JOHNSTON: FLORA OF MARGARITA ISLAND. 171 
of the reservoir, although they are rapidly being cleared oil' in all 
directions. Immediately below this is the extensive coconut grove 
reaching down into Porlamar. The configuration of the land about 
the village of El Valle makes it an ideal place for botanical study. 
North and South Hills as before mentioned leave the mountain in a 
southerly direction and both give off short ridges running toward 
each other and also away from each other on the other side. 
About a kilometer and a half from the mountain, South Hill turns 
to the southeast, and North Hill turns to the southwest, the two stop- 
ping but a short way from each other, thus leaving a narrow entrance 
into a nearly enclosed valley. In this small area there are exposures 
to all points of the compass. There is one dry river bed extending 
from the foot of the mountain to the sea, that is important in the 
rainy season. It is here that the heavy vegetation of the valley grows. 
Asuncion is the only other valley of importance. The head of it 
has been described in the discussion of the mountain rivers. The 
lower part is quite open and is continuous with the plains to the sea. 
This valley faces to the northeast so that it gets the wind and mois- 
ture. The clouds, however, are usually at an altitude of from 400 
to 600 meters so that it is only the upper part of the valley that is 
extremely moist, the richest part of the island. Otherwise the valley 
is similar to any of the lowlands. 
Intervening between the valleys, partially surrounding them, and 
also standing as outlying features are the hills and small mountains 
conspicuous by their red soil and by their desolation. In the case 
of the hills attaining the height of 300 meters the summit has a few 
scattered trees. Other vegetation is either lacking or restricted to 
small patches of dry bushes. The soil is very conspicuously red, or 
on a few hills made gray by the preponderance of limestone. It is 
loose and easily weathered into small slabs or into a crumbling mass, 
which rapidly washes or rolls down the steep hills. At the time of 
the heavy showers the hills are gullied everyw'here. As a consequence 
of their condition the soil is thin and can maintain only shallow- 
rooted vegetation. 
From the very nature of the rock it is to be expected that caverns 
of some size are to be found. Within twenty meters of the summit 
of Bat Cave Peak is a large cave which opens above near the summit, 
and also at the side. About one hundred meters from the foot of 
the hill there is a hole in the rocks through which I could with diffi- 
