238 CUBA AM) POETO BIOO 



iards and Indians, the bucaneers, the English, the French, 

 the Haitians, and the San Doiningoans themselves. 



Taken altogether and looked at in its natural aspects, no 

 spot on earth can be more lovely, and it is safe to say that 

 probably no extent of territory contains within itself, under 

 proper auspices, so many elements of prosperity, worldly 

 success, and happiness as this island. Yet, viewed in the 

 light of present interests, the island perhaps is the least 

 important of the Antilles. Its geography and natural his- 

 tory, still but little explored, will prove voluminous. 



The greatest length of the island from east to west is a 

 little more than four hundred miles ; its greatest width just 

 west of the geographic center is one hundred and sixty 

 miles ; and its periphery is nearly a thousand miles. Its 

 area is about thirty-one thousand square miles six times 

 that of Connecticut, and a little more than that of South 

 Carolina. 



The outline of the island is the most irregular of all the 

 Great Antilles, being noted for an absence of long-con- 

 tinued straight stretches of coast-line and marked by 

 numerous indentations and angular headlands. This out- 

 line resembles that of a swimming frog, whose out- 

 stretched head and body, occupied by the eastern republic 

 of San Domingo, point toward Porto Rico, while the two 

 long trailing peninsulas of the Haitian country, extending 

 westward toward Cuba and Jamaica, resemble the out- 

 stretched hind legs. On the northeast the peninsula of 

 Samana reaches out from the land like an extended fore 

 limb. 



Inclosed by the western peninsula is the great Gulf of 

 Gona'ives, an immense semicircular bay with a coast-line 

 of two hundred miles. Samana Bay, on the northeast, is 

 another extensive indentation into the mainland, while 

 Barahona Bay, near the middle of the south coast, and 

 Manzanilla Bay, on the north, are also conspicuous inden- 

 tations. 



Adjacent to the main island are a few large islands, not 



