SMITHSONIAN EXPLORATIONS, 1 93 1 47 



With the invaluable information thus gained from the air we or- 

 ganized a pack train at Post Avance, the present terminus of a pro- 

 posed roadway between Aux Cayes and Jeremie, and accompanied by 

 S. W. Parish set out into the La Hotte region. The journey by air 

 had been a simple matter of three hours absence from the flying field 

 at Port-au-Prince, but on land we found travel slow and laborious. 

 At the end of six days of almost constant rain, over trails whose 

 steepness and badness beggars description, we came finally to La Cour 

 Z 'Anglais where the slopes became so abrupt that our animals could go 

 no further and it was necessary to gather a train of porters. After 

 another day of this travel, including a night when our outfit was 

 scattered for miles across the face of a great mountain, and we our- 

 selves sat around a smoky fire in a little native hut thankful to be 

 out of the downpour of rain, we reached the little group of three huts 

 called Caye Godet, the last human habitation on the higher slopes of 

 Pic de Macaya, the highest mountain in the La Hotte group. 



At the edge of the forest, at an elevation of 4,200 feet we dug out 

 the face of a slope against a huge log wedged against boulders and 

 made a level platform large enough for our Baker tent. The moun- 

 tain descended steeply below us into a deep valley whose sides were 

 planted in bananas, sweet potatoes, coffee — grown without shade be- 

 cause of the almost continuously clouded sky — and other crops. 

 Across from us rose the steep pitches of La Grande Colline, and ahead 

 we had a glimpse of the forested slopes of Pic du Formon, the third 

 of the peaks of La Hotte. 



Wind currents drawing through the valley brought an everchanging 

 appearance in the landscape. Clouds of fog came swiftly in to obscure 

 the view and then in a few moments broke away to show the ragged 

 silhouettes of the pine covered ridges opposite. Occasionally the 

 mountain slopes stood out clearly except for scattered, drifting rays 

 of mist but this was exceptional as rain fell for the greater part of 

 each day. In spite of this continued precipitation the slopes were so 

 steep that we had to depend on rainwater caught from the tent for 

 camp use or else have water brought up the steep trails from a river 

 3,000 feet below. At 4,000 feet the rain disappeared into the ground 

 and there were no streams or pools. 



From this camp we climbed to the summit of Pic de Macaya through 

 a dense growth of rain forest, replaced above 6,000 feet elevation 

 by a stand of tremendous pines 4 to 6 feet in diameter with their 

 lower limbs cloaked in moss and epiphytes and the ground beneath 

 covered with dense growths of dripping bracken. 



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