HAITI, THE HOME OF TWIN REPUBLICS 



485 



Courtesy U. S. Marine Corps 



A RAILROAD WHOSE) MOTIVE POWER IS BUEEOCK TEAMS: HAITI 



Not much of the block of ice on the flat car in the left foreground will remain when it 



reaches its destination. 



magnificent mountains of Entre-los-Rios, 

 Yaque, and Tina, all of which are just 

 under or just over 10,000 feet. 



The greatest altitudes in Haiti are in 

 the southern part of the Republic, along 

 a range which no doubt was once con- 

 tinuous with the Blue Mountains of 

 Jamaica. 



Between the southern and northern 

 mountains of Haiti are two intermediate 

 ranges on either side of the valley of the 

 great Artibonite River. 



Between the southern Artibonite Range 

 and the long sierra of southern Haiti is a 

 narrow region of plain called by the 

 French originally the Cul dc Sac. This 

 stretches from the vicinity of Port an 

 Prince, on the Gulf of Gona'ives, to the 

 Bay of Xeiba, in southern Santo Do- 

 mingo, and obviously represents an an- 

 cient strait of the sea which, a million 

 years ago or less, cut off southern Haiti 

 from the rest of the island. 



At the present day this plain contains 

 several lakes, one of which ( Lake Limon) 

 is fresh, one (Lake Azuey) very salt, 

 and one (Lake Enriquillo, the largest) 

 brackish. Lake Azuey (called by the 



French Etang saumatre) is almost en- 

 tirely on Haitian territory, but the east- 

 ernmost end belongs to Santo Domingo. 

 The other lakes are entirely on Domin- 

 ican territory. All of them offer scenery 

 of the most remarkable beauty. 



MOUNTAINS CLOTHED WITH SUPERP. 

 FORESTS 



On the southern shore of Lake Azuey 

 splendid mountains rise to the altitude of 

 Mont de la Selle — nearly Q.ooo feet — 

 while along the northern bank they reach 

 to at least 4,000 feet. All these moun- 

 tains, above 3,000 feet, are clothed with 

 superb forests of Georgian pines, though 

 the British concessionaires and the Hai- 

 tian peasantry are rapidly and too reck- 

 lessly felling these magnificent trees, the 

 complete destruction of which will un- 

 doubtedly have a malign influence on the 

 future rain supply. 



The lower slopes of the lower Haitian 

 mountains have dense forests of lignum- 

 vitse, of fan palms, of royal palms, ma- 

 hogany, logwood, and mimosas. 



The water of Lake Azuey is very blue. 

 and this ^as also in the running stream- 



