OF sa:nt() domixgo. 



53 



adjoining the river on its west side, is a long, very crooked chain of hills, called 

 " Linipia I^ariz," from a thorny vine which grows abnndantly on its sides. West of 

 this is another ridge culminating in Loma Joca, between 7,000 and 8,000 feet high, 

 after which it falls gradually into the rolling hills which border the Cibao Yalley. 

 Between these ridges are many pretty little valleys, supporting a scattered population, 

 such as Humunucu, about 2,500 feet above the sea level, Manabao, perhaps 500 feet 

 higher and the Cienega, almost at the foot of el Rucillo. 



West of this region, the spurs which run out between the Bao and Amina Rivers 

 are not of special importance. Their caiions are very deep, very narrow and rarely 

 penetrated except by straggling pig hunters. An illustration exists almost on the 

 edge of the village of San Jose de las Matas, which town, although far out of the 

 main mountains, is on the margin of a caSon 500 or GOO feet deep. Southwest of this 

 town, maldng the terminal point of a ridge, is a prominent little peak, el Eubio, 

 between 4,000 and 5,000 feet high, a good land mark from the east, north and north- 

 west, but entirely lost sight of when seen in connection with the great mass of Pico 

 Gallo and its neighbors. JSText west of it is one of the largest, if not the largest spur 

 sent out by the range, on its north side. This is Pico Gallo, a ridge lying between 

 the Magna and Cenobi, two branches of the Mao Kiver. The main chain averages 

 here about 7,000 feet high. From it the cross-ridges start very close together, l)ut 

 most of them fall rapidly, while the present one extends, with very little variation in 

 height, for ten miles northward, bearing in that distance two higher points, the most 

 northei'n and most prominent of which, el Gallo, is nearly 8,000 feet high. From 

 this peak the ridge falls with many undulations to Punta Lanca, a j^oint about as high 

 as el Rubio, and fully as prominent a land-mark. In the summer of 1871, accompanied 

 by two or three companions, I made an excursion into the mountains, penetrating to 

 the base of the dividing ridge, and obtained not only a good cross-section of the 

 geology, which will be described in its proper place, but also some valuable notes on 

 the topography of this almost unknown region. The ridges are innumerable and 

 remarkably narrow and sharp ; the caiions are very deep and oi'ten flanked by precipices 

 of naked rock. The outer hills, up to an elevation of say 4,000 feet, are clothed with 

 a continuous pine forest, carpeted with a scanty growth of grass. Higher up, the 

 greater moisture of the air produces a belt of trees similar to those nearer the coast, 

 followed in its turn by a region producing nothing but fern thickets. These last ex- 

 tend to the summits of the highest peaks, and make it next to impossible to climb 

 them. It is for this reason that the higher mountains of the island are so inaccessible. 

 I have been assured by old mountaineers, born at the base of Pico Gfallo, that so far 



