THE WEST INDIAN WATEKS 17 



is the most used commercially of all the passages, and of the 

 greatest strategic importance, inasmuch as trade from New 

 York to the south coast of the islands mentioned, the 

 isthmus, and the western coast of northern South America 

 must pass through it. The Yucatan Channel separates 

 Cuba from the Central American mainland, and, except the 

 Strait of Florida, is the only entrance into the Gulf of 

 Mexico. 



Of these passages into the American Caribbean the 

 island of Cuba guards three of the most important, and 

 this fact gives it precedence in strategic importance. 



/ 



