ENGINEERING EEPOETS. 
39 
feet above the bed of the stream. The width of this channel or 
gorge is from one to three hundred feet at the base, from which 
the banks rise directly, on slopes, varying from 20° to 90°. 
The line, for about two miles above the confluence of the Pa- 
chine Kiver, follows the east bank of the Malatengo, with an 
average direction of about S. 10° E. ; then crossing the river 
(which here makes a short bend to the right), it follows the west 
bank for about a mile in a southeasterly direction ; then cross- 
ing to the left bank, it commences curving to the right, making 
a total angle of 95° 15' ; thence its course averages about S. 65° 
W. for a distance of one and three-fourths miles ; then crossing 
to the right bank, and curving to the left, it runs in a southerly 
direction about three-fourths of a mile, to a point where the 
river makes a sharp bend to the right ; crossing which, it follows 
up the valley of a small stream tributary to the Malatengo, and 
for two miles after leaving the river, has an average direction of 
about S. 20° E. A mile and a half further on, our line of sur- 
vey connects with the line from Chivela, making a total length 
of seventeen miles. 
From the point of beginning, near Mt. Sarabia, to the Mala- 
tengo River, the cost of construction will be very light, and the 
soil is admirably well adapted to the formation of a permanent 
road. 
For the first two miles of this distance, the line is confined 
to nearly its present location by the mountain range on the right, 
and high, irregular ground to the left. The section of country 
lying between the Sarabia Mountain and Boca del Monte, and 
extending westward to within half a mile of the Sarabia Kiver, 
is entirely destitute of timber, except a small growth bordering 
the principal streams, and is generally unfit for cultivation, ex- 
cept in the valleys ; the formation of these plains is sandstone, 
underlying a thick deposit of drift : this is generally disposed 
in long winding ridges, the slopes of which have the appear- 
ance of being scooped out into deep basin-shaped depressions, 
leaving corresponding elevations, the difference of level being 
often 50 or 100 feet. 
The Sarabia Mountain consists of a high range of hills, ex- 
tending about three miles in a direction W. 2ST; W. by E. S. E., 
