120 CUBA AND PORTO EICO 



These islands, far from being alike in natural features 

 and economic possibilities, present great extremes. Some 

 are low, flat rocks barely peeping above the sea; others 

 gigantic peaks rising straight to the clouds, which perpet- 

 ually envelop their summits ; others are combinations of 

 flat and rugose types. Some present every feature of relief 

 configuration that can be found within a continental area 

 mountains, plains, valleys, lakes; some are made up 

 entirely of glaring white coral sand or reef rock; others 

 are entirely composed of black volcanic rock, and still 

 others are a combination of many kinds of rocks. Many 

 are as arid as a Western desert and void of running 

 streams, and others have a most fertile soil, cut by a hun- 

 dred picturesque streams of living water, and bathed in 

 perpetual mist and daily rainfall. Some are bordered only 

 with the fringing, salt-water plants or covered with thorny, 

 coriaceous vegetation; others are a tangled mass of 

 palms, ferns, and thousands of delicate, moisture-loving 

 plants which overwhelm the beholder with their luxuriance 

 and verdancv of color. Some are without human habi- 



Mi 



tants; others are among the most densely populated 

 portions of the world. 



The differences in natural character between groups of 

 islands have an important bearing upon habitation and eco- 

 nomic possibilities. Each group is so different from the 

 others that, were they not in close geographic proximity, 

 they would in no manner be considered related. The 

 diverse configuration produces climatic differences, and 

 each kind of rock weathers into its peculiar soil. For ex- 

 ample, the Bahamas are not adapted to growing sugar, or 

 the Caribbee Islands to the raising of cattle; food-fish 

 are not abundant off the Great Antilles, owing to the steep 

 marine escarpments, while they thrive in the Bahamas and 

 on the leeward side of the Caribbee Islands ; some of these 

 islands, through possibilities of a diversified agriculture 

 and hygienic condition, are adapted to higher civilization, 



