CUBA 



senting successive elevations of the island in 

 Pliocene, Pleistocene, and recent time. This 

 topography is surmounted by extensive flat- 

 topped summits like the Mesa Toar and the 

 Junki (anvil) of Baracoa (alt. 1,827 feet), bor- 

 dered by numerous sharp, knife-edged salients, 

 known as cuchillas. Similar remnantal flat 

 tops occur at rare intervals as far west as Ma- 

 tanzas, the most conspicuous of which are the 

 Sierra Matahambre and the Pan de Matanzas 

 (alt. 1,200 feet). To the westward, in the prov- 

 inces of Matanzas and Habana, the arch of the 

 plateau, which follows the northern side, de- 

 scends nearer and nearer sea-level, and develops 

 a longer but gentle slope toward the south coast, 

 hence presenting a cliff topography to the north 

 sea and gradually merging, as the great central 

 plain of Cuba, into the Caribbean, producing 

 •the extensive cienega or swamp known as the 

 Zapata on the coast opposite Matanzas. 



Through Puerto Principe and Santa Clara, 

 except where broken by the central mountains 

 of Trinidad, this limestone stretch forms two 

 wide coastal belts, each about a third the width 

 of the island, separated by a central axial strip. 

 West of Santa Clara these two belts unite into 

 the broad plains of Matanzas and Habana, where 

 they constitute the central sugar region of 

 Cuba — the Vuelta Arriba — and again diverge 

 west of the latter city along either side of the 

 central mountains of Pinar del Rio, where it con- 

 stitutes the Vuelta Abajo. These limestone dis- 

 tricts weather into fertile calcareous soils, red 

 and black in color, and of a quality and depth 

 unequaled in the world, and their extent in the 

 level region is an almost continuous field of 

 sugar-cane. At two places throughout the 

 length of the island there are depressions cross- 

 ing it where the divide is reduced to less than 

 500 feet. The first of these is between Moron 

 and the south coast, in Puerto Principe, and the 

 second between Hahana and Batahano. 



