PHYSICAL FEATUEES OF CUBA. 



355 



gotten, and Cubanacan, the native name of a part of tlie central region 

 present district of the " Five Towns," has survived under the mutih^ted 

 form of Cuba, the Coube of the French buccaneers. Most of the old 

 districts and provinces have also been preserved, and still recall the long- 

 primitive populations. 



Physical Features. 



Amongst American islands Cuba presents a unique firm, which by 

 geographers has often been compared to a " bird's tongue." From Maisi 



near the 



Spanish 



names of 



vanished 



Spanish 

 Point to 



Pig-. 167. — La Coxjbe (Cuba) and the Mee de LE^^TILLE. 



Cape San Antonio it describes a curve of 900 miles with a mean breadth of not more 

 than 60 miles. But the characteristic feature of its geography is the contrast pre- 

 sented by the coastlands. The eastern section, running from Maisi Point westwards 

 to Cape Cruz and dominated by the Sierra Maestra, or main insular range, may be 

 regarded as the fundamental or primitive part of the land ; the western, comprising 

 all the rest, both north and south, presents a more changing and uncertain 

 character in its chains of reef, its shallows, islands, and islets. 



The primitive seaboard is distinguished by its rectilinear axis, which is con- 



