FINDING OF HAITI

Greymouth Evening Star, 31 May 1935, Page 14

FINDING OF HAITI

FORT OF COLUMBUS. Maurice Ries, the New York explorer, recently returned from' the island of Haiti, with evidence that he had. discovered the site where Columbus made his first settlement‘in the New World, says the ‘News-Chronicle.’ From his description of the. log of Columbus, Mr Ries established Mont St. Michel, bn the swampy coast of Cape Haitien Harbour, as the site whgre the explorer built a fort from the “timbers of his wrecked flagship, 'the Santa Maria. The discovery is a reminder of how historic is this island, which early attracted the interest of the European countries. Columbus left a garrison of some forty men to man his fort—whom he found slaughtered when he returned from Spain on his second journey, to the New World. In those days the island of Haiti was!

a new world the Spaniards had just discovered. They had not yet seen ’ the mainland, but later, when that in - turn was settled, Haiti was forgotten , and left to work out its own destiny. Then France conquered the island and ruled Haiti until the negroes that had been brought from Africa as slaves overthrew their masters, massacred

them, and governed themselves. Each occupation, the early Indian, the SpanFrench, and the negro has left its ruins upon the land. The approach by sea to Port au

Prince, the capital and best-known city, is a most magnificent sight. Something in the contour of the bay, in the colour of the water, in the backdrop of mountain scenery, recalls the Bay of Naples. Native bumboats swarm about the ship laden with fruits to sell to the passengers. The wharves are teeming with black life that is vital and merry. The main streets of the city are broad, a. heritage of the French occupation, though

the side ones are usually narrow and lined with low wooden houses—the homes of the natives. The sun is hot and the sidewalks are covered with awnings, in the shade of which the Haitians pass their idle hours. The market is a huge building with a striking entrance flanked with Moorish towers: there the people from the surrounding country sell everything from bits of ribbon! to fish, which they cook on order. The market is no less tidy than any other, but business is carried on apparently to the satisfaction of both the merchant and the buyer.

The elite of Port au Prince gather about the Champ de Mars on the verandahs and terraces of cafes cooled by breezes from the bay. Here at the aperitif hour gather business men, coffee exporters, and cotton planters with their wives and daughters—oliveskinned women, with great dark eyes, dressed in the Parisian manner, and speaking French.

Twenty years ago the Champ de Mars was a treeless stretch with a wooden palace in its centre. Now it i is a garden of palms and flowers ■ adorned with statues and fountains. An unusual legend is told about one of its statues, that of Dessalines. it is said that some day the uplifted sword which ho holds will fall in the direction of the sea. and on that day. as in the time of Dessalines, the people will rise and drive all foreigners into the sea. THE "LITTLE PARIS.” Port an Prince is the present capital of this black Republic, as it has come

to be known, but in the days of the French rule Cape Haitien in the north occupied that -position. It was known as the “Little Paris of America” and under the French was a centre of wealth and luxury. Its dwellings were spacious, its cathedral imposing; its squares and plazas were adorned with flowers andj watered by cool fountains fed by artificial channels from the hills.

The trip by automobile from Port au Prince to Cape Haitien can be made in about eight hours, and the opportunity taken to visit the Palace of Sans-Souci, built by the black King Christophe who ruled the island after the French had been driven from it. It is one of the most wonderful architectural creations in the West Indies. Even'in its ruins—and it is scarcely more than a skeleton of its former self —Sans-Souci is grand and impressive.

The famous fortress of La Ferriere lies some distance away, to reach which one must climb two hours from I the castle through tlie thick forest which covers the hill. There is no path, and the trail is rough. Tradition I has it that 20,000 natives lost their lives in the building of this great fortwhich can be seen for twenty miles around. While the figure may seem exaggerated, it is probable many natives died while building this structure, on the top of an inaccessible hill, its massive walls towering aloft 100 feet.