A LITTLE JOURNEY IN HONDURAS 



177 



proved by the United States, are to be 

 carried out in the cleaning up of the 

 cities of the Republic. 



This new departure probably will in- 

 sure peace, quiet, honest administration ; 

 and if it does, Haiti will certainly go for- 

 ward as few small countries ever have. 

 Its mountains are filled with mineral 

 wealth ; its valleys are so fertile that the 

 slightest attention can make them pro- 

 duce like an Eden ; its forests contain 

 vast stores of precious hardwoods and 

 dyewoods. It is, indeed, a region where 

 nature has lavished its richest gifts, and 

 where a simple population, under a firm 

 yet gentle, beneficent guidance, may real- 

 ize the blessings of tranquil abundance. 



SIZE AND .APPEARANCE OE THE ISLAND 



Some one has roughly compared the 

 Island of Haiti to a huge turtle swim- 

 ming eastward on the line between the 

 Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea. 

 The head and the forward three-fourths 

 of the body are occupied by the Domini- 

 can Republic, while the hind legs and the 

 other fourth of the body are under the 

 sovereignty of the Republic of Haiti. 



It contains approximately 28,000 square 

 miles of territory, being not quite as large 

 as the State of South Carolina. The part 

 occupied by Santo Domingo is a little 

 smaller than the combined areas of Ver- 

 mont and New Hampshire, while that oc- 

 cupied by the Republic of Haiti is not 

 quite so large as the State of Maryland. 



Although the Republic of Santo Do- 

 mingo has nearly twice as much territory 

 as that of Haiti, its population is less than 

 one-third as large as that of the black re- 

 public. This has resulted in bitter feeling 

 between the two nations — a feeling that 

 is a century old. The Haitians have re- 

 peatedly tried to get a slice of Dominican 

 territory, now by open war, and now by 

 rival boundary claims ; but to date they 

 have not succeeded, and it is to be pre- 

 sumed that the influence of the United 

 States during its protectorate will be 

 against any reopening of this issue. 



The island of Haiti is one of the four 

 of the Greater Antilles and the second in 

 area and population. It is the only island 

 in the West Indies besides Cuba that is 

 independent. It got its name from a 

 Carib word meaning "mountainous" or 

 "high land." Columbus, who established 

 the first settlement in the New World on 

 its northern coast, renamed the island, 

 calling it Hispaniola. 



It is about 400 miles long, varying in 

 width from 24 to 165 miles. It is cov- 

 ered with densely wooded mountains, 

 with a large number of beautiful and fer- 

 tile valleys between them. Loma Tina, 

 which towers over 10,000 feet above the 

 sea, is not only the roof of the island, but 

 of all the West Indies. The average 

 height of the main mountain range is 

 about 7,000 feet. There are many rivers, 

 but they are usually short and swift, the 

 alluvial plain being very narrow. 



A LITTLE JOURNEY IN HONDURAS 



By F. J. Youngblood 



HAVING occasion a short time 

 ago to travel through Honduras, 

 I endeavored, before leaving 

 Los Angeles, to gain some idea of how 

 the trip should be undertaken, but found 

 I could obtain very little information 

 about the country and practically no de- 

 tails in regard to climate, trails, necessary 

 equipment, etc. What few bits of stray 

 information I did get proved, as a rule, 

 entirely incorrect, and it is possible that 

 what I learned by experience may be of 



some slight assistance in saving another 

 traveler both trouble and money at some 

 future time. And it will be found that 

 the lack of information in traveling in 

 Central America is a greater handicap 

 than almost anywhere else. 



There are two chief arteries of travel 

 in Honduras — one from Amapala, on the 

 south coast, to Tegucigalpa, the capital, 

 and the other from Puerto Cortes, on the 

 north coast, to the same place. 



Starting from the United States, it will 



