OF SANTO DOMINGO. 



1(35 



The Isabella or Bahabonito Kiver rises near the centre of the range north of Santi- 

 ago in the vicinity of Alta Mira, and its npper branches cross the pass that runs 

 through that place. Thence it flows northwest along a valley in the middle of the 

 range, and empties into the sea abont twenty-five miles in a direct line west of Puerto 

 Plata. At its mouth is a little bay, a mere rectangular indentation in the coast, 

 opening to the northwest. The southei'n shore of the bay, a nearly east and west 

 line, is bordered by a sand-beach and mangrove-swamps, behind which rise the yellow 

 barren Tertiary hills scantily covered with cactus and acacias. Among the latter, 

 one species, the " divi-divi," abounds. This tree yields a seed very rich in tannin, 

 which is collected extensively for export, and might be made with industry an im- 

 portant article of commerce. Further back in the hills satin-wood and Guayacan 

 (lignum vitas) are not rare, and the little settlement near the mouth of the river, owes 

 its existence, I dare not say its prosperity, to the export of these two woods. The 

 eastern side of the bay is formed by a high bluff of horizontal coast limestone, the top 

 forming a table, running back with some trifling undulations a couple of miles to the 

 low miocene hills of the range. The surface of this table-land is strewn with blocks 

 of the same limestone and fragments of corals weathered out, and is covered with a 

 scanty layer of the characteristic red soil always found over this formation. It sup- 

 ports a tangled " monte " or brush-growth of nearly all the species of cactus foiuid in 

 the Island, interspersed with acacia and thorny vines, as forbidding a thicket as it 

 was ever my unhappy duty to force my way through. To the geologist one look at 

 the place would suffice ; but the temptation to visit the spot where Columbus made 

 his first settlement was too great to be resisted, and I yielded, to the great risk of 

 torn clothes, scratched face, and ruffled tempei'. He must have an angelic disposition 

 who can walk a mile through bushes covered with the " cat's-claw " or wait-a-bit " 

 vine and emerge in a serene frame of mind. In the heart of such a tract Columbus 

 founded the first colony. 



The valley of the Isabella, is, as compared with that part of the Santiago Valley 

 immediately south of it, comparativel}^ fertile. There is a succession of houses for 

 several miles from its mouth and, while there is nothing veiy attractive in the beauty 

 of the little "conucos " along the road, they show an amount of fertility in the soil 

 and a rich green of their crops which indicate that the dews must here supply in part 

 the scarcity of rain. 'i"'lie further back one goes into the mountains the better is the 

 appearance of things, and the thick cari)et of grass at Laguna and the good size of 

 the plantain trees prove that in this part moisture is not deficient. From Laguna 

 the road divides — one part run.^ up the valley joining- the Alta 'Mna Pass, ^s hile the 

 A. P. s. — VOL. xv. — 2r. 



