The south coast from Cape Maisi to Cape Cruz is mountainous. Indeed, from Santiago westward to Cape Cruz the Sierra Maestra rises abruptly from the water to altitudes of several thousand feet. The shores of the Gulf of Buena Esparanza are low, and with the exception of a short stretch between Trinidad and Cienfuegos, the coast is low and marshy from this gulf to Cape San Antonio, the westernmost point of the island. The strip of marsh is in the main narrow, but west of Cienfuegos it broadens until it covers an area 75 miles in length and fully 30 miles in breadth at its widest point. This almost impenetrable region is called Zapata swamp. It is clothed with the densest vegetation and teems with tropical life.

The central provinces of Cuba consist mainly of broadly rolling plains with shallow stream valleys. In Habana, Matanzas, and Santa Clara these plains were, prior to the late war with Spain, in a high state of cultivation, while those in Camagüey have been in the main used for the grazing of cattle. The valley of the Yumuri, in Matanzas, is typical of the beautiful, highly cultivated portion of this part of the island.

Most of the harbors are of peculiar shape, resembling pouches with narrow, often sinuous, entrances, opening into broad, completely sheltered expanses. This is the character of the harbors of Bahía Honda, Cabañas, Habana, Santiago, Cienfuegos, Guantánamo, Nipe, and many others that are not so well known.

Off the south coast are hundreds of low, marshy mangrove-covered islands and islets.

The Isle of Pines, with an area of about 1,200 square miles, is in effect two islands, connected by a marsh; the northern part is somewhat broken by hills, while the southern part is low, flat, and sandy.

OROGRAPHY.

In its relief the Island of Cuba is marked by great variety and irregularity. At the two extremes of the island, in Pinar del Río on the west and Oriente on the east, there are well-defined ranges of hills. A little north of the middle line of the province of Pinar del Río, a range of hills closely parallels the northern coast. This range, known as the Cordillera de los Organos, or Organ Mountains, is fairly well defined, and rises in many places to altitudes exceeding 2,000 feet, culminating in Pan de Guajaibon, having an altitude of 2,500 feet. From the crest of this range the land descends to the coasts in long, undulating slopes, the southward slopes forming the celebrated tobacco lands known as Vuelta Abajo.

The Sierra de los Organos ceases as a range a little west of Habana, but traces of this uplift can be followed through the central part of Habana, Matanzas, Santa Clara, and the western part of Camagüey in the form of lines of hills of no great altitude dotting the extensive plains. They are seen south of the city of Habana in the hills known as the Tetas de Managua, and farther east in the Arcas de Canasi, the Escaleras de Jaruco, and the Pan de

Matanzas, just south of the city of Matanzas. In the eastern part of Matanzas province these hills disappear, but they reappear in Santa Clara, taking the form of elongated crests and flat top summits, and as such extend into the western part of the province of Camagüey.

In the southern part of the province of Santa Clara is a group of rounded hills, occupying an area between Cienfuegos, Trinidad, and Sancti-Spiritus. The highest of these, Potrerillo, has an altitude of 2,900 feet. Among these hills are many beautiful valleys.

The surface of Oriente is broken with high, sharp mountain ranges, broad plateaus of considerable elevation, and deep valleys, some of which are broad, while others are narrow and resemble canyons. The dominating orographic feature of this province-indeed of the whole island-is the Sierra Maestra, which, commencing at Cape Cruz, south of Manzanillo, extends eastward, closely paralleling the coast, from which it rises abruptly, as far east as the neighborhood of Santiago. In this part it contains many points exceeding 5,000 feet in altitude and culminates in Pico Turquino, which is reputed to have an altitude of 8,320 feet.

From Santiago the range extends to the east end of the island, where it is broken to a greater extent, and where its form is more like that of a low plateau. This portion of the range is known as the Cobre range. It contains numerous flat summits, approximating 3,000 feet in altitude, one of which, known as La Gran Piedra, is said to have an altitude of 3,300 feet.

North of Sierra Maestra lies the broad and fertile valley of the Cauto, beyond which the country rises gradually to a high plateau, occupying the interior of the province, a summit elevation of 1,000 feet or more. The eastern part of the province consists of a maze of broken hills, with altitudes ranging from 1,000 to 2,000 feet, in which are many small fertile valleys.

HYDROGRAPHY.

The rivers of Cuba, though numerous, are short, and few of them are of any importance for navigation. The largest stream is the Río Cauto, which heads in the province of Oriente, on the north slopes of Sierra Maestra, flows westward through a broad valley, and empties in the Gulf of Buena Esperanza, after a course of about 150 miles. This stream is navigable for light draft boats as far as Cauto Embarcadero, a distance of about fifty miles. Several other streams are navigable for a few miles above their mouths, but in most cases only through what may be regarded as estuaries.

GEOLOGY.

The island has a foundation of pre-Tertiary sedimentary rocks in which Cretaceous and probably Jurassic fossils have been found. Above this there are littoral beds composed of terrigenous material and then a great thickness of white limestone, consisting of organically derived oceanic material, as distinguished from true reef rock of late Eocene and Oligocene age. The

island was reclaimed from the sea by a great mountain-making movement in late Tertiary time, succeeding the deposition of this limestone. In the Pliocene and Pleistocene epochs, the island underwent a series of epeirogenic subsidences and elevations which affected the coastal borders, producing cliffs and the margin of elevated reef rock which borders the coast in many places, as in the neighborhoods of the cities of Habana and Baracoa.

So far as its history is known, the island has never been connected with the American mainland, although such has frequently been asserted to be the case. These assertions have been based upon the erroneous identification of certain vertebrate animal remains. There are no traces in the animal life of Cuba which justify this conclusion. Some of the crystalline rocks may be ancient, but most of them are mid-Tertiary in age.

The caves of Bellamar, near Matanzas, are of marvelous beauty, and are visited by all tourists; in Camagüey the caves of Cubitas, and in Oriente the one called Nueva del Negro, near Baire, are also noteworthy.

FLORA.

The flora of the island is noted for its abundance and beauty, and caused Cuba to be designated the Pearl of the Antilles. Over 3,350 native plants have been catalogued. Humboldt said: "We might believe the entire island was originally a forest of palms, wild limes, and orange trees." The flora includes nearly all of the characteristic forms of the other West Indies, the southern part of Florida, and the Central American seaboard. Nearly all the large trees of the Mexican tierra caliente, so remarkable for their size, foliage, and fragrance, reappear in western Cuba. Over 30 species of palm, including the famous royal palm (oreodoxa regia), occur, while the pine tree, elsewhere characteristic of the Temperate Zone and the high altitudes of the Tropics, is found associated with palms and mahoganies in the province of Pinar del Río and the Isle of Pines, both of which take their name from this tree.

Among other woods are the lignum-vitae, granadilla, cocoa wood, mahogany, and cedrella odorata.

Although three hundred years of cultivation have exterminated the forest in the sugar lands of the center and west, it is estimated that in the hills of those districts and in the mountains of the east nearly 13,000,000 acres of uncleared forest remain.

Rich and nutritious grasses are found throughout the island, affording excellent forage for stock. The pineapple, manioc, sweet potato, and Indian corn are indigenous to the island.

FAUNA.

Throughout Cuba game is abundant. Deer, though not native, have flourished and multiplied greatly. Rabbits also are plentiful. The wild boar, the wild dog, and the wild cat are simply domestic animals run wild,