are a 



