financial situation was placed, during the duration of the treaty,
in the hands of a financial advisor, who, having been nominated by
the President of the United States, is appointed by the President
of Haiti. Addison P. Ruan was the first appointee and served in
Haiti for two years until he was transferred to take the same post
in Panama. Following Mr. Ruan, John A. McIlhenny came to Haiti and,
realizing like his predecessor the urgent need for money with which
to develop the country, he has been steadily at work to put through
a Haitian loan in the United States. This is of course at present
impossible due to the abnormal financial situation in this country.
The financial advisor in Haiti has the authority to make all
appropriations of the state money and his word is final as to their
expenditure. In this respect Haiti is being run, during the treaty
period, in very much the same way as India is governed by England,
except that no treasurer is needed in Haiti, as the Haitian National
Bank serves that purpose.
V
PUBLIC EDUCATION AND NORMIL CHARLES
M. Dantes Bellegarde, Minister of Public Instruction, had told
us that he would be glad to show us through the schools of
Port-au-Prince. We therefore arranged a date and set out one morning
to make the tour. With us went also the American Advisor to the
department, Mr. Bourgeois.
At the time the treaty was made between Haiti and the United States,
no provision was arranged for the Department of Education, as
was done with the Sanitary and Engineering Departments. Thus the
development made possible through the more direct assistance from
Washington has been unattainable in the school work, and although
the work we saw being carried on was a remarkably inspiring
demonstration of accomplishments, yet the small proportion which is
being done of what could be done if greater means were available is
quite discouraging. It is the same cry as one raises on every hand:
If only they had the means!
Two years ago, three years after the treaty was signed, Mr.
Bourgeois came to Haiti, but only in the capacity of an Advisor
responsible to the Haitian Government alone and not as a league
official. His force is largely restricted to negative powers.
It is indeed fortunate that a mind of remarkable keenness and
a power for practical work exists in the person of the present
Minister, M. Bellegarde. But should a man of lesser force take his
place, as has happened within recent years, the result would be
deplorable. Also, M. Bellegarde could carry his work much further if
he had the proper financial and other material aid of the United
States Educational Department.
Although compulsory educations is legally a fact, there is, in
reality, a force of teachers and equipment for but 18,000 of the
200,000 children of the proper age. Many of these children are in
the country districts where good teachers, who even in the city are
at a premium, are almost an unknown factor. This feature is being
remedied as far as practicable, all the time, and the teachers in
the rural schools are being carefully examined. Some of these have
been found to be utterly unable to correct their pupils' simple
exercises and these teachers are being dropped. But, though it is
thus very simple to drop an incompetent teacher, it is a manifold
more difficult task to replace him. The pay for teachers is $6
per month and so, even low as wages are in Haiti, the position of
teacher is not so lucrative as to have very many applicants.
The salaries cannot be raised. It is the old story of lack of money.
Nearly half of the annual appropriation for public instruction is
being swallowed up by the present salaries of the present number of
teachers. The remainder is naturally barely sufficient to maintain
the existing schools. No new advances are possible.
Fortunately, besides the public schools of Haiti, there are numerous
privately run ones, nearly always under religious or parti-religious
supervision. The Catholics are the most frequent benefactors and are
doing by far the greater part of the work. Originally, before the
present public school system was created, these schools, missions,
or convents were in part supported by the state; but gradually this
assistance is being necessarily taken away.
Our first visit was to a school run by Belgian Sisters. It was
a school for girls only and was still supported in part by the
Government. For the younger children the work consists mostly
of such studies as would be taught in a primary school in the
States, great stress being laid upon the speaking of good French.
This is particularly important because the natural tongue of the
lower classes of natives is Creole, which in Haiti consists of an
ungrammatical and corrupted language drawn principally from the
French, but also with traces of English, Spanish and early Indian
words. Some Creole words seem to defy a tracing of their origin.
Although the natives may understand you if you speak French to them,
it is impossible for you to make out what they say, though you may
know French perfectly.
"Vini non" is a Creole expression used continually to mean "come
here!" Its derivation is certainly obscure. Nor is Creole the same
all over the republic. Each section has its own dialect which is
distinct.
After the children learn the first elements of grammar school work,
they begin to work a part of the day at embroidery, sewing and
knitting. Thus the vocational work is gradually increased and before
the girls graduate they are given training which fits them to be
efficient servants. Vocational schools of this type are just what
Haiti needs most of all. They serve the double purpose of training
the natives to obtain a good living and they also furnish a means by
which the better-off may secure good servants and workers.
Downstairs in the school building are the school and work
rooms--upstairs the dormitory. The dormitory consists of one large
room covering the entire top of the house and filled with cots for
every boarder. For every two cots there is also provided a washstand
which contains places where they may keep their personal articles.
The entire effect was of an establishment thoroughly modern and
scrupulously clean. Besides these girls who come from the
country districts and board, the school has also a great many day
pupils who live at their homes in town.
[Illustration: MAGISTRAR'S STAND--OF WHICH THERE IS ONE IN EVERY
TOWN]
[Illustration: THE NEW PRESIDENT'S PALACE]
The next school we went to was a non-vocational one under the
direction of an order of French Brothers. It was solely for boys,
just as the first was only a girls' school, for the morals of the
country do not permit the adoption of co-education, even though the
pupils are of the earliest ages.
The priests who conduct this institution are certainly as fine a
type of self-sacrificing men who are aiding a truly worthy cause as
I can imagine. They see the tremendous possibilities and without
limiting their efforts to what they could accomplish with a normal
amount of work they undertake almost superhuman attempts. Of the
Brothers who come to Haiti, their average length of life after
arriving is but 12 years, so killing is their work. The normal
amount of work for a professor in the United States is about 18
hours a week, but the Brothers in Haiti teach for 8 hours every
single day. And every effort which they put into it is unwasted and
has a telling effect in the result.
There are 11 grades of scholars taught by the Brothers, from the
earliest kindergarten to the graduation class who would correspond
to high school students. The boys are given work in geography,
history, spelling, French, mathematics and other things which would
be taught in any American school. I looked over the copy books
of the younger boys and the neatness and excellent penmanship of
even children of six was amazing. All of the children seemed to be
naturally gifted at freehand drawing. One little boy of eight, when
asked what his favorite subject was, replied: "My national emblem."
He drew therewith a fine representation of a palm tree.
Although the order of Brothers is French, not all of them are
Frenchmen. Several are Americans, a few Canadians and Portuguese,
and one, a Haitian Brother.
Our third and last visit was to the Ecôle Normale d'lndustrie. The
graduating pupils here act as teachers of the younger ones. This
school is one of the public schools and as we went through it, M.
Bellegarde proudly pointed to a particularly fine-looking little
boy. "That is my son." We went through many classrooms full of
scholars of different ages studying in very much the same way as
children study in America. It seemed a cause for hope to look at
this public school through which the Haitian children were being
made to see the advantages of education and the opportunity to rise.
When every Haitian child will be able to have such instruction and
training then his generation will be able to throw off the yoke of
past superstitions and dispel the ignorance which has been holding
back the masses.
Following this tour of the few schools which time allowed us to
visit, M. Bellegarde took us to the studio of Normil Charles. M.
Charles is a Haitian sculptor who has remarkable genius and is one
of the leading sculptors of the world. He studied in Paris for a
number of years, and has received many decorations and honors. As
we entered his studio, in front of us we saw a huge bronze which he
is doing for the Government and which is to be placed in the Champ
de Mars. It is called "The Benefactor" and is the statue of a great
public-spirited man. At his feet kneels a peasant woman, with babe
in arms, mourning his death. The piece would certainly be a work of
the first class anywhere and the country may well be proud that one
of its citizens is its author.
In the studio, too, was the bust of Dessalines, done by Charles,
and which I had seen six months before in the Pan-American Building
in Washington, where it remained for some time.
M. Charles, himself, is a delightful man, well-mannered and
interesting. But he is indeed a strange product of a country
which for so many years has been kept down by revolution with the
resulting isolation and lack of opportunity to devote time to the
pursuits of peace.
VI
THE PRESIDENT
From the studio of M. Charles, M. Bellegarde took us to see the new
palace. It is a huge structure, quite like a palace in appearance,
and made of white stucco. It is more than twice the size of our
White House and is shaped like the letter E, with the three wings
running back from the front. In the main hall huge columns rise to
the ceiling and at each side a staircase winds up to the second
floor.
While we were starting to go through the palace the guard had
apprised President Dartiguenave of our presence and we were
surprised and delighted to have him send word that he would be glad
to receive us. Although the left wing of the building is to be the
President's private suite, it is as yet uncompleted and he is at
present occupying the opposite end. We entered the President's
office, where he rose from his desk to meet us, and to usher us
through to the Cabinet room. This room is large, like all the
rooms--perhaps 40 feet square--and with a long table in the center
surrounded by chairs. Here the President meets his Cabinet.
The President is a man of medium height and has the bearing of an
aristocrat. His hair and beard are gray which contribute to his good
appearance. He is rather light in color and, indeed, is the first
president for a long time who has not been a black. The President
does not speak English but understands and speaks French perfectly.
Altogether he is a delightful, cultured man and a suitable head for
the Republic.
From the balcony of the palace there is an excellent view,
overlooking the entire town and the harbor beyond. The next room to
visit was the "Salle Diplomatique" where all official receptions are
held. This had just been decorated but was as yet unfinished. The
President personally escorted us to it and afterwards to his future
private suite. He then showed us downstairs and out to the car,
where we left both the President and M. Bellegarde.
[Illustration: "WHITE WINGS" OF PORT-AU-PRINCE]
[Illustration: MARKET WOMEN LEAVING TOWN ON THEIR "BURROS"]
VII
A MORNING HUNT
As I left the house one morning at two, the yard boys next door
were already at work and in town the "white wings"--an American
institution--were about. Three of us joggled along for 22 miles for
an early duck shoot and talked of many things, among them concerning
a proposed map of Haiti. The existing one is grossly inaccurate as
is easily shown by an airplane flight or a ship attempting to follow
many of the channels. There is no triangulation point in Haiti and
so the present coast line on the maps is the result of a certain
number of bearings from off shore, with the remainder a matter of
freehand filling-in. The use of airplanes in heretofore untried ways
will be employed to aid in the exact location of towns and be a
means of a great saving of tedious traverse work.
In town, life was already stirring, as I have shown. This is nothing
unusual for it is the customary hour for the Haitian to begin
his day. By 6 the "gentlemen about town" are in the streets with
their canes and Stetsons, debating the fall of the cabinet or the
latest development in the gourde situation. But out in the country
everything was still dark and the market women had barely started
to bring their load into town. So we met no one--except twice the
marine patrol car on its route.
Just outside the portals marking the limits of Port-au-Prince on
which are inscribed the words: "Peace, Justice, Work," is the
historic Pont Rouge. This is the spot where revolutionary troops
coming down from the mountains and across the plains would first
meet the forces of the existing government of Port-au-Prince.
Here the great Dessalines, coming into town at the head of his
troops, met what he believed to be a guard of his own troops. His
own general was leading them, but had betrayed Dessalines, and the
President was soon left wounded in the roadway to die. It had been
Dessalines who, it is said, sported himself by pulling out the eyes
of his prisoners with corkscrews.
The streets in Port-au-Prince are wide asphalt pavements and
would be adapted for speeding but for the presence in the center
and sides promiscuously of unruly "burros," naked babies playing
in the dirt, odd Haitian pigs looking like some new species of
animal, and pedestrians of strange sorts. This is true, also, for
some distance out on the Hasco road, over which we went. But after
a few miles we came out upon one of the new roads which has been
put down throughout the island by the Haitian Government under the
supervision of the Gendarmerie and of an engineering force loaned
to them by the United States. In all, about 500 miles of excellent
roadways have been put down since the American intervention.
In this work the budget system is now used and as every payment is
actually handed out by one of the American engineers himself, the
graft which was formerly rampant has been eliminated. In the days of
pre-American intervention a sum of, let us assume, $50,000 was voted
to build a road. $5,000 of this regularly went to the President
and $500 to each Senator who would vote for the appropriation.
This left, generally, about $10,000, or one-fifth, for actual road
building work.
The Haitians have proven to be good engineers and except for the
pay roll, large pieces of work are often carried on by them without
assistance from the Americans.
The first part of the road which we struck was excellent but after
branching off the main road to Pont Beudet we came to the new part.
Roads of this type, which is the one generally used, are macadam
with good foundation of different sized stones and 20 feet in width.
The top dressing is a good binding gravel which can be found within
short distances along almost all of the roads which they are now
building. A temporary track is run from each gravel pit along the
side of the road until a mile or so on another pit is dug and the
rails taken up and laid down from the new pit on. The gravel is thus
carried to where it is needed by a small engine and a few cars.
There is in this way no long-distance hauling.
Finally we turned off the new road to a clearing through a cactus
desert at the edge of Lake Troucaiman. Above either shore two
mountain ranges run parallel for miles, far above the lake. The lake
itself is open water in the central portion but by far the greater
part is filled with a mass of lily, mangrove and reed growth. Often
it is so dense as to be entirely impenetrable.
When we arrived at Troucaiman it was not yet daylight and only the
candles in the few "cailles" along the road could be seen. Upon the
approach of the car, five or six natives appeared, knowing from
past experience what we had come for, and with our French and their
Creole, interspersed by numerous gestures, we made our plans. Each
of us started out, alone in his own tiny dugout of about a foot wide
and four feet long and with his own native in the back to pole him
about. The guides had taken off the few rags which they wore and one
by one we were shoved off. Part of the time we were poled, part of
the time the craft stuck and the native had to wade along beside to
keep us going.
We went on and on in the blackness until finally one could
distinguish black shapes arising from the water or whirring past. It
came at last--the gray dawn for which we had been waiting. A teal
went overhead with its characteristic rapid flight. A slower-flying
redhead and later a scaup passed. And all around were hundreds upon
hundreds of Egrets, great white forms which flappingly arose when we
approached too near.
To the natives there are four kinds of ducks: "gens-gens," which
is a species of tree duck; "cécele" or blue-winged teal; "cucurem"
or ruddy duck; and any other duck is known as "canard generale."
All of the first three species are abundant, as are also the scaup,
baldpate, redhead and Bahaman pintail.
We met at nine on the shore, which by daylight looked very different
than when we had left it, and after some refreshments and comparing
of our respective bags, we started home. There are no game laws in
Haiti, so that your bag is only limited by your lack of skill. Half
way in to Port-au-Prince is the spot where two months before three
Haitian engineers had been murdered in the "caille" where they were
spending the night. The men were working on the road I have spoken
of, but as the caco trouble had been active in that district just
before the men were murdered, these men had been duly forewarned not
to spend the night.
Frequently I used to go out on these shooting trips, but not always
to Troucaiman. Two other spots were alternated, Miragôane in the
west and the salt lakes beyond Troucaiman. These salt lakes are
two decidedly brackish bodies of water which lie on the border of
Haiti and Santo Domingo. They are at the end of the Plain of the
Cul-de-Sac, and a few miles beyond the town of Thomaseau. The water
is as clear as a crystal and the scenery amid these wonderful lakes
and the mountains above them is splendid.
In the opposite direction, and 70 miles west of Port-au-Prince,
is Lake Miragôane. It is just beyond Petit Gôave. The lake
is large, being about eight miles long. In a part of the lake we
had particularly good teal shooting and by moonlight thousands of
"gens-gens" would come in to feed in the shallows overnight. Long
before dawn they had vanished again.
[Illustration: TYPICAL "CAILLE" NEAR FURCY
_A few banana and coffee trees (on the left) are all that each one
has_]
[Illustration: RAILWAY TO LEOGANE]
It is a difficult lake to shoot upon, however. The mud flats from
the shore are long and reach far out into the lake so that it is
practically impossible to use a dugout for some distance. Thus it
was necessary to walk out in shallow water and deep mud. The water,
very unlike the salt lake water, was thick, filthy and always gave
one an itching sensation for hours after having been in it.
Beside the duck shooting at Miragôane, there is excellent snipe
shooting during certain seasons and good guinea shooting also. It is
a strange thing to have guineas in Haiti. The guinea is a native of
Africa which only reached the new world in a domesticated state.
The present birds are descendants of the domesticated ones left by
the French planters during the revolution and which have reverted to
the wild state in the intervening generations. Doves, as everywhere
in Haiti are also abundant, and form a good shoot and a good meal.
VIII
PINE NEEDLES
The mountains had changed from green to violet and from violet
to black and the new moon silhouetted the peaks from 10,000 foot
summits to the sea. From Furcy, the next range to the east seemed
within hands' reach across the valleys and hills as its mountains
rose ten miles or ten hours by trail away. Our sweaters and blankets
felt barely enough as the wind howled around us. With closed eyes we
knew from its tell-tale sound that pine trees surrounded us and that
the winds were blowing stronger and stronger through their needles.
We climbed the hill with difficulty over the slippery matting of
pine needles to pick bananas along the road. And we were in the
tropics, with pine cones, palm and bananas growing side by side.
Thanking Providence that I am alive while such country still exists,
untouched by man's civilization, I gazed for dozens of miles over
several mountain ranges with their valleys and hills overlapping to
the sea on two sides of the island. These bits of water looked far
away indeed.
With only a rough, mountain-stream bed winding for miles to the
nearest town, we were apart by so much from white man--but in point
of effect upon the country as far as before Columbus saw the first
redskin when he landed on the north shore of the island.
Tucked away in the valleys we could see the lights of many native
"cailles" and we knew that there were many more unseen. With
plaster and sticks for walls they are roofed by thatching of straw
overhanging the walls and sloping up to a peak. In every part of
Haiti they are there, each the same with its 2 or 3 coffee trees,
its few bananas and that is about all. Along the road are the market
women. Every so often, perhaps once a week, they take their bananas
or coffee to town, a walk for some of 18 hours' steady going, to
sell it at the Port-au-Prince market for about 50 cents gold.
And the natives are satisfied--in fact they do not want things to
be any different. They have enough to live on and have no desires
which more energy would gratify. For amusement they have their cock
fights, when all the neighborhood gathers and each man brings his
trained rooster. And in the evenings they have their native dances
with tom-tom music and native rum, _taffia_, _clairin_ and _rum_,
the first entirely unrefined, the second somewhat refined, and the
third refined, though very often not of an excellent grade. But some
Haitian rum can be easily obtained which is excellent and of just
about as good quality as Jamaica rum.
And then, of course, besides the bananas and coffee which they sell,
the natives in the hills burn charcoal and carry this, whenever they
need money, to town for 60 cts. a donkey load.
We had left Port-au-Prince in the morning by car to Petionville,
1200 feet above the sea, and from there had changed to horseback.
With our pack-mules and gendarme guides we left Petionville at noon
and started the winding trail up the first mountain range. The
going was slow as the trail is mostly steep and in places merely a
stream-bed filled with loose rocks. Within the first hour we were
far up and could look upon Petionville just below us and beyond it
the broad plain of the Cul-de-Sac with its many squares of bright
green sugar cane cut in the brown-gray cactus land. As a background
for this flat valley rose the mountains of Mirebalais continuing
beyond the ends of the plain to the sea and to the salt lakes. Just
this side of the salt lakes was a mass of water and reeds, looking
very insignificant, which was the familiar Troucaiman. It was like
an aërial photograph of this entire section of the country but with
perspective and magnificently varied coloration.