Haiti: A Degenerating Island 



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made the place enchanting. As I gazed 

 upon the beauty of the picture pre- 

 sented to me, I could well understand 

 Columbus' enthusiasm and boast that 

 he had discovered the original seat of 

 Paradise. 



Historically, Haiti, or Santo Domingo, 

 is the senior of our own country, if we 

 leave out of consideration the legend- 

 ary reports concerning the visits of the 

 Norsemen to our northern coasts 800 

 years ago, and we are somewhat in- 

 debted to this beautiful island for our 

 own development. 



It appears providential that Colum- 

 bus should have been led to this Eldo- 

 rado of his day to make his first settle- 

 ment, when so many other localities 

 seemed to be the pole to which his com- 

 pass pointed, for here he met a less 

 warlike people than he would have 

 found in the north, and the latter might 

 have blotted out of existence the spark 

 of exploration which was started by 

 this first expedition to the New World. 

 We know that the dread of cold 

 weather was primarily responsible for 

 his abrupt change of course to the 

 southward, although the glittering 

 prospect of gold which the aborigines 

 led him to believe might exist in the 

 larger islands to the southward had its 

 marked influence on his selection of a 

 route to follow. But Columbus' own 

 brief account of his voyage, as given in 

 his letter to his friend and patron, Luis 

 de Santangel, dated February 15, 1493, 

 explains so well his reasons for his 

 abrupt change of course from the west 

 to the eastward again, and also gives 

 such a fine description of the land he 

 found, that I shall quote a portion of it 

 here: 



COEUMBUS' SPANISH LETTER TO LUIS DE 

 SANTANGEE 



"Sir: As I know you will have pleas- 

 ure of the great victory which our Lord 

 hath given me in my voyage, I write you 

 this, by which you shall know that in 

 thirty-three days I passed over to the 

 Indies with the fleet which the most illus- 



trious King and Queen, our Lords, gave 

 me, where I found very many islands 

 peopled with inhabitants without num- 

 ber. And, on them all, I have taken pos- 

 session for their Highnesses, with procla- 

 mation and the royal standard displayed ; 

 and I was not gainsaid. On the first 

 which I found I put the name of Saint 

 Salvador, in commemoration of His High 

 Majesty who marvelously hath given all 

 this ; the Indians call it Guanahani. The 

 second I named the Island of Santa Maria 

 de Conception, the third Ferrandina, the 

 fourth Isabela, the fifth Isla Juana ; and 

 so for each one a new name. When I 

 reached Juana (Cuba) I followed its 

 coast westwardly and found it so large 

 that I thought it might be the mainland 

 province of Cathay. ... At the end 

 of many leagues, seeing that there was no 

 change, and that the coast was bearing me 

 northwards, whereunto my desire was 

 contrary, since the winter was also con- 

 fronting ,us, I formed the purpose of 

 making from thence to the south, and as 

 the wind was also against me, I deter- 

 mined not to wait for other weather and 

 turned back as far as a port agreed upon 

 (probably Gibara). . . . 



"I understood sufficiently from other 

 Indians whom I had already taken that 

 this land, in its continuousness was an 

 island ; . . . from its headland I saw 

 another island to the east eighteen leagues 

 distant from this, to which I at once gave 

 the name La Spanola. And I proceeded 

 thither and followed the north coast, as 

 with La Juana, eastwardly for a hundred 

 and seventy-eight great leagues in a 

 direct easterly course, as with La Juana. 

 The which, and all the others, are most 

 strong to an excessive degree and this 

 extremely so.'* 



HAITI AS COLUMBUS SAW IT 



The route as described by Columbus 

 seems then to have led him away from 

 the western course, and he thus stumbles 

 almost on the finest island of the group 

 into which he had entered. His letter, 

 continuing, tells of his first impression of 

 the beautiful island ; and as he found it, 



