raphers gave
the island the name of _La Lengua de Pajaro_, "the bird's tongue." Mr. M.M.
Ballou likened it to "the blade of a Turkish scimitar slightly curved back,
or approaching the form of a long, narrow, crescent." Mr. Robert T. Hill
holds that it "resembles a great hammer-headed shark, the head of which
forms the straight, south coast of the east end of the island, from which
the sinuous body extends westward. This analogy is made still more striking
by two long, finlike strings of keys, or islets, which extend backward
along the opposite coasts, parallel to the main body of the island." But
all such comparisons call for a lively imagination. It might be likened to
the curving handles of a plow attached to a share, or to any one of a dozen
things that it does not at all clearly resemble. Regarding the Oriente
coast, from Cape Cruz to Cape Maisi, as a base, from that springs a long
and comparatively slender arm that runs northwesterly for five hundred
miles to the vicinity of Havana. There, the arm, somewhat narrowed, turns
downward in a generally southwestern direction for about two hundred miles.
The total length of the island, from Cape Maisi on the east to Cape San
Antonio on the west, is about seven hundred 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