On the eastern side the harbor is sheltered by a high
promontory now known as El Morro, to which Columbus gave the name of
Monte Cristi, after a remarkable profile, recalling the pictures of
Christ, which is visible in the outlines of the mount to vessels
entering the harbor. The isolated, treeless mountain under the usually
cloudless sky of beautiful blue strongly recalls the buttes of our
Western plains.
The range of mountains known as the Monte Cristi Range, forms a
background for the entire northern coast of the Republic. From Monte
Cristi for fifty miles east, to the bay of Isabela, the shore is bleak
and barren, formed of rocks and cliffs with short intervals of sandy
beach. Isabela Bay is where the first Spanish settlement in America
was laid out by Columbus in 1493. Little remains to mark the site, but
the white palm-fringed strand gleams in the sunlight and is caressed
by the blue waters just as in Columbus' day. The harbor at the mouth
of a stream flowing down from the mountains is small and shallow, but
it is occasionally visited by coastwise vessels in search of cargoes
of mahogany and other woods from the nearby hills.
Pages:
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174