. The storied West Indies . these hill forts, where vastmagazines of provisions and ammunition were alsocollected. The lateral hills and the ravines intersect-ing them were all cleared and planted with bananas,yams, plantains, and other quick-growing plants pro-ducing edible fruits and tubers; water was also pro-vided in cisterns and by means of aqueducts: so thatthe blacks could have held out for an indefiniteperiod, provisioned and intrenched as they were, inthese almost impregnable fastnesses. Towering above the hill ranges back of CapeHaitien, the visitor to that port may see a pyramidalmo
. The storied West Indies . these hill forts, where vastmagazines of provisions and ammunition were alsocollected. The lateral hills and the ravines intersect-ing them were all cleared and planted with bananas,yams, plantains, and other quick-growing plants pro-ducing edible fruits and tubers; water was also pro-vided in cisterns and by means of aqueducts: so thatthe blacks could have held out for an indefiniteperiod, provisioned and intrenched as they were, inthese almost impregnable fastnesses. Towering above the hill ranges back of CapeHaitien, the visitor to that port may see a pyramidalmountain, cloud-wreathed and lofty: the far-famedLa Ferriere, which is crowned by a fortress. I BLACK KINGS AND EMPERORS 179 once visited this vast fortress and the mined palaceof Sans Souci, which are respectively four and twohours ride from the Cape. Both were built byorders of Christophe when he held the lives of hissable subjects as of little account, and if he had pos-sessed all the resources of modern civilization, I do. A court in Sans Souci. not believe that either the stern majesty of the oneor the perfect beauty of the other could have beenexceeded. Crowning the leveled summit of a conicalhill, steep and hard to climb, the massive walls of thefortress tower aloft to the height of a hundred feet,surrounded by a wide and deep moat spanned by adecaying drawbridge. Inside are vast galleries, oneabove another, in which are still mounted more than 180 THE STORIED WEST INDIES two hundred cannon; for Christophe was determinedto construct a stronghold in this wilderness whichwould withstand the attack of any enemy, even ofthe great Napoleon. No attack was ever made uponthis great fortress, and it stands silent to-day, as ithas been since its construction. The hundreds ofgrim cannon and mortars, however, are witnesses tothe sanguinary struggle that might have occurredhad a foreign foe again invaded the soil of Haiti. In a most beautiful valley under the hills arethe remains of th
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