66 



OjST the TOPOC;iiArilY ANB (JEOI.OdY 



are pretty nearly of the same size, the Mao being perhaps the longest and carrying 

 the greatest volume of Avater. 



Geologically speaking, the valley just described., and the mountain tract to the 

 north of it, are identical. The same rocks compose the mountain that underlie the 

 plain, the elevating forces having acted along but a single anticlinal, and leaving the 

 valley undisturbed, Avith the trilling exception of the Samba Hill. These mountains 

 — for which, in default of a better, I haA'e proposed the name of the Monte Crlsti 

 range — are about one hundred and fifty miles long, and vary from ten to thirt}^ miles 

 wide. In its lowest part, towards the extreme west, it is but a few hundred feet 

 high, Avhile a dozen jjeaks ranged aloiig its entire extent exceed a thousand, and one, 

 Diego Campo, near Santiago, is nearly four thousand feet high. 



The range partakes, to some extent, of the same climatic influences as the valley, 

 though to a much less degree, as might be anticipated from its lying nearer the 

 ocean. The eastern end is not unlike its neighbor Samana, while the part fi'om 

 Isabella west is dry, arid, and much like the valley to the south of it. Standing on 

 the table-land at the mouth of the Isabella Eiver, the site of the first settlement of 

 Columbus on the island, the view is cheerless in the extreme. As far as the eye can 

 reach, nothing is visiljle but a succession of dry yellow hills, parched and barren. 

 No green thing is to be seen in the distance, except a rare mangrove swamp, 

 suggestive of mud and quicksand. To heighten the eftect, the spectator sees a 

 similar growth at his feet, reeking Avith foul odors, and around him is nothing but 

 thorn-bushes and cactus. It is difficult to imagine Avhat could have induced the 

 great discoA^erer to haA^e pitched on such a spot as this, Avhen the coast of Hayti to 

 the west, and the entire coast of Santo Domingo, to the east of Isabella, offered so 

 many more inducements — equally good and better harbors, more accessible and 

 better water, rich A^egetation instead of a desert, equally defensible positions, and, in 

 a word, all the conditions for the safe establishment of a Aveak colony in a strange 

 and hostile country. There are a fcAV fragments of roughly-built stone walls still 

 standing, barely more than a foot high ; and the owner, Avho acted as my guide, 

 expressed his perfect willingness to sell site, ruins, landing, cactus, mangrove SAvamp 

 — all, for a hundred dollars. 



The appearance presented by the range from Isabella is not belied by a closer 

 examination. It diminishes rapidly in width and height as it approaches its Avestern 

 extremity. The scarcity of rain produces not only a desert vegetation, but also a 

 scarcity of springs and running water. A fcAV small fertile valleys exist on the north 

 side, and near the base, on the south side, are a yery few springs. But tAA'O land- 



