Geography of Hayti. 
2 9 
terminates in the South at the Point of Beate. The Selle, rising 
to the same height as the range of the Cibao, is situated about 
South East from Port-au-Prince, in the department of the West. 
The Hotte comprises the chain which commences at the 
Platons, in the arrondissement of Cayes, crosses that of Grande 
Anse in the direction of East and West, and ends at Cap-a- 
Eoux, near Tiburon. Its height is also 7,673 English feet 
above the level of the sea. 
The Monte Christi forms a chain which commences at 
Grange Point and ends at the Peninsula of Samana. 
The mountains Noire and of Gahos begin near Marmelade, 
and terminate in the arrondissement of St. Jean. 
Los Muertos form the chain which terminates at Cape 
Engano, in the department of the South-East. 
These last-named mountains, together with others less con¬ 
siderable, rise to an average height of about 2,400 feet. 
“The number of mountains,” says M. de St. Mery, “and 
their height, notwithstanding the vast extent of the several 
plains, give to the Island, when seen at a distance, a moun¬ 
tainous appearance, and is the reason why it is far from giving 
the favorable opinion it deserves. But the observer who con¬ 
templates the mountain chains with all their branches, which 
stretch their sinuous ramifications over the entire surface of the 
Island, sees in this the cause of its fertility, — the immense 
reservoir where are accumulated the waters which numberless 
rivers afterwards distribute on all sides ; a means destined by 
nature to temper the effects of a burning sun, to arrest the fury 
of the winds, to vary the temperature, and even to multiply the 
resources and combinations of human industry; in short, the 
soil destined to bear for centuries the bounteous forests which, 
since the creation, perhaps, received the fertilizing waters which 
the clouds secrete within their bosom, and which, by their pro¬ 
tective position, are saved from the touch of man, whose genius 
is not always conservative.” 
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