Personal Narrative Of Travels To The Equinoctial Regions Of America During The Years 1799-1804 - Volume 3 - By Alexander Von Humboldt And Aime Bonpland.
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Perhaps
Towards Those Regions The Action Of The Crevice Extends Laterally,
Which Is Believed To Cross The Neck Of Granitic Land Between
Port-Au-Prince And Cape Tiburon And On Which Whole Mountains Were
Overthrown In 1770.
The cavernous texture of the limestone formations (soboruco) just
described, the great inclination of the shelvings, the smallness of
The island, the nakedness of the plains and the proximity of the
mountains that form a lofty chain on the southern coast, may be
considered as among the principal causes of the want of rivers and the
drought which is felt, especially in the western part of Cuba. In this
respect, Hayti, Jamaica, and several of the Lesser Antilles, which
contain volcanic heights covered with forests, are more favoured by
nature. The lands most celebrated for their fertility are the
districts of Xagua, Trinidad, Matanzas and Mariel. The valley of
Guines owes its reputation to artificial irrigation (sanjas de riego).
Notwithstanding the want of great rivers and the unequal fertility of
the soil, the island of Cuba, by its undulated surface, its
continually renewed verdure, and the distribution of its vegetable
forms, presents at every step the most varied and beautiful landscape.
Two trees with large, tough, and glossy leaves, the Mammea and the
Calophyllum calaba, five species of palm-trees (the palma real, or
Oreodoxa regia, the common cocoa-tree, the Cocos crispa, the Corypha
miraguama and the C. maritima), and small shrubs constantly loaded
with flowers, decorate the hills and the savannahs.
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