HAITI: A DEGENERATING ISLAND 



The Story of its Past Grandeur and Present Decay 

 By Rear Admiral Colby M. Chester, U. S. Navy 



GEOGRAPHICALLY, the Island 

 of Haiti, including within its 

 limits the two republics of 

 Santo Domingo and Haiti, is in the class 

 of the most favored of nations. Situated 

 on the Western Continent about midway 

 between its two grand divisions of North 

 and South America and abounding in 

 natural resources, it might be an em- 

 porium for each, if its inhabitants were 

 of as high an order as the country itself. 



The general sailing directions for ships 

 bound from New York to almost any part 

 of the Greater Antilles, or to the north 

 coast of South America, require a course 

 to be steered due south on the seventy- 

 fourth meridian of longitude, which 

 passes Watlings Island, the San Sal- 

 vador of Columbus, close aboard, and 

 leads into the Caribbean Sea between 

 the islands of Cuba and Haiti ; thence 

 a slight change of course to the westward 

 takes the ship to the future entrance of 

 the Pacific Ocean — the Panama Canal. 

 iThus, ships from our own metropolis 

 visiting, the neighboring ports, in which 

 we are most interested, will pass close 

 to the "Gem of the Antilles." 



The name Haiti, or "High Island," 

 is significant of the character of its topog- 

 raphy. "Sire," once said a British ad- 

 miral to his king, George the Third, 

 when asked about the island, "Haiti looks 

 like that," and he crumpled up a piece 

 of paper and placed it upon the table. 

 A brief description though this may be, 

 it well fitted the case. The island is about 

 400 miles long, 150 miles wide, and is 

 about the size of the State of New York. 

 It is irregular in shape and is intersected 

 by three chains of mountains. 



Haiti has a climate peculiar to itself. 

 While it is dominated by the usual hot 



and dry seasons of the tropics, some of 

 its: high peaks, which extend nearly up 

 into the snow limits of the atmosphere, 

 seem, to draw from the trade winds 

 which sweep across their summits the 

 moisture, which is precipitated almost 

 daily for a short time, and thus the dry 

 season is robbed, of its drought-affect- 

 ing proclivities. 



the; original seat of paradise; 



Only one opinion seems to exist in 

 the minds of historians concerning the 

 general salubrity of the climate, the 

 productiveness of the soil, and the 

 beauty of the scenery of this remark- 

 able island. "In the delightful vales," 

 says Raynal, "all the sw r eets of spring 

 are enjoyed without winter or summer. 

 There are but two seasons of the year 

 and they are equally fine. The ground, 

 always laden with fruit and covered 

 with flowers, realizes the delights and 

 riches of poetical description. Wher- 

 ever we turn our eyes we are enchanted 

 with a variety of objects colored and re- 

 flected by the clearest light. The air is 

 temperate in the daytime and the nights 

 are constantly cool." Naturally this ac- 

 count refers particularly to places on 

 the island where foreigners are wont to 

 congregate, but it also accords well 

 with my own experience there. 



The memory of a night spent in the 

 hills above Port-au-Prince, where this 

 description strictly applies, is fre- 

 quently in my mind. Here, after a night 

 of rest, the new day began with a swim 

 in a beautiful pool of mountain water 

 which ran through the lower part of 

 our host's house ; and this, accompanied 

 by gentle breezes wafting sweet odors 

 and mingling with the song of birds, 



* An address to the National Geographic Society. 



