The Republic of Cuba consists of 1.600 islands and cayes. The mainland.
90 miles south of Key West. Florida. is the largest island in the Caribbean Sea. It is just smaller than Pennsylvania: 775 miles long and never more than 120 miles wide. It is lushly tropical with dense forests of mahogany. cedar and ceiba.
Endless fields of tobacco and cane stretch across the island from the northwest to the mountainous southeast. Farmers use oxen to plow their fields. and city workers ride bicycles for lack of automobiles. Cuba
is home to 185 species of butterfly including one of only two of the world's clear-winged species. Fittingly. the national flower is the mariposa. or butterfly jasmine.
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