130 



HUMBOLDT ' S CUBA. 



the "Maiden's Paps," and the "Pan de Guajaibon." 1 

 This level of the limestone formation of Cuba, 

 declining toward the northwest, indicates the sub- 

 marine union of these rocks with the similar low 

 lands of the Bahama Islands, Florida, and Yuca- 

 tan. 



As observation has been limited to Havana and 

 its immediate neighborhood, we should not be sur- 

 prised at the profound ignorance displayed in 

 relation to the geognosy of the Sierra del Cobre. 

 Don Francisco Kamirez, a traveller, who had been a 

 pupil of Proust, and was well versed in the chemical 

 and mineralogical sciences, informed me that the 

 western part of the island is granitic, and that he 

 had found there gneiss and primitive slate. From 

 these granitic formations have probably arisen the 

 alluvial sands mixed with gold which were worked 

 with so much zeal during the early years of the 

 conquest, to the great misfortune of the natives, and 

 vestiges of them are still found in the rivers of 

 Holguin and Escambray; these alluvial sands are 

 found generally in the vicinity of Villa Clara, Santi 

 Espiritu, Puerto Principe, Bayamo, and the Bay of 



1 2484 feet high. Further west, on the northern coast, we have the 

 " Sierra de los Organos," and " Sierra de Rosario," and on the southern 

 coast, the u Sierra de Rio Puerco." — H. 



