3i 



Peckham — Bituminous Deposits of Cuba. 



bitumens of varying density, and yielding in a few instances 

 still more fluid bitumens from wells, covers an area 150 miles 

 long and 30 wide. Motembo, with its naphtha well, is near the 

 center. Other wells and springs in large number throughout 

 this tract have exhibited petroleum and maltha of varying 

 density. It was my intention to have examined the principal 

 localities where bitumen occurs throughout this region, but 

 the rainy season with unusually heavy rains came on four 

 weeks earlier than usual, rendering the portions of the country 

 beyond the reach of railroads inaccessible. I, however, had 





Cardenas and Vicinity (Pen sketch by the author). 



the good fortune to spend some weeks in looking up a few of 

 the places where bitumen occurs in the vicinity of Cardenas, 

 and to a distance of 40 miles to the eastward. The traveling 

 w r as done by railroad and on horseback and enabled me to 

 study the immediate surface of the country. The city of 

 Cardenas is built on a bay of the same name. The shores are 

 low and consequently the bay is shallow. Both to east and west 

 are swamps which in the rainy season are full of water. 



Directly south of Cardenas, some eight or nine miles, is a 

 steep ascent, two or three hundred feet high, on the top of 

 which is a plateau. This plateau extends still farther south 

 to a higher range, 15 miles from Cardenas. The country 

 between the coast and the plateau first mentioned is level and 

 dry, except a comparatively narrow strip bordering upon the 

 ocean. A great deal of this country is rough, with a lime- 

 stone that interferes with its cultivation, rendering it of little 

 pecuniary value. This limestone is so plentiful that a great 



