Haiti

CONTENTS.

Page.

V

Chapter I.

GEOGRAPHICAL SITUATION, TOPOGRAPHY, AND CLIMATE.

If, starting from the port of New York, we follow a straight line running almost directly south for a little less than 1,400 miles, we should come to the city of Port au Prince, which is the capital of the Republic of Haiti; and if starting from the port of Boston we proceed on a straight line running just the fraction of a point to the east of south for about the same distance, we should find ourselves in the city of Santo Domingo, which is the capital of the Republic of that name. These two Republics together cover the island which is itself sometimes designated by the name of the one and sometimes by the name of the other of them. But, to speak more accurately, Haiti constitutes about one-third of the island and covers the western part of it, while Santo Domingo occupies the remaining two-thirds, covering the eastern part of it. Though forming parts of the same island, the two Republics are just as distinct and dissimilar in language, in traditions, and in social ideas as are France and Spain; they are two entirely separate and distinct nations-a person may know much about one of them, and yet be quite uninformed as to the other.

For several reasons, the island, materially and geographically, as well as historically, is one of the most remarkable places in this hemisphere. It is, as just indicated, situated somewhat less than 1,400 miles directly south of the central New England coast, and it is only a little more than that distance east from the City of Mexico. Cuba is some 50 miles to the northwest and Puerto Rico the same distance to the east, while Jamaica lies about 100

1

miles to the southwest of it; so that it is placed, as it were, right in the center of the four great Antilles, of which it is one and the next in size after Cuba. It is, besides, within 600 miles of the northern coast of South America, and to the north of it, not far away, are Inagua, Turk's, and other smaller islands. It lies between 17° 37' and 20° north latitude and between 68° 20' and 74° 30' longitude west from Greenwich, so that it is to be noted that the whole island is well within the tropics, and that its topographical position is such as to command the entrance to the Gulf of Mexico from the southeast and to give it importance on the great ocean highway leading from Europe and the United States to the isthmus which joins the two Americas and which must, in the opinion of many, open some day a convenient passage between the great oceans.

The island under consideration is very large, so large indeed that a person on any central part of it would find it difficult to conceive that he is not on the mainland of a continent rather than a mere island. Its greatest length from east to west is a little more than 400 miles, while its breadth from north to south varies from about 160 miles, measured from near Point Isabella to Cape Béate, to about 17 miles across the narrowest part of the extreme western peninsula, and it is estimated that its perimeter, not including its very numerous bays and inlets, would measure not far from 900 miles. Compared with European countries as to square miles of surface, it is nearly three times as large as Belgium, onefifth larger than the Kingdom of Greece, more than twice the size of Denmark, and is only a little smaller than Portugal or Ireland. Compared in this respect with the States of the American Union, it is one-fourth larger than the whole area covered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut together; it is more than six times as large as. Connecticut, or a little larger than South Carolina; that is, it contains about 31,000 square miles of surface. These figures are confined to the main

island.

But there are in addition thereto, several considerable islets whose adjacency to it is such as to preclude all question as to their falling under its sovereignty. There is Gonaïve, which stretches for 40 miles from just below and to the right of the Môle St. Nicolas in sailing down the great bay which ends at Port au Prince; there is the famous Ile de la Tortue, which lies on the northern coast about midway between the Môle and the City of Cape Haitien, and which has 22 miles of length and 4 to 5 of breadth; there are La Saona to the east, nearly the size of La Tortue; Alta Vela, covering a number of square miles off the southern coast, looking like a huge pile standing straight up out of the sea, and from which guano has been exported, and several other islets of lesser size, although they add more than 500 square miles to the territory. At whatever point the island be approached from the sea, it looks, when seen from afar, like a huge mass of mountains running in all directions and all jumbled up in hopeless confusion, so that credence can easily be given to the story, told in some of the books, that an English Admiral, when asked by George III for a description of the island, crumpled up a sheet of paper in his hand, threw it on the table. before His Majesty, and said, "Sire, Haiti looks like that.”

At first glance, these mountains appear to come right down to the water's brink and to be covered all over with shrubbery and stubby trees of a not particularly inviting aspect, and one begins then to wonder where people can live or valuable crops can be grown. A closer examination, however, discloses that these mountains consist, in the main, of two long ranges running from east to west through the whole island, their general character and that of their almost numberless offshoots being such as to divide the rest of the land up into valleys and plains, of which some on the coast are the sites of cities and villages, and others in the interior are of marvelous fertility. From these mountains, too, flow innumerable streams, which, in some instances, become navi

Knygos