74 



ON THE TOPOaiiArilY AND GEOLOGY 



but can be seen fo]- a long distance, owing to its isolation. West of the Siei-ra- Part- 

 ridge, directly west of the Isabella River, is a very marked monntain range rnnning 

 south from the central chain, and bearing two or three peaks worthy of notice. The 

 most northern of these is Siete Picos, or Seven Peaks, so called from the number of 

 peaks that can be counted on its summit. Directly south of it, not more than ten 

 miles off, is Mount Mariana Chica, a fine hill with a square top, one of the best 

 known and most easily recognized mountains on the south side. Isabella River* 

 rises in the ridge between these two peaks, and running around the east side of the 

 the latter, it empties into the Ozama. Along the western base of the Mariana Chica 

 ridge, adjoining the Jaina, is a beautiful and fertile farming country that must some 

 day attract a thriving settlement. It is pleasantly variegated between savana and 

 woods, borders a line river, and in some places acquires a width of upwards of a 

 mile. It was in this tract that there existed a town in the time of the earl}^ Spaniards, 

 now entirely destroyed, and its name forgotten by the people of the vicinity. J^J^ot 

 having access to any work on the history of Santo Domingo, I hardly feel warranted 

 in being very positive, though I have an indistinct recollection of having been told 

 that it was destroyed by an earthquake. It was called Buenaventura, and the spot 

 is now known as Monte Pueblo. The entire tract is overgrown w ith large forest trees, 

 one in particular, two feet in diameter, gi-owing out of the corner of a wall, while 

 others equally large have sprung up among the ruins. The walls of a few houses, 

 proljabl}^ the more impoi'tant ones, still exist as lines of^stones, usually rough, though 

 in one case nicely squared. The}^ are rarely more than a foot or two high, and in one 

 instance indicate a bidlding of considerable size. One house stood in what is the 

 line of the present road, and the horse-trail actually winds among the stones that 

 once formed its w^alls, and crosses its principal room, the outline of which can still be 

 made out. Although the town was at a long distance from the river, and, in fact, far 

 from any considerable stream of water, but a single well has been detected, and that 

 is now dry, doubtless choked by debris from above. Another excavation exists, in 

 the shape of a vault, neatly lined with brick, about eight feet square, five or six deep, 

 and accessible by means of a well-like aperture of two feet square. This is usually 

 said to have been the treasure-vault of a Government mint, established here to coin 

 the gold washed in the vicinity. I have never been able to learn if this is a tradition 

 founded on fact, or if it is simply a theory based on the pi-esence of gold in the 



* It must be borne in mind, tluit many local names are reijeated in Santo Domingo, and care must be iised not to 

 confound them. Thus we have this river, as v?ell as the Isabella west of Puerto Plata ; we have two Yaqui Kivers, 

 two towns called Macoris, and, stran<;er still, two places in the Cibao called by the old Indian name of Hu-mu-nu-cu, 

 within tliirty miles oi each other in a straight line ! 



