3f)0 MEXICO, CENTRAL AMERICA, WEST INDIES. 



ensenndas (inlets). This vast morass stands nearl}^ at sea-level ; but although 

 almost a dead flat, it presents a great diversity of aspects. In some places the stag- 

 nant waters are dammed up by sandy strips along the coast ; in others the surface 

 is concealed by dense mangrove thickets ; elsewhere channels without perceptible 

 current, the remains of former rivers, wind sluggishly amid the sedge ; here and 

 there open sheets of water sparkle in the sun, while others disappear beneath the 

 round leaves of water-lilies (nenujyhar). In certain districts the ground is firm 

 enough to support a clump of trees ; but most of the surface consists of quagmires 

 or boggy expanses inaccessible to man or beast. The term savana la mar, 

 applied to many places on the shores of the Antilles, recalls the primitive aspect of 

 tbe savannas now partly flooded by the marine waters. 



Reefs and Cays. 



Beyond the coastline the islets and fringing reefs constitute, like the inland 

 morasses, a transitional zone between land and sea. About half of the Cuban 

 seaboard is thus marked by a false shore which greatly obstructs the coast naviga- 

 tion, but which, on the other hand, presents many sheltered expanses once the 

 outer line of breakers is crossed or turned. All these fringing reefs are of recent 

 calcareous origin, being the creation of the same coral-builders that may be seen 

 through the transparent waters still at work on the marine bed, decking rocks 

 and sands with their graceful and many-coloured tufts of foliage. 



The upheaved cliffs, with their cavernous recesses washed by the swirling tide, 

 represent in the incessant changes of the terrestrial surface the geological epoch 

 which follows the formation of the inland calcareous rocks with grottoes watered 

 by " babbling brooks." But they are of slower growth than the reefs of Florida 

 and the Bahamas turned towards the ocean swell, where the polyps thrive better 

 than on less exposed shores. On the north side of Cuba the growth of the fring- 

 ing reefs has been slow enough for the coast streams to maintain their estuaries 

 in the form of lagoons while the calcareous deposits were forming on both sides. 

 Hence the unusual number of excellent havens developed along the Cuban seaboard. 



Some of the cays are large enough to form veritable islands, inhabitable in the 

 few plices where fresh water lodges in the depressions or wells up through the 

 porous rocks. Thus the Cayo del Sabinal, as well as those of Guajaba, Bomano 

 and Cocos, sepirated by narrow channels, develop an outer coastline over 120 

 milds in length ; the Cayo Romano, largest of these upheaved reefs, has an 

 estimated area of 180 square miles, and its surface is broken by three hillocks. 

 Natural salt-pans have been formed along the margin of this and the neighbour- 

 ing cays; they consist of depressions from 12 to 16 inches deep, separated from 

 the sea by coral banks, over which the waves are washed in stormy weather. 

 Then during the hot season these shallow basins are evaporated, leaving a 

 perfectly crystallised bed of white salt used for curing purposes. The pans 

 of the Cayo Romano alone might supply far more salt than is needed for the 

 ordinary consum.ption of the whole Cuban population. 



