xx Haiti

of the world's end, strange fascinating lands beckon us, bid us revel in their exotic spenders, come with us as we head for ports of call.

As our steamer cuts to the shark-infested waters of the Caribbean Sea, we approach an island of extraordinary beauty. Rising precipitously from palm-finged beaches, great craggy mountains are set against the transparent tropical sky, leaching stony fingers to the hot shield of the sun overhead, and then sweeping down swiftly, beyond, toward luxuriant plains, dense jungles, deep swamps.

This is the land on which Columbus first set foot when he sailed into the dark mystery of the Western Sea. This is Haiti, land of Tusailu Bhatur, of Christoph the Black Emperor, Haiti the land of Boudou.

This is the Negro Republic. This is Haiti, our port of call. ship docks at Cape Haitian on Haiti's northern shore. And do you think we're going to get a chance to see a Buddhist ceremony like William C.

Hook tells about in the Magic Island? Not much. This is the Black Man's country and they don't like the white man snooping around. Who dues against the law anyway? Yes, so is liquor for a while in America.

It was not far from the side of the bustling town of Cape Haitian that Columbus landed in 1492. And it was through this country that the ruthless Spaniards hunted and killed so many Indians that finally they were forced to import slaves from Africa to do the work of the colony.

At the close of the 17th century, the western half of Columbus Island of Hispaniola was granted to the French. And under the administration of their emnily successful colonial system, Haiti or San Domingo as the French called it, became the richest colonial possession in the world.