readth of eighty
miles. Thus the island of Grand Cayman, scarcely twenty feet above
sea-level, is said to be a mountain-top twenty thousand five hundred and
sixty feet above the bottom of the submarine valley beside which it
rises,--an altitude exceeding that of any mountain on the North American
continent. A little more than five miles, or say twenty-seven thousand
feet, is the greatest depth yet sounded at sea.

Cuba is the most westerly of the West Indian Islands, and compared with
the others has nearly twice as much superficial extent of territory,
being about as large as England proper, without the principality of
Wales. Its greatest length from east to west is very nearly eight
hundred miles, its narrowest part is over twenty miles, and its average
width fifty. The circumference is two thousand miles, and it contains
over forty thousand square miles.

The nearest port of the island to this continent is Matanzas, lying
due-south from Cape Sable, Florida, a distance of a hundred and thirty
miles. Havana is situated some sixty miles west of Matanzas, and it is
here that the island divides the entrance to the Gulf of Mexico, whose
coast-line measures six thousand miles, finding the outlet for its
commerce along the shore of Cuba, almost within range of the guns in
Moro Castle. Lying thus at our very door, as it were, this island stands
like a sentinel guarding the approaches to the Gulf of Mexico, whose
waters wash the shores of five of the United States, and by virtue of
the same position barring the entrance of the great river, the
Mississippi, which drains half the continent of North America. So, also,
Cuba keeps watch and ward over our communication with California by way
of the Isthmus of Panama. It is not surprising, therefore, when we
realize the commanding position of the island, that so much interest
attaches to its ultimate destiny.

Matanzas is situated in one of the most fertile portions of the island,
the city covering the picturesque hills by which the bay is surrounded.
The fortifications are of a meagre character and could not withstand a
well-directed attack for half an hour. The custom house is the most
prominent building which strikes the eye on approaching the city by
water. Though built of stone, it is only one story in height, and was
erected at the commencement of the present century. The city is
connected with Havana by railway, of which there are nearly a thousand
miles in operation in the