what extent enterprise and labour might turn these
into available wealth we cannot tell. We know also
that in the dènse and almost interminable forests
there are vast supplies of those same valuable woods
that are to be found on the other large islands. The
soil is everywhere fertile, even on the highest slopes
and levels that have been laid bare, but as yet the
great stretches of rich plain are cultivated only in
patches. The natural productions of the vegetable
world are the same tropical plants in variety and
profusion that we have found in Cuba and Jamaica;
and the exotic sugar-cane and coffee grow with the
same luxuriance, and have long afforded the staple
crops. Cotton and tobacco are indigenous, but
neglected. The natural resources of the island, if
fairly developed, would sustain ten times the present
population in comfort.
There is nothing exceptional or peculiar in the
animal life of Haiti. It has the same lack of indigenous
quadrupeds and mammals as the other A n tilles,
but has rather more of the domestic animals
gone wild, including dogs and cats as well as cattle
and hogs. The undisturbed wilderness and great
stretches of unoccupied land give them a vast range
of freedom. There is no great variety or abundance
of birds, but many snakes and reptiles, mostly
harmless, and insects in plenty, some of which have
unpleasant ways. The island stands open to the
north-east trade-winds, and on account of the great
elevations on its surface, the contrasts in its climate
are somewhat stronger than in the other islands.
The general rainfall is heavy, especially on the northern
slopes, and the wet season lasts from May till
October; but there are sheltered plateaus where
very little rain comes and vegetation is nourished by
heavy dews. There is much heat and moisture in
some of the lowlands near the coast, and at Port-
au-Prince the temperature ranges from 65o to ioo°
Fahrenheit. There is no more delightful or salubrious
climate in the world than is to be found in
much of the upland country, and the plains that
border the river valleys are always healthful. If the
cities and towns are not so in the wet and hot season,
it is largely due to lack of attention to sanitary
and hygienic requirements.
Haiti has been several times shaken in spots by
violent earthquakes. About once in a century some
promising town has been quite destroyed. This
happened to Concepcion de la Vega in the great eastern
plain in 1564,and to Port-au-Prince on the western
bay in 1751. In 1842, Port-au-Prince was shaken
into ruins by convulsions of the earth. But no external
indications of volcanic action in recent ages
have been found, and the hurricane does not strike
this island with the violence which it sometimes exhibits
toward the lower Caribbees and Jamaica and
Cuba. It does not lie across the favourite path of
that raging monster of the air.
Española, or “ Little Spain,” was the mother of
the Spanish colonies in the West Indies. After the
excitement of the discovery days and the eager
quest for gold, when Diego Colon at Santo Domingo
assumed the airs of a royal ruler, expeditions
were sent to Jamaica under Esquivel and to Cuba