i7o  SELLING  LATIN  AMERICA
much  to  modify  the  heat  and  add  to  the  agreeableness ­
  of  the  temperature.  There  are  two
seasons,  the  wet  and  the  dry,  the  first  lasting
from  May  to  October,  and  the  dry  the  remainder ­
  of  the  year,  the  average  rainfall  being  fiftyfour
  inches.  The  thermometer  ranges  from
6o°  to  92 0  Fahrenheit.  Since  the  American  invasion ­
  when  its  various  cities  were  cleaned  up
and  made  sanitary  Cuba  claims  to  be  the  second ­
  healthiest  country  in  the  world,  with  a
death  rate  of  12.69  P er  thousand  as  against
Australia’s  12.00  per  thousand.
Cuba’s  population  is  2,457,990,  about  half  of
whom  are  white  and  the  remainder  black  or
mulattoes.  The  larger  percentage  of  her
foreign  inhabitants  are  Spaniards,  who  elected
to  remain  after  the  close  of  the  war,  and
Americans.
Her  government  is  of  the  republican  representative ­
  type,  consisting  of  a  President  and
Vice-President,  elected  for  four  years,  and  a
Senate  and  House  of  Representatives,  the  Constitution ­
  being  based  on  that  of  the  United
States.