60 



the forests. Farther to the West, at Cerro del 

 Cuchivano, the chain of mountains seems as if 

 broken by the effects of an earthquake. The 

 crevice is more than a hundred and fifty toises 

 wide, is surrounded by perpendicular rocks, and 

 is filled with trees, the interwoven branches of 

 which find no room to spread. The crevice 

 appears like a mine opened by the falling in of 

 the earth. A torrent, the Rio Juagua, traverses 

 this crevice, the appearance of which is highly 

 picturesque, and which is called Risco del Cu- 

 chivano. The river rises at the distance of se- 

 ven leagues to the South-west, at the foot of the 

 mountain of the Brigantine, and forms some 

 beautiful cascades, before it spreads through the 

 plain of Cumanacoa. 



We visited several times a small farm, the 

 Conuco of Bermudez, opposite the crevice of 

 Cuchivano, where tobacco, plantains,, and se- 

 veral species of cotton-trees*, are cultivated in 

 the moist grounds ; especially that tree, the cot- 

 ton of which is of a nankeen colour, and which 

 is so common in the island of Margaretta ^« 

 The proprietor of the farm told us that the cre- 

 vice was inhabited by jaguar tigers. These 



* Gossipium uniglandulosum, improperly called herba- 

 ceum, and g. barbadense. Mr. de Rohr has shown how 

 much confusion still prevails in the determination of the 

 varieties and species of the cotton-tree. 



t G. religiosum. 



