HAYTI;

THE BLACK REPUBLIC.

CHAPTER I.

Standing on one of the lofty mountains of Hayti, and looking towards the interior, I was struck with the relevance of the remark made by the Admiral Christopher Columbus, who supposedly illustrated the island's mountainous terrain to King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain by crumpling a piece of paper., who, crumpling a sheet of paper in his hand and throwing it on the table before King George III The author likely refers to the Spanish monarchs, though he mistakenly attributes the anecdote to the British King George III., said, “Sire, Hayti looks like that.” The country appears to be a confused gathering of mountains, hills, and valleys, most irregular in form; there are precipices, deep hollows, and valleys apparently without an outlet. Water occasionally glistens far below, and cottages are scattered here and there, with groves of fruit trees and bananas clustering around the crude dwellings. Gradually, however, the eye becomes accustomed to the scene; the mountains separate into distinct ranges, the hills serve as attendant buttresses, and the valleys assume their regular forms as the drainage basins of the system, allowing the streams to be traced as they meander gradually toward the ocean.