and thirty miles.  Its width varies from a maximum, in Oriente Province, of about one hundred and sixty miles, to a minimum, in Havana Province, of about twenty-two miles.  It has a general coast line of about twenty-two hundred miles, or, following all its sinuosities, of about seven thousand miles.  Its north coast is, for much of its length, steep and rocky.  Throughout the greater part of the middle provinces, there is a border of coral reefs and small islands.  At the western end, the north coast is low, rising gradually to the eastward.  At the eastern end, the northern coast is abrupt and rugged, rising in a series of hills to the elevations in the interior.  Westward from Cape Maisi to Cape Cruz, on the south coast, and immediately along the shore line, runs a mountain range.  From here westward, broken by an occasional hill or bluff, the coast is low and marshy.

Probably the best description of the topography and the orography of the island yet presented is that given by Mr. Robert T. Hill, of the United States Geological Survey.  In his book on Cuba and other islands of the West Indies, Mr. Hill says: 

“As regards diversity of relief, Cuba’s eastern end is mountainous, with summits standing high above the adjacent sea; its middle portion is wide, consisting of gently sloping plains, well-drained, high above the sea, and broken here and there by low, forest-clad hills; and its western third is a picturesque region of mountains, with fertile slopes and valleys, of different structure and less altitude than those of the east.  Over the whole is a mantle of tender vegetation, rich in every hue that a flora of more than three thousand species can give, and kept green by mists and gentle rains.  Indenting the rock-bound coasts are a hundred pouch-shaped harbors such as are but rarely found in the other islands and shores of the American Mediterranean.

“But, at the outset the reader should dispossess his mind of any preconceived idea that the island of Cuba is in any sense a physical unit.  On the contrary, it presents a diversity of topographic, climatic, and cultural features, which, as distributed, divide the island into at least three distinct natural provinces, for convenience termed the eastern, central, and western regions.  The distinct types of relief include regions of high mountains, low hills, dissected plateaus, intermontane valleys, and coastal swamps.  With the exception of a strip of the south-central coast, the island, as a whole, stands well above the sea, is thoroughly drained, and presents a rugged aspect when viewed from the sea.  About one-fourth of the total area is mountainous, three-fifths are rolling plain, valleys, and gentle arable slopes, and the remainder is swampy.