on the Samana & Santiago Railway, for which Sanchez is the SAN FRANCISCO DE MACORIS.-Capital of Province of Hotels.-Hispano; Inglaterra; San Francisco; Macorizano. Note.-San Francisco de Macoris is in the center of a rich agricultural district, the chief product of which is cacao. A number of houses do a direct business. SAN PEDRO DE MACORIS.-Capital of Province of same name. Climate, tropical but pleasant; temperature averages 82° in daytime, 55° at night. Principal products: Sugar, molasses, wax, timber, cattle, and cacao. Industries: Sugar mills, tannery, distillery, soap factory, foundry. How Reached.-By automobile, over all-weather highway, 45 miles from Ciudad Trujillo. Regular stop on Pan American Airways air route to South America. Banks. National City Bank of New York; Royal Bank of Canada. Hotels. Grand; Las dos Americas; Inglaterra. Note.-San Pedro de Macoris is the country's principal sugar port. A considerable volume of importing is done; has several very good firms. SANTIAGO DE LOS CABALLEROS.--Capital of Province of Santiago, on a high bluff of Yaque del Norte River. Principal products: Tobacco, coffee, cacao, wax, hides. Industries: Cigar and cigarette making. Terminal for Dominican Central Railroad. How Reached. From northern ports of Monte Cristi and Puerto Plata by automobile highways which join at Santiago and continue through the center of the country to the capital, Ciudad Trujillo. Banks. National City Bank of New York; Royal Bank of Canada. Hotels. Grand Hotel Mercedes; Garibaldi; Frances; Italian; Santiago. Note. Santiago de los Caballeros is the largest town in the northern part of the Republic and its chief commercial center. Many wholesale firms here canvass the surrounding country; also a number of retail firms, some of which make direct importations. Tobacco is cultivated extensively in the vicinity. Santiago occupies such a strategic position that many firms find it advantageous to divide the Republic into two territories, establishing one agency in Ciudad Trujillo and the other in Santiago. This city should be visited by all salesmen. GUADELOUPE Area. Guadeloupe, situated in the Lesser Antilles, consists of two islands separated by a narrow channel called Riviere Salee. The island to the west is called Guadeloupe proper; the one to the east is Grande-Terre. Together they have an area of 532 square miles. Five smaller islands (Marie-Galante, Les Saintes, Petite Terre, Desirade, St. Barthelemy, and the French part of St. Martin) which are dependencies of Guadeloupe bring the total area up to 688 square miles. Topography. The island of Guadeloupe is volcanic; the eastern half is flat while the western half is mountainous. The highest point is La Soufriere with an elevation of 4,900 feet above sea level. Climate. The climate is typical of the trade-wind region; the mean annual temperature is 79° F. Period from December through March is somewhat cooler than the other months. Annual precipitation is 92 inches (well distributed throughout the year) on Guadeloupe proper, but only 49 inches on Basse Terre. From February through April the rainfall is less than at other seasons. Population and Purchasing Power. The population of Guadeloupe and its five dependencies was 267,407 in 1932. The low wage scales which prevail are reflected in a very small purchasing power. Industries, Transportation, and Communication.-Guadeloupe is essentially an agricultural community. It produces sugar, bananas, rum, coffee, and cocoa. Regular steamship service to Guadeloupe is maintained by the Aluminum Line, the FurnessWest Indies Line, and the French Line. Pan American Airways has a weekly plane service to Guadeloupe. Internal transportation is supplied by motor car or bus. Holidays. The following are the chief holidays of the French West Indies (Guadeloupe and Martinique): January 1, New Year's Day; Lundi Gras and Mardi Gras Carnival; Ash Wednesday; Good Friday; Holy Saturday; Easter Monday; Whitmonday; Bastille Day, July 14; Ascension Day, August 16; All Saints' Day, November 1; December 25, Christmas Day. If a holiday falls on Friday or Tuesday, the banks are closed on Saturday or Monday, respectively. Currency, Exchange, and Banking.-French money is legal tender in Guadeloupe. The franc (of 100 centimes) is in general circulation. There is no gold or silver coinage. The principal banks of Guadeloupe are Banque de la Guadeloupe, Credit Guadeloupeen, Royal Bank of Canada. Prices may be quoted in United States dollars, f. a. s. an American port. CHIEF COMMERCIAL CENTERS BASSE-TERRE.-Capital and seat of government; population 13,638, according to census of 1936. Situated on southwest side of the island. Landing is accomplished by means of lighters from ships which anchor in front of the town. Hotels. The principal hotels are the Antilles and the Hotel des Bains. Note. Basse-Terre owes its importance to the fact that it is the capital of the Colony and a port of call for some of the large steamship lines. It is the center of a rich agricultural region; products include coffee, cacao, vanilla, bay oil, and bay leaves. POINTE A PITRE.-Chief town of Guadeloupe; population (which is almost entirely colored), 43,551 in 1936. Located near southern mouth of the Riviere Salee, 41 miles from Basse-Terre. Hotels. The Family House; Grand Hotel des Antilles; Paris; Moderne. Note.-Pointe a Pitre is the chief commercial city of the Colony, whose chief wealth is tropical agriculture. DEPENDENCIES OF GUADELOUPE Desirade. Desirade, 6 miles off northeast coast of GrandeTerre; population, 1,600. Reached from mainland by mailboats and small sailboats. Chief products are sugarcane and vegetables; principal industry, stock raising. Isles des Saintes.-Tis island (area 6 square miles, population 1,900) lies a few miles off Basse-Terre. Principal industries are fishing, agriculture, and stock raising. Communication with this dependency is irregular. Marie Galante.-Located 16 iles southeast of Basse-Terre; area 65 square miles; population 20,000, very few of whom are whites. Products are chiefly agricultural; industries are the distilling of rum and the refining of sugar. A weekly mailboat from Guadeloupe provides communication. St. Barthelemy.-Situated 108 miles northwest of Guadeloupe; area, 5 square miles; population of 2,600. Chief town, Gustaval; reached by schooner. St. Martin.-Lies between Anguilla and St. Barthelemy; area, 41 square miles; population, 6,000. The northern half of this island belongs to France, the southern half to the Netherlands. The capital of the French section is Marigot. Products of the island are salt, cotton, and cattle. Communication is by sloops and schooners. HAITI AREA, TOPOGRAPHY, AND CLIMATE Area. The Republic of Haiti occupies the western third of Hispaniola, second largest of the Caribbean islands, and has an estimated area of 10,204 square miles (about the size of the State of Vermont). The eastern two-thirds of the island is the Dominican Republic. Haiti lies almost due south of New York City. Topography. The surface of the country is rugged. The mountain ranges which traverse it from the Dominican border to the sea rise in the north to 4,600 feet and in the south to almost 10,000 feet. There are extensive coastal plains and fertile mountain valleys, but only a few rivers. Many stream beds are dry except during the rainy seasons. The forests have been almost completely destroyed. Climate. Haiti lies wholly within the Tropics. Tropical clothing is worn throughout the year. At Port-au-Prince the annual mean temperature is 81° F., with a daily temperature range of approximately 19°. There is a spring and an autumn rainy season. Certain sections of the country are arid; in others, precipitation is heavy. POPULATION AND PURCHASING POWER Population. The estimated population is 2,700,000, more than 90 percent of which is negro. A small but influential minority of mulattoes is concentrated in the towns, and there are about 1,500 resident white foreigners. Port-au-Prince, the capital, with an estimated population of 100,000, is the only large town. Agricultural methods are primitive and individual holdings small. Food, clothing, and shelter are the chief needs of the peasant, and he is usually able without much effort to satisfy most of his simple wants from the produce of his own land. Purchasing Power. The average daily wage for unskilled labor ranges from $0.20 to $0.40, which barely covers the purchase of necessities. Late reports indicate that the amount of money in circulation is approximately $2,000,000, which is about $0.75 per capita. Language. French is the official language and the language of the educated minority. Creole, a French-African patois, is the language of the countryside; but a knowledge of it is not necessary for business purposes. Spanish is not used, and communications and catalogs in that language should not be sent to Haiti. CHIEF ECONOMIC ACTIVITIES There is little manufacturing in Haiti. Agriculture is the principal industry, and coffee is the most valuable crop, accounting for 50 percent of export values. Cotton, sugar, sisal, bananas, cacao, goatskins, cottonseed cake, and logwood are also exported. Except for American-operated sugarcane, sisal, and banana plantations, there are no large-scale agricultural enterprises. There is no mineral production except marine salt. Total imports in the fiscal year 1937-38 amounted to $7,594,778, of which the United States participation was $4,105,525. Exports were valued at $6,946,390, and the United States share, $2,972,123. Cotton textiles usually represent one-fourth of total imports. Other significant imports are wheat flour, fish, and agricultural implements. TRANSPORTATION AND COMMUNICATION TRANSPORTATION AIR SERVICE.-Pan American Airways operates a passenger, mail, and express service four times weekly from Miami to Port-au-Prince (fare, $85) and other West Indian ports. There is one plane weekly from Port-au-Prince to Maracaibo, Venezuela (fare, $85), and three planes weekly to San Juan, Puerto Rico (fare, $55). Plane connections once each week are available from Port-au-Prince to Kingston, Jamaica, via Santiago de Cuba (fare, $35 to Cuba and $50 to Jamaica). Five planes a week are available between Haiti and San Pedro de Macoris in the Dominican Republic (one-way fare, $30). STEAMSHIP SERVICES.-From New York: Panama Railroad Steamship Line (24 State Street, New York) operates weekly freight and passenger service to Port-au-Prince. First-class fare from New York to Port-au-Prince, $75; round trip, $137. Fare from Port-au-Prince to Cristobal, $45 one way; $81 round trip. Royal Netherlands Steamship Co. (25 Broadway, New York) provides weekly freight and passenger service to Port-au-Prince; freight and passenger service once every 3 weeks to all Haitian ports. Rates on this line to New York are the same as on the Panama Line. Fare to Curacao is $45. Direct sailings once every 3 weeks. From Gulf Ports: Aluminum Line (1512 American Bank Building, New Orleans, La.) operates freight and passenger service fortnightly from New Orleans and Mobile to Port-au-Prince; freight service once every 3 weeks from Mobile and New Orleans to Port-au-Prince. Lykes Bros. Steamship Co., Inc. (Galveston, Tex.) operates irregular freight and passenger service from Houston, Galveston, and Beaumont, Tex., and Lake Charles, La., to Port-au-Prince. |