THE ISLAND OF CUBA. 
From Bulletin of the United States Geological Survey: A Gazetteer of Cuba by 
Henry Gannett. 
Cuba, the largest and most populous of the West Indian Islands, lies 
directly south of Florida. Havana, the capital, is a little west of south of 
Key West, and is distant, in a straight line, about ioo miles, being separated 
from it by the Strait of Florida. Cuba lies between the meridians of 74 
and 85° west of Greenwich, and between the parallels of latitude 19 4° 
and 23 0 33'. Its extreme length, from Cape Maisi on the east to Cape 
San Antonio on the west, is 730 miles. Its breadth differs greatly in differ¬ 
ent parts, ranging from 100 miles in the east to 25 miles in the neighbor¬ 
hood of Havana. Its area, including Isla de Pinos and the bordering keys, 
may be accepted as approximately 44,000 square miles. 
The north coast is mainly steep and rocky, and in the middle portion of 
the island is bordered by lines of islands and coral reefs, the passages 
through which are extremely intricate. These islands are low, mainly 
covered with mangrove thickets, and contain few inhabitants. In the west¬ 
ern part of Cuba the coast bluffs are low, being only about 100 feet in 
height; but they gradually rise eastward until in the neighborhood of 
Matanzas they are fully 500 feet above the sea. Further east, in Santa 
Clara and Puerto Principe, they are lower, while toward the eastern end of 
the island, in Santiago province, the coast is rugged and almost moun¬ 
tainous, rising from the sea in a succession of terraces. 
From Cape Maisi westward the south coast is bordered by mountains. 
That portion of it extending from Santiago to Cape Cruz is bordered by 
Sierra Maestra, which rises abruptly from the water to an altitude of 
several thousand feet. From Cape Cruz the coast trends northward around 
the Bay of Buena Esperanza, into which opens the broad and fertile valley 
of Rio Cauto, the largest stream of the island. The shores of this bay and 
most of the coast thence westward to Cape Antonio, the west point of 
Cuba, are low and marshy. This coast consists in the main of a narrow 
strip, but west of Cienfuegos it extends far inland, forming the great 
Zapata Swamp, an almost impenetrable region 75 miles in length in an 
east and west direction by 30 miles in breadth. Off the south coast are 
many low, marshy mangrove-covered islets. Most of the harbors of both 
the north and south coasts are of peculiar shape, with narrow, crooked 
entrances, opening within into basins of considerable extent, which are 
thus completely sheltered. This is the character of the harbors of Havana, 
Santiago, Cienfuegos, Guantanamo, and many others. 
The middle portion of the island, including the provinces of Havana, 
Matanzas, Santa Clara, and Puerto Principe, presents little relief, consist- 
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