Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1915-07-30
HAITI. THE LAND OF L'OUVERTURE
Country Where One See Things Grow From Coffee Plants
to Revolutions Voodooism Fourishes With Politics
and Neither Is Much Better Than the Other.
Br oHARLEs E. KINesLEY

geous scenery and the agricultural poten.
tialIties" Another travellers praise OF tba
Haitien landscape goes further into details
"In tie first place, II is o never-endlng sur.
prise to find in tropio latitudes so many dif
ferent kinds Of country. Try to imagine a
very mountainous region, so varying in alu-
tude and rainfall and in the resulting elf.
mate and vegetation that as you ride across
IL from Caribbean to Atlantic you pass
through Bermuda, Arizona, the foothills OF
the Canadian Rockies and hrst-class conven.
tional tropics resembling the most luxuriant
parts of the neighborlng Antilles Cuba and
Porto Rico. Haiti is as surprisingly varied
as that One day for companions one
may have pines and oedars and the next
still riding north, by some latitudinal maFio
be whisked a thousand miles south to follow
a trail through cocoa and royal palms, duck
ing low-hanging clusters of bananas"
Everything in the Earth
The mineral wealth of the country is large
but exact scientific information is lodged In
the hands of mining companies, who are
awaiting stable political conditions Haiti Ia
principally an agricultural country. Stick
anything into the ground and It will grow
It is hardly an exaggeration to say that one
can actually see plants grow. At any rate,
the plantations are looked at rather than
cultivated by the shiftless laborers. The
heavy rains knock off the coffee berries when
they are ripe, seed them, and the result Is
the wonderful jungles of coffee bushes, whose
fecundity is nowhere else eaualed.
Coffee is the principal crop. Indeed, Haiti
suffers from too much coffee. Haiti is eco.
nomically dependent on the coffee crop. II
supplies the bulk Of the revenues of the Gov
ernment and the meagre demands of the
peasantry Of the mountains and valleys
whose business It is-chiehy that of the
women and children-to gather 1t and bring
II to the seaport towns on their heads and
on the backs of donleys and horses. Virtu-
ally all the Haitien coffee has been shipped
to Europe principally to Germany and
France. The German market has been lost
and none gained to take it's place Efforts
have been made in recent years to introduce
Haitien coffee into the United States; but
notwithstanding its excellent quality, the
American importers will take little of It,
Toussaint L'Ouverture Forgotten
Voodooism, with all it's horrible. barbaric
rites, still hourlshes among the people, and
its priests have always eXerted considerable
influence on the Government. But notwith-
standing the general ignorance Of the people,
Haiti has developed a considerable literature,
written in French, the official language OF
the country, and some of it is of high
order. Haiti has it's national heroes, Of
course; but of these the murderous Dessalnes
is held in highest esteem. The name OF
Toussaint rOuverture, a name familiar to
every American schooboy and one which
will live long as history, is almost for
gotten in Haiti.
A monument to Christophe, a mulatto. who
became Haiti's first President in 1907 and
later assumed the royal title of Henri I.
king OF the North" is the great citadel OF
La Ferriere. He constructed it Of solid
masonry on the summit of mountain 5000
feet high. Some of the walls are so feet high
and 16 feet thick. The vast fortress has
many subterranean passages and secret
chambers. in which it is supposed that some
of his boarded wealth is still buried.
In 1912 an earthquake partially destroyed
the structure; but the colossal ruins still
attest the gigantic work of hero, and the
world wonders now how the work was done
and how the material for the construction
and the armament ever got TO the top of the
mountain. The whole enterprise is clouded
in mystery and romance. The citadel covers
the peak, dominates the surrounding coun-
try, can be plainly seen from the harbor Of
Cape Haitien, and is frequently visited by
tourists.