The beneficent design of nature, to which we have alluded, is to be seen, moreover, in the inherent conditions of insular existence. No other great island of the world is so fortunate in its geographical placing, either strategically or climatically, nor is any other comparable with it in topography and material arrangement and composition. It lies midway between the two great continents of the Western Hemisphere, within easy reach of both across landlocked seas, where it receives the commerce of both and serves as a mart of exchange between them. Similarly it lies between the Temperate Zone and the Torrid Zone, so as to receive at its very doors the products of each and of both, the products, that is to say, of all the world. Nor is it less significant that it lies directly upon the line of commerce and travel not only between North and South but equally between East and West, on the line of passage between the Atlantic and the Pacific and between the lands which border the one and those which occupy the shores of the other. Such strategic position--the strategy of commerce--is unique and incommensurable in value. Equally beneficent is the climatic situation of Cuba. Mathematically lying just within the tropical zone, it in fact enjoys a temperance of climate surpassing that of the temperate zone itself. It has all the geniality of the regions which lie to the south of it, so that it can produce all the fruits of the sultry tropics in profusion throughout a year-round season of growth; yet it escapes the oppressive and enervating heat which makes life in those lands burdensome to the visitor and indolent to the native. It has the comfort and the tonic properties of northern climes, yet without the trying and sometimes disastrous fluctuations and extremes which too often there prevail. As a result, Cuba can produce, if not always in fullest perfection yet with a gratifying degree of success, practically all the vegetable life of the world, from that which thrives close to the Arctic Circle to that which luxuriates upon the Equator. In coastal contour, and thus in profusion of fine harbors, Cuba enjoys preeminence among the countries of the world. In varied contour of mountain, valley and plain, in endowment with springs and rivers, she is conspicuously fortunate. The often quoted tribute which her first discoverer paid spontaneously to her magic beauty has been repeated and confirmed uncounted times, with a deeper significance as it has been found that the beauty of this island is not merely superficial but intrinsic, and that Cuba is as hospitable to the interests and welfare of the visitor and resident as she is fair to the passing eye.