or SANTO DOMI^iTGO. 



143 



operations in the Republic, except tliose in tlie copper mine of Monte Mateo, on the 

 l^igna. Many surface-pits have been dug, numerous cross-cut ditclies excavated 

 evidently in search pf an outcrop, and one shaft is said to have been sunk. But the 

 caving in of the shaft, accompanied by a fatal accident, the death of the father of 

 my guide, many years ago, led to the abandonment of all further prosecution of the 

 enterprise; but none too soon for the pockets of the miners. There is no possible 

 chance for the discovery of a vein on the spot. In many of its features it is most 

 curiously like the hundreds of copper mines of the California coast range, and like 

 them, the little " copper stain" has suthced to delude one party after another. I see 

 no reason to disbelieve the stories told me, of nests of copper ore being found and 

 smelted, and of ingots of the metal having been obtained. This frequently occurs 

 under similar circumstances elsewhere. At the "Osos" mine near San Luis Obispo, 

 California, the superintendent informed me that the mine had yielded up to the time 

 of my visit about $5,000 worth of copper, and at a cost, as I learned on a little cross- 

 questioning, of about $5,000 worth of gold. But neither of us could then see any 

 very encouraging prospect of more copper ; though he apparently thought that so 

 much copper gives a pretty good earnest of more gold from the pockets of the stock- 

 holders. V . 



A mile or two from the " copper mine" there is a high grassy hill made up in great 

 part of a coarse-grained brown sandstone, with an unusually low northern dip. It is 

 less altered than is usually the case in this vicinity, and is a point of considerable 

 interest in the neighborhood, on account of an efflorescence on the face of a sand- 

 stone bluff, near its summit, of a whitish alkaline substance. The "alkali" occurs as 

 a powder, too fine and too small in quantity to be collected successfully ; but on 

 applying it to the tongue, I could detect no recognizable difference between it, and 

 the snowy abomination of the ISTevada deserts. 



The pass across the mountains from Cotui to Yamasa runs through low hills almost 

 all of the Avay in full view of this point. It winds southwestward, branching off 

 from the Cevico road within a mile of Cotui, and winds its way across rolling savanas, 

 crossing innumerable little streams and without crossing any hill of note strikes the 

 upper waters of the Ozama. Although the easiest pass in ver}- dry weather, it is Ijad 

 when rains have swollen the streams or softened the soil. But it is capable of being- 

 very much improved ; and except for its greater length, it is not impossible that this 

 might not only be made much better than is possible with the Bonao route, but might 

 become the best pass across the mountains. The low rounded hills and long stretches 

 of valley which characterize the route, give it an advantage which is now counter- 



