180 



(m TUK TOrOGKAPIlY AND (JEOLOCrV 



little veins of white opacjiie quartz. I examined in detail several of the streams in 

 this vicinity, washing the sand in the usual manner, but found no trace of gold any- 

 where. A fact that can be fully explained by the distance to the nearest locality of 

 eruptive I'ocks.* Between San Pedro and Yamasa there is a long tongue of hills 

 ending at theOzama River at a place called La Luisa, and Avhich separates the narrow 

 valley of Yamasa from the broad plain to the eastward. San Pedro is on the outer- 

 most of the little elevations at the base of this range, a spot that has every facility 

 required for the establishment of a large grazing farm, and one where the beauty of 

 the surrounding scenery would almost compensate for the want of neighbors. It 

 overlooks mile after mile of a tree-dotted prairie shut in by the haze of distance on 

 one side and on the other by an evergreen range of high mountains. Perennial pas- 

 tures and never-failing streams insure cattle against risk of either famine or drought ; 

 while its midway position on the best road between Santo Domingo and the towns of 

 the Cibao would secure it an ample market for all its surplus stock. It is now occu- 

 pied by an aged couple and their children, who earn a scanty livelihood by selling a 

 few eggs, a chicken, or a bundle of fodder to an occasional traveller. I do not 

 mention this spot because of any pre-eminent advantages it possesses. Innumerable 

 other sites occur, scattered all over the valley, many of them possibly better. But 

 in the frequent journeys I have made across the Island I have become familiar with 

 it, and I cannot avoid regretting to see such an opportunity neglected. 



Sierra Prieta is a not very high but from its semi-isolated position is a very promi- 

 nent hill jutting out into the plain between the Isabella and Ozama Rivers, the ter- 

 minal point of a low range. Its regularly sloping sides render it easily recognizable, 

 and it forms an excellent topographical station for triangulations. It is made up of 

 clay and talcose slates, with a little earthy iron ore, too impure to be of economic 

 value. The same iron ore of every degree of purity, or rather of impurity, down to 

 simply highly ferruginous shale extends over the savana as far east as the San Pedro 

 trail, crossing the road to Yamasa above Savana Grande, and cropping out wherever 

 a little rain-gully cuts through the soil and even sometimes lying scattered over the 

 surface. 



The Sierra Pi-ieta ridge is a spur from the high mountains lying directly east of 

 the Jaina River, starting off in the vicinity of the two high peaks of Mariana Chico 

 and Siete Picos. The intermediate region is so closely connected in its geology with 

 the Jaina country that it is most convenient to consider them as a whole. 



In the description of the route across the mountains by the Laguneta Pass I left 

 the subject just before reaching the Jaina Ri^Tl'. The route was described across 



*See pp. 80 and 127. 



