Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1890-01-30
AN EARTHLY PARADISE.
A Visit TO Cape Haytien and a De
SeriptiOn of the Natural Gl0rieS
to Be Seen.
Once a Wealthy and Busy Communi-
ty. Their Homes and Forts Are
Now Scene of DesolatiOn.

I
ency, and its delighted victim packs his
grip, puts dollars In his pocket, turns his
back on his home, and hght-hearted and
free, launches forth to revisit old scenes
or explore new fields; and so it is that L,
who had been chatting out my soul on the
prairies of Illinois, was beguiled into a
trip through Mexico, and at Vera Cruz,
getting a smell of salt water, my fate was
sealed; and here | am sitting IN the
shadow of great rock at Cape Haytien on
the northwest part of the island of San
Domingo Down below me in picturesque
ruin is the city, overgrown with creeping
vines and the beautiful shrubbery and
Towering plants of the tropics. Nature
always beauties man S coarsest work. We
all admire a moss-grown cottage or an
ivy-clad church. Such beauty appeals
successfully to the most prosaic of US all,
because it is true sbeauty, and so here, a
city once of regal splendor and loveliness,
so much so that it was called lie Petit
Paris, though so utterly ruined that it is
only partly habitable, the broken arches
and crumbling walls are festooned and gar
landed with such rare vines and exquisite
flowers that the unsightly ruins are posi-
tive delight to see. The hum of traffic
comes up to where sit in subdued man
ner, and the soft, spicy wind fans my cheek
with a delicious fragrance. Far out on the
silvery mirror of the sea the white sails
CLEAN in the bright sunlight as the ships
float on its bosom as if between earth and
sky. On the mountain top above me In
billowy beauty, great banks ofwhite clouds
troop across its summit, making lovely
vistas of sunshine and shadow over its
rugged sides. Far across the harbOr the
rocky headlands of Monte Christie glimmer
faint and indistinct in the blue wavering
distance, and looking over the little plain,
to the top of Haut du Cap, the great cita-
del of Christophe frowns down on the pal
ace of Sans Souci where once reigned in
gorgeous splendor that dusky monarch.
Now it is the abode of bats and lizards, its
statuary mutilated beyond restoration, the
lovely frescoes faded and gone, its foun-
tains silent and in all its glory departed,
yet beautiful in its desolation. The hdr-
Dor, with its feet of small boats darting
hither and thither on their several .errands,
the stately ships that float on its peaceful
bosom, at rest from the buffetings of old
ocean, seems like
vERITABLE HEAVEN
for the worn and weary seaman, and just
outside the breakers are dashing thun-
Point Picolet, making glorious sym
phony, diapason that only old Neptune
himself is capable of executing. All round
glistening and sparkling in the sun like
pearls set about diamond; stately cocoa
palms bow their feathery tops to the
breeze, and the coffee, orange and Glove
trees all about fill the air with a perfume
equal to Araby the Blest The road sides
are gorgeous with BECOMES, verbenas, foil
age plants and flowers as beautiful as they
are nameless to me, and the forest is one
vast tangle of great and small trees cover
ed with perfect canopy of creeping and
Towering vines.
In the middle of the day the sun blazes
down with a fierce heat, but it is tempered
with a cooling breeze from the sea. Then
the tourist HES him to a hammock, and IN
some grateful shape sleeps the dulcet siesta,
waking to do what is at hand with faint
languor that soon becomes second nature,
and our nervous, active, busy, hustling
Northerner in very short time yields to
the quiet influences of the place and be-
comes as slow as the rest of them.
Four years ago | was here alone; to-day
my wife and boy are with me- and oh the
delight they feel as with me they wander
about this spot. Down in the city we have
climbed over the ruins of the cathedral.
roofess, overgrown with MOSES and vines,
all in ruins and utterly desecrated, its
chancel the playground for half-naked lit
tie negro boys; through the great windows
grow trees; the screen separating the gal
leries is in fragments on the floor. | have
passed days clambering over it with the
delight of a child, and my boy the while
calling tPapa, look at this, - Papa, look
at that" or 'Papa, see where | am. .
And the little wife, with book or sketch
ing materials, looks on in quiet ecstacy
| tell you that a man who leaves his wife
at home when he goes pleasure seeking
misses half the enjoyment of the trip. My
wife and boy are companions with me,
trout and bass fishing, mountain climbing,
conoeing and in all my pleasure trips. Any
place where man s wife and boy can't go
is no place for him either.
FORT PICOLET
is grand old ruin. | have toiled up its
broken stairs and looked down into floor
less rooms, into dungeons now open to the
| day, and, leaning over crumbling battle
ments. gazed far out across the great SHIN
mering sea beyond. Have been there at
night when the wind went whispering
| through long grasses and vines which
mantle as with a coronet its grey walls; it
seemed that then | could see pass before
me warriors bold, knights of high degree,
| brave men and fair women who have long
since passed to the unknown world and
been swallowed up IN oblivion. with no
more record than if their names had been
written in the sand at my feet. In stormy
weather the wind, like demon with a
| thousad tongues, tore screaming through
portcullis, open windows and broken walls.
Sea gulls, with their piping cries, circled
| in helpless flight around its towers, and
| old ocean, lashed to wrath, dashed with a
| furious thunder around its foundation
walls and flung its salt spray far up against
| its granite bulwarks.
The forests are full of birds, no song
sters, but mostly of gorgeous plumage, SO
that often, as darting from their leafy
coverts into the bright sunshine, they look
/ ed like great Jewels flashing through the
air, crimsome, green and gold. Gibbering,
/ elfsh little monkeys swung from branch
to branch, scolding, threatening and, in
their feeble, amusing way, annoying the
| intruder all they dared. | have never
seen a snake ON the island, but there are
1 lizards innumerable; they are harmless,
however. Some one or two varieties OF
them are eaten and esteemed great deli
cacy. | never hankered after lizard, how
ever. There is no accounting for tastes
Snails are eaten in France ard England
and frogs legs right in Chicago. One OF
our party in Mexico offered to bet that
there WASH t one of us who could name
what he had eaten since he struck the
country We have made little excursions
hither and yon about here, mostly on