280 CUBA AND PORTO RICO 



unhealthful for foreigners. Some of its immediate en- 

 virons, such as Turgeau, which, covered with commodious 

 residences of the wealthy, is on the hillside behind the 

 large and beautiful Champ de Mars, on which are two well- 

 kept hotels, Martissant and Bisotou, overlook the bay to 

 the right of the capital, and are about four or five miles 

 from it. The great and important plain of the cul-de-sac, 

 in which are situated the considerable villages Drouillard 

 and Croix des Bouquets, are quite charming. A favorite 

 place for foreigners to visit is Furey, which is part of a 

 day's ride, passing Kenskoff up the mountain from Petion- 

 ville. The elevation is probably not far from six thousand 

 feet at this place, and to one accustomed to the heats of 

 the capital the temperature seems absolutely chilly, though 

 the lowest recorded temperature is only 45 F. 



Scattered here and there through the cul-de-sac, and run- 

 ning up to the mountain-sides on its borders, are large plan- 

 tations under cultivation. In some instances these form 

 communities by themselves, the laborers on each of them 

 generally working on shares, and having schools for their 

 children, and a chapel for religious worship on Sundays. 



Port-au-Prince was nearly destroyed by an earthquake 

 in 1770. The curse of the city is fire ; immense conflagra- 

 tions have been frequent, sometimes destroying as many 

 as five hundred houses at a time. It has been estimated 

 that the equivalent of the whole city at any one time has 

 been destroyed in the course of every twenty-five years by 

 conflagration. It is not, however, probable that this will 

 be the case hereafter, because of the present plentiful sup- 

 ply of water, the introduction of suitable means for com- 

 bating fires, and the tendency to erect fire-proof buildings 

 rather than those of wood. 



Amid all vicissitudes Port-au-Prince has maintained its 

 relative commercial importance, although the beautiful 

 port is being gradually filled up by the refuse of the city 

 and the silt of the adjacent mountains, and no effort is 

 made to preserve or improve it. 



