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. The low plains along the coast are of coral formation and the soil overlying the coral is often found to be shallow. The richest and most productive soil is that of the uplands some distance from the sea. In Cuba the soils may be said to consist of two kinds—the red and the black. The red is generally of great depth, from 30 to 50 feet, and rests on a stratum of free limestone. The black soil, varying in color from a mulatto to a “gumbo” black, overlies a clay formation, and as a general rule is not so deep as the red soil. Owing to the fact that the black soil retains such a large percentage of water during the extremely rainy period, the cost of cultivation is double that of working the red soil. [Illustration: _American Photo Co., Habana._ CENTRAL FACTORY, GENERAL VIEW, CUBA] [Illustration: _American Photo Co., Habana._ CUBAN CENTRAL—GENERAL VIEW]