OF SAXTO DOMINGO. 141 



space between the two roads, not only along the trail itself, but of all the region 

 around the Hatillo. The section along the River is not very perfect, showing only 

 here and there a slate outcrop, covered with a thick soil of the usual red clay, a con- 

 dition of aflairs that is repeated on the grassy and pine covered hills, and across the 

 "Ohancha" (or Iloja Anclia) savana between Hatillo and Piedra Blanca. But, 

 while there is no limestone seen on the Bonao road, large hills of it occur on both 

 sides of the Maimon at Hatillo. Possibly this absence may be accounted for by its 

 passing under one of the numerous savanas on the road, but this explanation will 

 hardly hold good if applied to the road between Cotui and Yamasa, or still further 

 east on the San Pedro road via Cevico. 



The Hatillo is destined to become prominent in the future, should the country 

 ever arrive at such a stage of development as to improve its water-ways, and give 

 cheap transportation to the coast for its natural products. "Slack-water" naviga- 

 tion can be practiced successfully on the Yuna and Maimon to, or beyond this point, 

 with less difficulty and expense than on the Schuylkill River in Pennsylvania. True, 

 there are no great coal fields to be opened, but the iron deposits of the Maimon, if 

 not so valuable as the Schuylkill coal basin, are yet important enough to pay for im- 

 proving the natural outlet that exists for them to the Bay of Samana. The agricul- 

 tural interests of the Yeja Yalley would fully warrant all the expense of opening the 

 Yuna to beyond Cotui, and the iron mines of the Maimon would readily repay the 

 additional outlay required on the remaining fifteen or eighteen miles on that river to 

 the Hatillo. And I would not dare to say that they might not warrant the entire 

 expense, were there no collateral advantage to be derived from the undertalring. 

 The Maimon is deep enough to float a flat-boat everywhere except on its rapids, even 

 in the driest seasons, and the rapids are simply gravel banks, that could be rendei'ed 

 deep enough by confining the stream in a narrower channel, possibly aided by occa- 

 sional dredging. There is not a single rocky reef along the whole stream, and no 

 descent so difficult to overcome as the rapids of the Ohio. IS^one that could not be 

 ascended by an ordinary steamboat, towing its barges, as is practiced on the streams 

 of the Mississippi Valley, or on the Feather River of California. 



The Iron Mountain of Hatillo is on the south bank of the Maimon. It is a rounded 

 hill over a hundred feet high, several hundred feet long and, in all, about three or 

 four hundred feet across, from the savana on one side to the base on the other, almost 

 touching the river bank. The side nearest the river is a solid mass of semi-crystal- 

 line limestone, more nearly resembling marble than any other rock on the island ; while 

 the southern half is an equally solid mass of very compact magnetic iron-stone, com- 



A. 1'. S. — VOL. XV. 2 J. 



