PORTO RICO 



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feet above the intervening valleys. The extent of this country 

 north of Lares and San Sebastian we were unable to determine 

 from personal study, but it apparently stretched below us to the 

 northern seacoast. By the courtesy of Captain A. C. Macomb, 

 5th United States cavalry, we present the following interesting 

 sketch of this region from his pen : 



''As you look out to the north and northeast from Las Marias the eye 

 sweeps over the valley of the Rio Guacio (Prieto, also Anasco), and the 

 horizon is a hill formation made from the breaking down of a limestone 

 plateau. This is the range of mountains that one strikes north of Lares. 

 The range shows very strongly one mile north of San Sebastian, passes to 

 the northwest, and juts out just north of Aguadilla. The railroad from 

 Mayaguez runs into it at Aguadilla, and its very steep rugged hills of 

 " worm-eaten " limestone are seen to the eastward from the car window. 



BANK OF RIO LOIZA, COASTAL PLAIN 



The railroad ends at Aguadilla on account of the hill region mentioned. 

 The wagon road from Aguadilla on to San Juan rises rapidly on to the 

 limestone plateau, over a rocky stiff grade; then the country carries the 

 mind back to Texas— the surface gently rolling, sandy, and rocky, no 

 mud. fine pasture sloping seaward (northerly), but reaching the sea in a 

 bold bluff notwithstanding. When my troop struck this new country, 

 free from the everlasting red mud, and were even able to raise a slight 

 dust, a murmur of content rose from the column. The Guajataca cuts a 

 great gash through the plateau, and its west bank is a rocky limestone 

 bluff of 1 75 feet. By the winding road just east of the river we rise once 

 more to the plateau and soon reach Quebradillas ; thence to Camuy over 

 a rocky and sandy road. The road falls gently into Camuy, which is just 

 at the foot of the north face of the plateau, about one-half mile from the 

 north coast. This coast is generally rocky, but here its surface is sand over 

 limestone rock. At the sea itself is a range of sand hills 50 feet high— just 



