128 



Oisr THE TOPOGKAPHY AND GEOLOGY 



extent was visible in the entire radins of from ten to twenty miles. To the northeast 

 the noble cone of the Gallo stood ont pre-eminent — a mountain whose summit, albeit 

 at the top of a reasonably gentle slope, has not been stood upon by man during the 

 memory of the " oldest inhabitant." Two of the most famous mountaineers of the 

 region, named Durand, father and son, pig-hunters, who spend nearly all their lives 

 on these mountain sides, and to whom climbing is no hardship, essayed the ascent 

 from motives of curiosity some four or five years ago. They say they chopped their way 

 through fern thickets nearly all day, and near nightfall one ascended a tree to ascertain 

 their whereabouts. They were not a third of the way up. They slept at the root of 

 that tree, and next day went back. They declare that to reach the apex pioneers 

 would have to chop for a week to open a trail, and this where the nearest water is at 

 the base of the mountain. South of the Gallo, and but very little lower, a rounded 

 knob on the middle of the ridge is called the Corral de Mateo. Between these two 

 the Senador canon runs southwest to join the Cenobi, while other branches of the 

 same stream drain a breadth of a dozen miles of the north face of the main range. 

 The Canna drains the southwest face of the ridge on which we stood, a narrow canon 

 crowded in between the Cenobi and the Cidra. This river takes its rise in a peak 

 hardly less marked than the Gallo. It is on the main ridge, and perhaps ten miles 

 southwest of that mountain. After diligent inquiry I could find no name for it among 

 the people, so I have ventured to propose for it the name of an honored fiiend, and 

 a gentleman who has worked hard and successfully for his country's good. It is 

 designated on the map as Pico Baez, and is the only mountain in the country to 

 which we have attempted to give a name. The Cidra runs nearly parallel with the 

 central ridge, receiving many little tributaries from the south, though but few from 

 the northern side. In its course it passes also Loma Jalapa, and shortly after bends 

 north, receiving numerous branches from the west, and empties into the Mao. On 

 the Cidra, fifteen miles from its mouth, we found the third or most southern intrusive 

 belt ; and here we met another instance of the repetition of a lithological character as 

 a streak in a " massive eruption." The white gneissoid rock found by Mr. Speare on 

 the Magna, and rediscovered by myself on the upper Cenobi, is again seen on the 

 Cidra. Its mechanical peculiarities are perfectly reproduced. Its laminated struc- 

 ture, found nowhere else on the Island, is marked enough to catch the eye at first 

 sight ; but in this last case there is a change in its ingredients. I could detect no 

 mica ; and hoi'nblende ari'anged along the lines of lamination is so abundant as 

 sometimes to make up a half of the bulk. I shall not attempt to theorize as to 

 the cause of this stratification, so to speak, in what arc indisputably eruptive rock^. 

 I content myself with calling attention to it. 



