134 



ox THE TOPOUKAPHY AND CiEOLOGY 



by the washing away of the surface, and the foothold of the horses was extremely 

 insecui'e ; at the same time this denudation furnished a splended section of a couple 

 of hundred feet at least of a dark brownish, nearly black argillaceous slate, dipping 

 south about 35°. From the Rancho de Limon," as this place is called, the route 

 follows the left bank of the river two or three miles to Hondo Valle, where, on the 

 nearly flat points of two or three hills, level enough to perch a house or two, 

 there are three houses, occupied by as many families. What possib'e reason 

 there is for people to live in such a place as this does not appear to the passing 

 traveller. The country is not so over-populated that they should be driven here 

 for want of room elsewhere. They can cultivate little or nothing, and it would 

 seem that cattle or pigs would rufi wild if turned loose in these hills. Still there 

 must be some inducement, lor the settlement is an old one, and the people inhabit 

 it constantly. The river cailon is so narrow that there is hardly room for a 

 trail, and the old one was destroyed by encroachments of the river but a short 

 time before our visit. Another, however, high up on the hill side, formerly used 

 only in times of freshets, is now used constantly, and although much rougher and 

 in most cases more dangerous, is by for the more picturesque. At every turn one 

 can look down into the foaming river, rushing past precipices or between narrows of 

 nearly black slate ; and in one place, where there is a little grassy fiat, the river has 

 washed away the softer slates, and left reefs of sandstone strata hundreds of feet 

 long projecting through the grass and running east and west, dipping south as high 

 as GO^ to 80°. Again the road descends one steep hill to cross the river and ascend 

 one still steeper, where one has to be guilty of the meanness of helping himself to 

 climb by holding on to his poor horse's tail ; and arrived at the top, the least enthu- 

 siastic will be forced to stop to admire the grand scene behind him. Perhaps noAvhere 

 on the island is there a finer mountain prospect than from this spot. The heart of 

 the island looms up in full view ; peaks eight and nine thousand feet high shut in the 

 picture. The Rucillo on one side and Loma Tina on the other rival each other in 

 height, while a dozen others, hardly their inferiors, stud the interval. The mountain 

 slopes are so steep that it would seem that nothing but a goat could traverse them. 

 The river is a mei'e thread of white foam, so distant that its roar is no longer audible, 

 and the houses of Plondo Yalle, dwindled to the size of pebbles, would not be dis- 

 tino-uishable but from a little cloud of smoke ascendino- from the flat. To heio^hten 

 the effect and add interest to the view we saw two or three vagrant rain-storms 

 travelling about among the hills, and one coming towards us caused an abundance 

 of anxious speculation as to whether we would be able to avoid it or not. Of course 

 our luck took us directly into it, and we had the fun of descending a thousand feet 



