Hi CUBA AND PORTO 1UCO 



distinct natural provinces, for convenience termed the 

 eastern, central, and western regions. 



No accurate trigonometric surveys have 1 n made of 



the island and its bordering islets, including 570 keys 

 adjacent to the north coast and 730 to the south, or of the 

 Isle of Pines, a large and important dependency. Nearly 

 all existing geographic data have been based upon a large 

 map compiled by Pichardo, engraved in Barcelona, which 

 was a compilation of local surveys of various and doubtful 

 degrees of accuracy. The area of the main island has been 

 estimated at from 40,000 to 43,000 square miles, that of 

 the Isle of Pines at 1214, and that of all the keys combined 

 at 1350. Some of the larger keys, like Romano, on the 

 north side, are 140 square miles in extent. Reclus esti- 

 mates the total at 45,883 square miles, an area nearly one 

 fourth the size of Spain. 



The distinct types of relief include regions of high 

 mountains, low hills, dissected plateaus, level plains, inter- 

 montane valleys, and coastal swamps. With the exception 

 of a strip of the south- central coast, the island, as a whole, 

 stands well above the sea, is thoroughly drained, and pre- 

 sents a rugged aspect when viewed from the sea. About 

 one fourth the total area is mountainous, three fifths are 

 rolling plain, valleys, and gentle arable slopes, and the re- 

 mainder is swampy. 



The coast of Cuba is very extensive, measuring, without 

 its meanderings, nearly 2000 miles. On Pichardo's map 

 the coast-line, with all its embayments and including the 

 islets, is over 6800 miles. On all sides, except the south- 

 central and where indented by pouch-like harbors, the 

 coast is abrupt, and stands above the sea as if the waters 

 of the latter were rapidly planing away what had once been 

 a more extensive land. In many places the immediate 

 coast-line is a narrow bench of elevated reef rock, or 

 seborucco, a few yards wide and standing about fifteen 

 feet above the sea, between the higher bluffs and the 

 water. The island border on the north presents a low cliff 



