356 



MEXICO, CENTRAL AMEEICA, WEST IKDIES. 



tinued seawards by the Caymans, the series of the Misteriosa banks, and a sub- 

 marine ridge between the Bartlett and Yucatan troughs south and north. Even 

 the Coxcomb Mountiins, the backbone of British Honduras, form part of this 

 western continuation of the Cuban relief. The other sections of the seaboard 

 nowhere present this rectilinear formation, but on the contrary develop irregular 

 curves, and in many places they are so fringed with coral reefs and marshy tracts 

 that it seems almost impossible to trace the true coast line with any certainty 



Fig. 168. — Wii'STEEx Division of Cttba. 

 Scale 1 : 6,000,000. 



Depths. 



to 500 

 Fathoms. 



500 to 1,(jOO 

 Fathoms. 



1,000 to 2,000 

 Fathoms. 



2,000 Fathoms 

 and upwards. 



124 Miles. 



Hence Pichardo's estimate of 2,200 miles as the total length of the periphery can 

 only be accepted in a general way, apart from the thousand creeks and inlets, and 

 tbe outer lines of fringing reefs. On Esteban Pichardo's large map in twenty- 

 two sheets, the contour, with all indentations, actually exceeds 6,800 miles. 



According to Coello the superficial area is 45,000, and, including the double Isle 

 of Pines and the other islets on both sides, 47,000 square miles. In other words, 

 Cuba is nearly equal in size to all the rest of the West India islands ; it is larger 

 than Portugal, and nearly one -fourth the size of the mother country. 



