54 



ox TlIK ToPoaKAPllV AND (JEor.OOY 



as they know, iKjbody lias ever reached its siiinniit. There is nothmg to jjreveiit the 

 ascent except the iern. Its sh:»pes are gradual, and a dozen feasible routes can be 

 .selected from below by an experienced eye. Two men attempted it a few years ago, 

 and one of them told me that, after struggling all day, chopping every step with theii" 

 machetes, they wei-e obliged to sleep on the mountain side, and returned next morning, 

 giving up the attempt in despair. 



West of the vicinity of the Pico Gallo, there are no mountains of note on the 

 north side of the range except the little hill of Chaquet, west of Saraneta, reraarkal)le 

 only for being somewhat isolated, and consequently a good land-mark. Across the 

 border in Hayti, Monte Diablo stands out, a noble peak ; and south of the water-shed, 

 ]N"alga de Maco, another splendid hill, towers above everything. The latter, as seen 

 from Saraneta, seeuis to be a dozen miles or more south of the dividing ridge. It 

 is a peak of perhaps 7,000 to 8,000 feet high, abrupt on its eastern side and sloping at 

 an ano-le of 25° to 30° to the west. The Artibonite River rises far to the noithwest of 

 it, runs around its north, east and south sides, almost isolating it, and then runs down 

 the valley towards Hayti. A peculiar feature of that part of the mountain range in- 

 cluded in the water-shed of the Yaqui River and its tributaries is the extreme tortuosity 

 of the ridges and the consequent great length of the stream, as compared with what 

 might be anticipated from a knowledge of the width of the range. Thus the Mao 

 River sends branches far into the southwest, heading, so to speak, all of the streams 

 of the vicinity of Saraneta. These ridges are generally high, narrow and very 

 ci'owded, their summits often being so very narrow as to well merit the idiomatic 

 term of " cuchillo " (or knife), which is usually applied to them. It is not a rare 

 thing to travel for hundreds of yards along a crest hardly more than three or four 

 feet wide. 



The foot-hills of this portion of the range are dift'erent from any other part of the 

 island. They are generally high broad rolling lands, clothed with pine and grass, 

 almost always with a red gravelly soil and cut up by very deep ravines. As a result 

 of the loose . gravelly character of the soil and the scarcity of rain it is the most 

 barren region in the Republic. But little is cultivated on the hills beyond the food 

 necessary for the sustenance of the scattered population ; though in the little moun- 

 tain valleys and in the not infrequent river bottoms good crops of tobacco are raised 

 for sale. The people are an independent, hardy race of mountaineers, very light in 

 color, often nearly white, showing a large admixture of Indian and but little trace, 

 usually, of African l)lood. In fact many of the men would be mistaken in the United 

 States for " half " or quartei-breed " Indians. The men occujjy themselves princi- 



