13 



blackish clay-slate*, which might easily be 

 confounded with the secondary thonschiefer ; 

 and these strata hinder the water from filtering 

 into the crevices, of which the Alpine lime- 

 stone is full. This last offers to the view here, 

 as in the country of Saltzburg, and on the chain 

 of the Apennines, broken and steep beds. The 

 sandstone, on the contrary, wherever it is seated 

 on the calcareous rock, renders the appearance 

 of the scene less savage. The hills which it 

 forms appear more rounded, and the gentler 

 slopes are covered with a thicker mould. 



In those humid places, where the sandstone 

 envelopes the Alpine limestone, some trace of 

 cultivation is constantly found. We met with 

 huts inhabited by mestizoes in the ravine of 

 Los Frailes, as well as between the Cuesta of 

 Caneyes, and the Rio Guriental. Each of these 

 huts is placed in the centre of an enclosure, 

 that contains plantains, papaw trees, sugar- 

 canes, and maize. We might be surprised at 

 the small extent of these cultivated spots, if we 

 did not recollect*^, that an acre planted with 

 plantains % produces near twenty times as 

 much food as the same space sown with corn. 

 In Europe, our wheat, barley, and rye, cover 

 vast spaces of ground ; and in general the ara- 



* Schieferthon. 



+ Political Essay on New Spain, Vol. ii. p. 366. 

 J Musa paradisiaca. 



