ly a mountainous region of high
relief, especially along the coasts, with many interior valleys. Puerto
Principe (now Camaguey) and Santa Clara are broken regions of low mountain
relief, diversified by extensive valleys. Matanzas and Havana are vast
stretches of level cultivated plain, with only a few hills of relief. Pinar
del Rio is centrally mountainous, with fertile coastward slopes." The
notable elevations of the island are the Cordilleras de los Organos, or
Organ Mountains, in Pinar del Rio, of which an eastward extension appears
in the Tetas de Managua, the Arcas de Canasi, the Escalera de Jaruco,
the Pan de Matanzas, and other minor elevations in Havana and Matanzas
Provinces. In Santa Clara and Camaguey, the range is represented by crest
lines and plateaus along the north shore, and finally runs into the hill
and mountain maze of Oriente. In the south-central section of the island, a
somewhat isolated group of elevations appears, culminating in El Potrerillo
at a height of nearly 3,000 feet. In Oriente, immediately along the south
coast line, is the precipitous Sierra Maestra, reaching its greatest
altitude in the Pico del Turquino, with an elevation of approximately
8,500 feet. Another elevation, near Santiago, known as La Gran Piedra, is
estimated at 5,200 feet. All these heights are densely wooded. From the
tops of some of them, east, west, and central, the views are marvellously
beautiful, but the summits of most are reached only with considerable
difficulty. One of the most notable of these view points, and one of the
most easily reached, is the height immediately behind the city of Matanzas,
overlooking the famous Yumuri valley. The valley is a broad, shallow bowl,
some five or six miles in diameter, enclosed by steeply sloping walls of
five to six hundred feet in height. Through it winds the Yumuri River. It
is best seen in the early forenoon, or the late afternoon, when there come
the shadows and the lights that are largely killed by the more vertical
rays of a midday sun. At those hours, it is a scene of entrancing
loveliness. There are views, elsewhere, covering wider expanses, but none,
I think, of equal beauty.

The vicinity of Matanzas affords a spectacle of almost enchantment for the
sight-seer, and of deep interest for the geologist. Somewhat more than
fifty years ago, an accident revealed the beautiful caves of Bellamar, two
or three miles from the city, and easily reached by carriage. Caves ought