HAITI. THE HOME OF TWIN REPUBLICS 



489 



^p^ d ^^^!^^^i^r z ^^^ 



i: 



Cape Frances Viejo 



^^^S^ ^Cape Cabron 

 ?_ 7CapeSamana 



Sa.7na.71a Bay 



STATUTE MILES 



74 



73 



72 



70 



69 



Drawn by A. H. Bumstead 



THE ISLAND OF HAITI, SHOWING ITS TWO REPUBLICS 



The Republic of Haiti, which occupies the western portion of the island, has an area 

 slightly less than that of Maryland. Santo Domingo is comparable in size to Vermont and 

 New Hampshire combined. Haiti's population in 1912 was estimated at two and a half 

 millions: Santo Domingo's in 1918 was estimated at slightly less than a million. 



ful than anything to be seen elsewhere 

 in the West Indies. 



PICTURE SUCCEEDS PICTURE 



The extraordinary relief of the sur- 

 face — tremendous gorges : wall - like 

 mountain-sides ; crumbling peaks ; zig- 

 zag, white-stoned stream valleys : clusters 

 of pines, pillar-like, 200-feet columns of 

 reddish gray stems ; the golden cande- 

 labra of the yuccas ; the acanthus-like 

 foliage of the handsome Bocconia frute- 

 scens, the scarlet fringes of the bell-like 

 fuchsias, the trailing clusters of rose-pink 

 honeysuckle, the pink flower-sprays of 

 the begonias, the large white rose-like 

 blossoms of the brambles, the vivid blue 

 labiates, the dainty foliage of the dwarf 

 bamboos, and of countless ferns (there 

 are tree-ferns of two or more genera) 

 and of lycopodiums ; the emerald-green 

 pastures flecked with vetch and clover 

 and dotted with mulleins having lemon- 

 yellow flowers like the English leopard's 

 bane : all these are elements of remark- 

 able landscape beauty. 



Picture after picture is found, to be 

 realized, perchance, many years hence. 

 when there arises a native school of art 



and when the educated Haitians of the 

 present day — who can think and talk of 

 nothing but Paris and the beauties of 

 France — will give way to an indigenous 

 race of better-educated Haitians, of no 

 matter what color, who will concentrate 

 their thoughts and their thankfulness on 

 the beauty of their own country, which 

 in its own way has no rival. 



One of the elements of delight in the 

 mountain country of Haiti lies in the odor 

 exhaled from these forests of Georgian 

 pines — an odor that never seems to be 

 altogether absent from the exhilarating 

 air. 



THE MOUNTAIN PEOPLE ARE A COMELY, 

 VIGOROUS RACE 



All this most mountainous region is 

 fairly well inhabited, and the little vil- 

 lages of negro peasants appear on nearly 

 every spur or shelf where there is any 

 level space for cultivation. Here their 

 not-untidy, steep-thatched houses may be 

 seen, generally surrounded with emerald 

 green banana groves, for the banana will 

 flourish up to about 5.000 feet. 



The mountain people are a vigorous 

 and comely negro race. The fine physical 



