CHAPTER V 



THE ISLAND OF CUBA 



Physical features. Situation, commercial and strategic position. Out- 

 lines, dimensions, area. The configuration. The coast and littoral. 

 Abundance of harbors. The bordering keys. The interior mountain 

 ranges. The plains of Cuba. The euchiUas of the east. The terraces 

 of Guantanamo. Valleys and depressions. Rivers, lakes, and swamps. 

 Caves and scenic features. 



CUBA, the most western and largest of the four Great 

 Antilles, is the fairest, most fertile, and most diver- 

 sified of the tropical islands; its economic development 

 during four centuries of European occupation has fully 

 justified the title, " The Pearl of the Antilles," first given 

 to it by Columbus, although its capital city may no longer 

 uphold the motto of its coat of arms, " The Key of the 

 New World." It has but a small proportion of untillable 

 declivities and rocky areas, such as are found in New 

 England ; no barren fields of volcanic lava, such as occur 

 in the Central American lands; no arid areas, like those 

 which make up so large a proportion of Mexico and the 

 western half of the United States ; no stretches of sterile, 

 sandy lands, like those of Florida and other coastal South- 

 ern States. Its proportion of swamp-lands is less than 

 that of the average American seaboard State. The whole 

 island is covered with rich soils, fertile, calcareous loams, 

 which, under constant humidity, yield in abundance 

 every form of useful vegetation of the tropical and tem- 

 perate climes. The configuration and geological forma- 



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