THE BAHAMA FLOEA The numerous Bahama Islands form an archipelago situated east of Florida and north of Cuba and Hispaniola, comprising 29 islands, 661 cays and 2387 rocks with a total land area of about 4424 square miles; the nearest island to the Florida coast is Gun Cay, distant about 40 miles nearly east from Cape Florida; the island nearest Cuba is the little Cay Sal, about 35 miles north, across the Nicholas Channel, while the nearest to Hispaniola is Great Inagua, lying about 60 miles north of Cape St Nicholas.

The axis of the archipelago is in a general way northwest and southeast, with a total length of over 600 miles ; the greatest width, disregarding the islands of the outlying Cay Sal Bank, from Gun Cay to Man-of-War Cay, Abaco, is about 150 miles.

The most northern cays of the Little Bahama Bank north of the Great Bahama Island are in north latitude about 27 30 ; the south- ern side of Great Inagua is in north latitude about 20 55 Gun Cay is in west longitude about 79 20; cays of the Turks Islands are in west longitude about 71 10 The many islands and cays stand on banks, in shallow water, with oceanic depths among and between them.

The region has, doubtless, been subjected to alternate periods of uplift and depres- sion in past geologic time, but the vertical movements have prob- ably been relatively small; during times of uplift, some of the present islands may have been connected, but there is no evidence that there ever was land connection with either Florida, Cuba or Hispaniola.

Most of the islands are low, but hilly and rocky, the ranges of hills usually running lengthwise of the island ; on New Providence, the hills rise to.