OF SAXTO DOMIXCIO. 



129 



It will be noticed thnt I have, in the foregoing description of the region of the 

 upper Mao, repeatedly mentioned the magnificent pine forests that clothe these 

 interior mountains. With an enei-getic and industrious population, every stream in 

 these mountains would float down " saw-logs,"" and rafts of pine boards floating down 

 the Yaqui, destined for export, would be one of the commonest sights on the rivei". 

 As it is, I have repeatedly paid one dollar apiece for oi'dinary — nay, worse than 

 ordinar}'' — boards, hand-sawed, in one of the largest towns in the valley, and in full 

 sight of where the tree grew. In Santo Domingo City I have paid (the regular price) 

 $50 per M. for very inferior white pine boards, I'ough, full of knots, and half of them 

 split or otherwise faulty ; and as a special favor I got second-class yellow pine 

 tongued and grooved flooring for $60 per M., the ordinary price; that first asked of 

 me being $75. Here is a chance for American enterprise. 



West of the Mao River the mountains lose their impoi-tance very rapidl}^ The 

 main ridge continues as high and as prominent as ever, but the spurs dwindle both 

 in height and length. The sti'eams that run from them are, with one or two excep- 

 tions, quite insignificant, the Guayubin being the only one of any note, although the 

 Crurabo and several others exist in the region. The outer belt of eruptive rocks 

 continues its course until it is covered up and disajopears under the gravels near 

 Savaneta ; but the other belts continue towards and into Hayti. Since it is not my 

 purpose to describe Savaneta in this connection, there remains but little more to note. 

 There is a trail crossing the Mao from Dajao, running past Gurabo and thence down 

 into the plain of Savaneta. Another runs likewise from Guaraguano and joins with 

 the first in the little collection of houses known as Gurabo; but except the trail in 

 from Savaneta to Almacigo, no routes penetrates the mountains. The bi'oad flat of 

 which Latoma formi a part, and which is really a broad-toppsd ridge bounded by 

 deep canons, is called Meseta, or the Little Table-land, and is made up of slates, &c,, 

 the synclinal of Dajao. Its open park-like groves of j^ine, with their thickets of two 

 or three species of fan-palm, and their green and brown carpets of grass and pine 

 leaves studded with flowers, foini pictures incongruous in their mixture of tropical 

 and northern types. In some parts of this region the palms are so abundant as to 

 form the most marked feature, but usually they are in the minority. The ridge from 

 Guaraguano has but little to distinguish it from the Meseta. Both on this part of 

 the route and on that v/est of Gurabo pines and palms make up the greater part of 

 the vegetation, and the red gravelly soil indicates that below there is either a 

 magnesian or a clay shale. This proves to be the case ; and examinations of the 

 b'canty outcrops show that, except where the "second belt" crosses the ridge, the 

 A. r. s. — VOL. XV, 2g. 



