LOADING SUGAR ON LORCHAS, PHILIPPINES
CUBA
The island of Cuba lies between 74 degrees and 85 degrees west longitude and 19 degrees 40 minutes and 23 degrees 33 minutes north latitude; its length is about 730 miles, running nearly east and west, and its width varies from 25 to 100 miles. In area it comprises about 45,883 square miles, or 29,365,120 acres, which is approximately that of Pennsylvania or Louisiana. Habana, the capital, is almost on the same parallel as Honolulu and the City of Mexico.
With the exception of a strip of the central-southern coast, Cuba rises boldly out of the sea and presents a rugged appearance to the eye on approach. About one-quarter of its surface is mountainous; three-fifths consists of gently sloping country, valleys and rolling plains; the rest is swampy.
A variety of topographic and climatic characteristics divides the island naturally into three distinct parts. The eastern end is high and broken, with tall commanding peaks; the wide central region, lying well above sea-level, is made up of excellently drained, undulating plains, interrupted at intervals by low, wooded hills; the western portion is a picturesque country of mountain and valley, but of lower altitude than the eastern end. The entire island is covered with a mantle of luxuriant verdure, kept always green by warm mists and generous rains.
A coral reef extends around the greater part of the coast, but between the forbidding rocks and the marshes there are a number of good harbors, chiefest among which is that of Habana, one of the finest in the world. The distance from Cuba to Key West, Florida, is one hundred miles. The census of 1908 placed the population at 2,048,890.
The prevailing winds are the northeast trades, but these are interrupted at frequent intervals by variable winds from other directions which bring changes in temperature and rainfall. Compared with those of Hawaii, the mountains are low, usually not over 2000 feet, and do not produce the effect of a wet side and a dry side to the island, as the trades sweep it from end to end and not transversely. To give an idea of climatic conditions, the average maximum temperature in Habana in 1914 was 90 degrees Fahrenheit, the minimum 53 degrees and the mean average 77 degrees. The total rainfall was 46.15 inches. Seventy-five per cent of the rain occurs in the summer months, between the first of May and the first of October, and the precipitation is greater in the eastern part of the island than in the western. The winters are comparatively dry. This combination of dry winters and wet summers is extremely favorable to the growing and harvesting of sugar cane.