FURTHER EXPLORATION OF HAITIAN CAVES 



By ARTHUR J. POOLE, 

 Aid, Diz'isioii of Maimiials. [\ S. National Mtisciiiii 



In caves near St. Michel, Haiti, rich deposits of bones of extinct 

 animals were discovered in 192 1 by members of the U. S. Geological 

 Survey, and in 1925, Mr. Gerrit S. Miller, Jr.. curator of the division 

 of mammals, U. S. National Museum, spent about six weeks in Haiti 

 exploring these caves. Owing to lack of time the caves visited by 

 Mr. Miller were only partially worked, and after his return, when 

 the material oljtained was worked over and identified, it was found to 

 be of such importance in linking the faunas that had already been 

 found on neighboring islands as to warrant sending a second expedition 

 to the group of caves located near St. Michel, ddiis second expedi- 

 tion was made possible through the generosity of Dr. \\'. L. Abbott, 

 who has spent several years making biological collections on the vari- 

 ous islands of the West Indies, including Haiti. 



In order to visit as much of Haiti as possible, I obtained passage 

 on a freight steamer that touched at five of Haiti's seaport cities. 

 On December 8, 1927, we arrived at Cape Haitien on the north central 

 coast, the second largest seaport and city in Haiti. Here we were 

 allowed to land, and I spent several hours visiting places of interest 

 and incidentally picking up a few miscellaneous specimens. During 

 the night we arrived at our second stop. Port de Paix, situated near the 

 northwestern corner of the island. On the following morning we made 

 our first stop on the western coast at the seaport town of Gonaives. 

 the third largest city in Haiti. It is in Gonaives harbor that sections 

 of the Atlantic fleet make their headquarters during the winter 

 maneuvers in and around Guantanamo Bay. Most of the day was 

 spent visiting places of interest and gathering data to be used later 

 in making collections. In the evening of the 9th we arrived at St. Marc, 

 our fourth port, but did not have an opportunity to visit the town. 

 St. ^Tarc is headquarters for the Haitian cotton crop, and has one or 

 two large factories for the manufacture of cotton-seed oil. On the 

 loth we arrived at Port-au-Prince, the capitol and largest seaport. 

 Here five davs were spent making final arrangements and getting 

 together necessary supplies for the three months of collecting in the 

 interior. 



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