PHYSICAL ASPECT. 



131 



Nipe. 1 Perhaps the abundance of copper spoken of 

 by the oonquistadores of the sixteenth century, at 

 which time the Spaniards observed the natural 

 productions of America better than they did in 

 subsequent ages, is due to the formations of horn- 

 blende slate, and slate de transition, mixed with 

 diorite and euphotide rocks analogous to those I 

 found in the hills at Guanabacoa. 



The central and western parts of the island contain 

 two formations of compact limestone ; one with 

 sandy clay, and the other with gypsum. The first 

 of these presents (I will not say from its relative 

 age, or its superposition, which I do not know, but 

 from its composition and appearance) some similarity 

 with the formation of the Jura. It is white or of a 

 light yellow ochre color, brittle, sometimes conchoidal 



1 This supposition of ancient riches is not unlikely, and if we 

 wonder at the small product of the gold washings in our days in 

 Cuba and St. Domingo, at the same places where, in former times, 

 considerable sums were found, we should remember that in Brazil, 

 the yield of the gold washings has fallen from 6,600 kilogrammes 

 to less than 595, between the years 1760 and 1820. The lumps of 

 gold ; several pounds in weight, which have been found in our days, 

 in Florida and the two Carolinas, demonstrate the primitive richness 

 of the entire valley of the Antilles, between the island of Cuba and 

 the Appalachian chain ; but it is natural that the yield of the gold 

 washings should diminish with much greater rapidity than that of the 

 working of subterraneous veins. — H. 



