Hayti; or, the Black Republic

Introduction

. Whilst in Port-au-Prince, a Spanish colleague once remarked to me, "Mon ami, if we could return to Hayti fifty years hence, we should find the negresses cooking their bananas on the site of these warehouses." Although this judgment is severe, yet from what we have seen passing under the present Administration, it is more than probable— unless in the meantime influenced by some higher civilisation — that this prophecy Avill come true. The negresses are in fact already cooking their bananas amid the ruins of the best houses of the capital. My oavii impression, after personally knowing the country above twenty years, is, that it is a country in a state of rapid decadence. The revolution of 1843 that upset President Boyer commenced the era of troubles which have continued to the present day.

The country has since been steadily falling to the rear in the race of civilisation. The long civil war (1868-1869) under President Salnave destroyed a vast amount of property, and rendered living in the country districts less secure, so that there has been ever since a tendency for the more

INTRODUCTION.

. VI civilised inhabitants to agglomerate in the tOAvns, and leave the rural districts to fetish worship and canni balism. Fires, most of them incendiary, have swept over the cities ; in the commercial quarters of Port-au- Prince, it would be difficult to find any houses which existed in 1863, and the fortunes of all have naturally greatly suffered. When I reached Hayti in January 1863, the capital possessed several respectable public buildings. The palace, without any architectural beauty, was large and commodious, and well suited to the climate ; the Senate the House of Representatives, the dwellings occupied by several of the Ministers, the pretty little theatre, were all feat ui es which have noAv entirely disappeared. The town of Petionville or La Coupe, the summer and health resort of the capital, where the best families sought a little country life during the great heats, was almost entirely destroyed during the revolution of 1868, and nothing has taken its place.

People are still too poor to afford to rebuild. Society also has completely changed. I saw at balls given in the palace in 1863 a hundred well-dressed prosperous families of all colours; now political dissensions would prevent such gatherings, even if there were a building in the city Avhich could receive them, and poverty has laid its heavy hand more or less on all. It is the same in a greater or lesser degree in every other town of the republic. Agriculture in the plains is also deteriorating, and the estates produce much less than formerlv though

INTRODUCTION.

. VII their staple produce is rum, to stupefy and brutalise the barbarous lower orders. Foreigners, nearly ruined by their losses during the constant civil disturbances, are withdrawing from the republic, and capital is following them ; and with their withdraAval the country must sink still lower. The best of the coloured people are also leaving, as they shun the fate reserved for them by those who have already slaughtered the most prominent mulattoes. In fact, the mulatto element, which is the civilising element in Hayti, is daily becoming of less importance ; internal party strife has injured their political standing, and constant intermarriage is causing the race to breed back to the more numerous type, and in a lew years the mulatto element will have made disastrous ap proaches to the. negro.

The only thing which could have saved the mulatto Avould have been to encouraye the whites to settle in their country ; yet this step the coloured men have blindly resisted. In spite of all the civilising elements around them, there is a distinct tendency to sink into the state of an African tribe. It is naturally impossible to foretell the effect of all the influences which are uoav at work in the Avorld, and which seem to foreshadow many changes. We appear standing on the threshold of a period of great discoveries, which may modify many things, but not man's nature. The mass of the negroes of Hayti live in the country districts, Avhich are rarely or ever visited by civilised people ; there are few Christian priests to give them a notion of true religion ; no

INTRODUCTION.

. VIII superior local officers to prevent them practising their Avorst fetish ceremonies. In treating of the Black and the Mulatto as they appeared to me during my residence among them, I fear that I shall be considered by some to judge harshly. Such, however, is not my intention. Brought up under Sir James Brooke, whose enlarged sympathies could endure no prejudice of race or colour, I do not remember ever to have felt any repugnance to my fellow-creatures on account of a difference of complexion. I have dwelt above thirty-five years among coloured people of various races, and am sensible of no prejudice against them. For twelve years I lived in familiar and kindly intercourse witli Haytians of all ranks and shades of colour, and the most frequent and not least honoured guests at my table were of the black and coloured races.

All who knew me in Hayti knoAv that I had no prejudice of colour ; and if I place the Haytian in creneral in an unenviable light, it is from a stron" con viction that it is necessary to describe the people as they are, and not as one would wish them to be. The band of black and coloured friends who gathered round me during my long residence in Port-au-Prince were not free from many of the faults which I have been obliged to censure in describing these different sections of the population, but they had them in a lesser decree or, as I was really attached to them, I perhaps saw them in a dimmer light. The most difficult chapter to write was that on

INTRODUCTION.

. IX " Vaudoux Worship and Cannibalism." I have endea voured to paint it in the least sombre colours, and none who know the country will think that I have exag gerated ; in fact, had I listened to the testimony of many experienced residents, I should have described rites at which dozens of human victims were sacrificed at a time. Everything I have related has been founded on evidence collected in Hayti, from Haytian official documents, from trustworthy officers of the Haytian Government, my foreign colleagues, and from respectable residents — principally, however, from Haytian sources. It may be suggested that I am referring to the past. On the contrary, I am informed that at present canni balism is more rampant than ever. A black Govern ment dares not greatly interfere, as its poAver is founded on the goodwill of the masses, ignorant and deeply tainted with fetish worship.

A Haytian writer recently remarked in print, " On se plaisit beaucoup de ce que le Vaudoux a reparu grandiose et serieux." The fetish dances were forbidden by decree under the Govern ment of President Boisrond-Canal. That decree has been since repealed, and high officers noAv attend these meetings, and distribute money and applaud the most frantic excesses. President Salomon, who is now in power, lived for eighteen years in Europe, married a white, and knows what civilisation is. He probably, on his first advent to the Presidency, possessed sufficient influence in the country to have checked the open manifestations of this barbarous worship ; but the fate of those of his

INTRODUCTION.

. X predecessors who attempted to grapple with the evil was not encouraging. It was hoped, however, that he would make the attempt, and that, grasping the nettle with resolution, he might suffer no evd results ; but many doubted not only his courage to undertake the task, but even the will; and they, I fear, have judged cor rectly. Whenever all the documents which exist on this subject are published, my chapter on Cannibalism will be looked upon but as a pale reflection of the reality. With regard to the history of the country, materials abound for Avriting a very full one, but I do not think it would prove interesting to the general reader. It is but a series of plots and revolutions, followed by barbarous military executions. A destructive and exhausting Avar with Santo Domingo, and civil strife during the Presidency of General Salnave, did more to ruin the resources of the country than any amount of bad government.

The enforced abandonment of work by the people called to arms by the contending parties, introduced habits of idleness and rapine Avhich have continued to the present day ; and the material losses, by the destruction of the best estates and the burning of toAvns and villages, have never been fully repaired. From the overthrow of President Geffrard in 1867 the country has been more rapidly going to ruin. The fall was slightly checked during the quiet Presidency of Nissage-Saget; but the Government of General Domingue amply made up for lost time, and was one of the worst, if not the worst, that Hayti has ever

INTRODUCTION.

. XI seen. With the sectaries of the Vaudoux in power, nothing else could have been expected. I have brought my sketch of the history of Hayti down to the fall of President Boisrond-Canal in 1879, and shall not touch on the rule of the present President of Hayti, General Salomon. I may say, however, that he is the determined enemy of the coloured section of the community ; is credited with having been the chief adviser of the Emperor Soulouque in all his most disastrous measures ; and the country is said to have sunk into the lowest depths of misery. The civil war, which by last accounts Avas still raging in Hayti, has been marked by more savage excesses than any pre viously known in Haytian history, the black authorities, hesitating at no step to gain their object, Avhich is utterly to destroy the educated coloured class.

They care not for the others; as they say, "Mulatte pauvre, li neo;ue." A few words as to the origin of this book. In 1867 I Avas living in the country near Port-au-Prince, and having some leisure, I began to collect materials and write rough drafts of the principal chapters. I Avas interrupted by the civil war, and did not resume work until after I had left the country. It may be the modifying effect of time, but on looking over the chapters as I originally wrote them, I thought that I had been too severe in my judgments on whole classes, and have therefore somewhat softened the opinions I then expressed; and the greater experience which a further residence of seven years gave me enabled me

INTRODUCTION.

. XII to study the people more and avoid too sweeping con demnations. I have not attempted to describe the present condi tion of the republic of Santo Domingo, but from all I can hear it is making progress. The Dominicans have few prejudices of colour, and eagerly Avelcome foreign capitalists who arrive to develop the resources of their country. Already there are numerous sugar estates in operation, as well as manufactories of dyes, and efforts are being successfully made to rework the old gold mines. The tobacco cultivation is' already large, and only requires hands to develop it to meet any demand. I hear of a railway having been commenced, to traverse the magnificent plain which stretches from the Bay of Samana almost to the frontiers of Hayti. After having AA'ritten the chapter on Vaudoux Wor ship, my attention was called to a communication which appeared in Vanity Fair of August 13, 188 1, by a reply published in a Haytian journal.

It is evident that the writer in Vanity Fair was a naval officer or a passing traveller in the West Indies, and he probably carefully noted the information given him. He was, however, too inclined to believe what he heard, as he gravely states that a Haytian told him that the kid neys of a child Avere first-rate eating, adding that he had tried them himself ; and the Avriter remarks that the Haytian did not seem to think it strange or out of the way that he had done so. No Haytian would have ever stated seriously that he had eaten human flesh.

INTRODUCTION.

. XIII Probably, amused by the eagerness of the inquirer, he told the story to test his powers of belief, and must have been diverted when he found his statement was credited. Cannibalism is the one thing of which Haytians are thoroughly ashamed. This communication makes mention of the herb poisonings and their antidotes ; of the midwives who render new born-babes insensible, that are buried, due up, restored to life, and then eaten. In May 1879 a midwife and another were caught near Port-au-Prince eating a female baby that had been thus treated ; he adds that a Haytian of good position was discovered Avith his family eating a child. In the former case the criminals Avere condemned to six weeks' imprisonment, in the latter to one month. (I may notice-that I never heard of a respectable Haytian being connected with the cannibals.)

The light punishments inflicted were due to the fear inspired by the Vaudoux priests. In January 1881 eight people Avere fined for disinterring and eating corpses. An English medical man purchased and identified the neck and shoulders of a human being in the market at Port-au-Prince. In February 1881, at St. Marc, a cask of so-called pork was sold to a foreign ship. In it Avere discovered fingers and finger-nails, and all the flesh proved to be that of human beings. An English coloured clergyman at Cap Hai tien said that the Vaudoux did away Avith all the effect of his ministry; and that his Avife Avas nearly purchasing iu the market human flesh instead of pork. Four people were fined in that toAvn for eating corpses.

INTRODUCTION.

. XIV When the writer arrived at Jacmel he found tAvo men in prison for eating corpses, and on the day of his arrival a man was caught eating a child. Near the same town nine thousand people met at Christmas to celebrate Vaudoux rites. At Les Cayes a child of English parents was stolen, and on the thieves being pursued, they threAV it into a Avell and killed it. These are the statements made by the writer in Vanity Fair, and nearly all are probable. If correct, the open practice of Vaudoux worship and cannibalism must have made great strides since I left Hayti, and shows how little a black Government can do, or will do, to suppress them. The digging up and eating of corpses was not known during my residence there. This communication to Vanity Fair provoked a reply in a journal published at Port-au-Prince called L'Œil, October i, 1881.

It denies everything, even to the serious existence and power ofthe Vaudoux priests, and spends all its energies in abuse. The article is quite Avorthy of the editor,* who was one of the most active supporters of President Salnave, whose connection Avith the Vaudoux was notorious. It is in this angry spirit that the Haytians generally treat any public reference to their peculiar institution. * Ever since the reign of Soulouque, professional authors have been paid by the Haytian Government to spread rose-tinted accounts of the civilisation aud progress of Hayti. But twenty-four hours in any town of that republic would satisfy the most sceptical that these semi official accounts are unworthy of belief. Mexico, January 1884. CONTENTS. CHAP. PAQK I. GENERAL DESCRIPTION OP HAYTI ... I II. HISTORY BEFORE INDEPENDENCE . . .26 III.

HISTORY SINCE INDEPENDENCE . . 74 IV. THE POPULATION OF HAYTI . . . 1 27 V. VAUDOUX WORSHIP AND CANNIBALISM. . . 1 82 VI. THE GOVERNMENT . . . . . .229 VII. RELIGION, EDUCATION, AND JUSTICE . . . 247 VIII. THE ARMY AND POLICE . . . . .276 IX. LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE . . . -299 X. AGRICULTURE, COMMERCE, AND FINANCE . 3 1 HAYTI; OK, THE BLACK REPUBLIC. CHAPTEE I. GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF HAYTI. Standing on one of the lofty mountains of Hayti, and looking towards the interior, I was struck with the pertinence of the saying of the Admiral, who, crumpling a sheet of paper in his hand, threw it on the table before George III., saying, "Sire, Hayti looks like that." The country appears a confused agglomeration of mountain, hill, and valley, most irregular ir form ; precipices, deep hollows, vales apparently wichout an outlet ; water occasionally glistening far belc *v ; cottages scattered here and there, with groves jf fruit-trees and bananas clustering round the rude d .sellings.

Gradually, however, the eye becomes accustomed to the scene; the mountains separate into distinct ranges, the hills are but the attendant buttres ,es, and the valleys assume their regular forms as the watersheds of the system, and the streams can be traced meandering gradually towards the ocean. A If you then turn towards the sea, you notice that the valleys have expanded into plains, and the rushing torrents have become broad though shallow rivers, and the mountains that bound the flat, open country push their buttresses almost into the sea. This grand variety of magnificent scenery can be well observed from a point near Kenskoff, about ten miles in the interior from the capital, as well as from the great citadel built on the summit of La Ferriere in the northern province. Before entering into particulars, however, let me give a general idea of the country.

The island of Santo Domingo is situated in the West Indies between 18° and 200 north latitude and 68° 20' and 74° 30' west longitude. Its greatest length is four hundred miles, its greatest breadth one hundred and thirty-five miles, and is calculated to be about the size of Ireland. Hayti occupies about a third of the island — the western portion — and, pushing two great promontories into the sea, it has a very large extent of coast-line. It is bounded on the north by the Atlantic Ocean, on the east by the republic of Santo Domingo, on the south by the Caribbean Sea, and on the west by the passage which separates it from Cuba and Jamaica. Its most noted mountain-ranges are La Selle, which lies on the south-eastern frontier of Hayti ; La Hotte, near Les Cayes; and the Black Mountains in the northern province; but throughout the whole extent of the republic the open valleys are bounded by lofty elevations.

In fact, on approaching the island from any direction, it appears so mountainous that it is diffi cult to imagine that so many smiling, fertile plains are to be met with in every department. They are, however, numerous. The most extensive are the Cul-de-Sac, near Port-au-Prince, the plains of Gonaives, the Artibonite, Arcahaie, Port Margot, Leogane, that of Les Cayes, and those that follow the northern coast. Hayti has the advantage of being Avell watered, though this source of riches is greatly neglected. The principal river is the Artibonite, which is navigable for small craft for a short distance ; the other streams have more the character of mountain torrents, full to over flowing during the rainy season, whilst during the dry they are but rivulets running over broad pebbly beds. The lakes lying at the head of the plain of Cul-de- Sac are a marked feature in the landscape as viewed from the neighbouring hills.

They are but little visited, as their shores are marshy, very unhealthy, and unin habitable on that account, while the swarms of mos quitoes render even a temporary stay highly disagree able. The waters of one of them are brackish, which would appear to indicate more salt deposits in the neighbourhood. There are a few islands attached to Hayti, the prin cipal, La Tortue, on the north, Gonaives on the west, and LTsle-a-Vache on the south coast. Some attempts have been made to develop their natural riches, but as yet with but slight success. The first two named are famous for their mahogany trees. The principal towns of the republic are Port-au- Prince, the capital, Cap Haitien in the north, and Les Cayes in the south. Jacmel, Jeremie, Miragoane, St. Marc, and Gonaives are also commercial ports.

Port-au-Prince is situated at the bottom of a deep bay, which runs so far into the western coast as almost to divide Hayti in two. It contains about 20,000 inhabitants, and was carefully laid out by the French. It possesses every natural advantage that a capital could require. Little use, however, is made of these advantages, and the place is one of the most unpleasant residences imaginable. I was one day talking to a French naval officer, and he observed, " I was here as a midshipman forty years ago." " Do you notice any change ? " I asked. " Well, it is perhaps dirtier than before." Its dirt is its great drawback, and appears ever to have been so, as Moreau de St. Mery com plained of the same thing during the last century. However, there are degrees of dirt, and he Avould pro bably be astonished to see it at the present day.

The above paragraph was first written in 1867; since that it has become worse, and when I last landed (1877), I found the streets heaped up with filth. The capital is well laid out, with lines of streets running parallel to the sea, whilst others cross at ri«ht angles, dividing the town into numerous islets or blocks. The streets are broad, but utterly neglected. Every one throws out his refuse before his door, so that heaps of manure, broken bottles, crockery, and every species of rubbish encumber the way, and render both riding and walking dangerous. Building materials are per mitted occasionally to accumulate to so great an extent as completely to block up the streets and seriously impede the traffic. Mackenzie, in his notes on Hayti, remarks on the impassable state of the streets in 1826; torn up by tropical rains, they were mended with refuse (generally stable dung to fill up the holes, and a thin layer of earth thrown over), only to be again de stroyed by the first storm.

Ask Haytians why they do not mend their streets and roads, they answer, " Bon Dieu, gat£ li ; bon Dieu, pare" li " (God spoilt them, and God will mend them). Then, as now, the roads were in such a state in wet weather that only a waggon with a team of oxen could get through the muddy slough. On first entering the town, you are struck with the utter shabbiness of the buildincrs, mean cottages and grovelling huts by the side of the feAv decent-looking dwellings. Most of the houses are constructed of wood, badly built with very perishable materials, im ported from the United States or our Northern colonies. The idea that originally prevailed in the construction of the private houses was admirable ; before each was a broad verandah, open to all passers, so that from one end of the town to the other it was intended that there should be cool, shady walks.

But the intolerable stupidity of the inhabitants has spoilt this plan ; in most streets the level of the verandahs of each house is of a different height, and frequently separated by a marshy spot, the receptacle of every species of filth ; so that you must either walk in the sun or perform in the shade a series of gymnastic exercises exceedingly inconvenient in a tropical climate. On either side of the street was a paved gutter, but now, instead of aiding the drainage, it is another cause of the accumulation of filth. The stones which formerly rendered the watercourses even are either removed or displaced, and the rains collecting before the houses form fetid pools, into which the servants pour all that in other countries is carried off by the sewers. In a few of the more commercial streets, where foreigners reside, more attention is paid to cleanliness, but still Port-au- Prince may bear the palm away of being the most foul smelling, dirty, and consequently fever-stricken city in the Avorld.

The port is well protected, but is gradually filling up, as the rains wash into it not only the silt from the mountains, but the refuse of the city, and no effort is made to keep it open. As there is but little tide, the accumulations of every species of vegetable and animal matter render the water fetid, and when the sea-breeze blows gently over these turbid waves, an effluvia is borne into the town sickening to all but native nostrils. The most remarkable edifice of Port-au-Prince was the palace, a long, low, wooden building of one storev, supported on brick walls : it contained several fine rooms, and two halls which might have been rendered admirable for receptions ; but everything around it was shabby— the stables, the guard-houses, the untended garden, the courtyard overrun with grass and weeds, and the surrounding walls partially in ruins.

This spacious presidential residence was burnt down during the revolutionary attack on Port-au-Prince in December 1869, and no attempt has been made to rebuild it. The church is a large wooden building, an over grown shed, disfigured by numerous wretched paintings which cover its walls ; and, as an unworthy concession to local prejudice, our Saviour is occasionally represented by an ill-drawn negro. The senate-house was the building with the most architectural pretensions, but its outer walls only re mained when I last saw it, fire having destroyed the roof and the interior wood-work. There is no other edifice worthy of remark ; and the private houses, with perhaps a score of exceptions, are of the commonest order. The market-places are large and well situated, but ill-tended and dirty, and in the wet season muddy in the extreme.

They are fairly supplied with provisions. I may notice that in those of Port-au-Prince very superior meat is often met with, and good supplies of vegetables, including excellent European kinds, brought from the mountain gardens near Fort Jaques. The supply of water is very defective. During the reign of the Emperor Soulouque a luminous idea occurred to some one, that instead of repairing the old French aqueduct, iron pipes should be laid down. The Emperor had the sagacity to see the advantage of the plan, and gave orders for the work to be done. As an exception to the general rule, the idea was to a certain extent well carried out, and remains the only durable monument of a most inglorious reign. Had the iron pipes been entirely substituted for the old French Avork, the inhabitants Avould have enjoyed the benefit of pure water ; but when I left in 1 8y~7, the people in the suburbs were still breaking open the old stone work to obtain a source of supply near their dwell ings ; and pigs, children, and washerwomen congregated round these spots and defiled the stream.

The amount of water introduced into the town is still most inadequate ; and though numerous springs, and one delightful stream, La Riviere Froide, are within easy distance of the port, no effort has been made to in crease the supply. La Eiviere Froide — name redolent of pleasant reminiscences in a tropical climate — could easily fill a canal, which would not only afford an inex haustible supply for the wants of the town and shipping, but, by creating an outward current, would carry off the floating matter which pollutes the port. Since my departure a Mr. Stephens commenced some works to afford the town a constant supply of water, but these, I understand, have as yet only been partially carried out. If ever finished, they will afford to the inhabitants a great boon. The cemetery is situated outside the town.

I never entered it except Avhen compelled to attend a funeral, and hastened to leave it as soon as possible, on account of an unpleasant odour which pervades it. It is not kept in good order, though many families carefully attend to the graves of their relatives, and there are several striking tombs. People of all religions are buried here ; but it is on record that a brawling Irish priest once attempted to disinter a Protestant child. His brawling subsequently led to his banishment. I noticed on my first arrival in Port-au-Prince two marble coffins, very handsome, lying neglected on the ground outside the palace. I was told they had been brought from abroad in order that the remains of Potion and Boyer, two of their best Presidents, should repose in them ; but for many years I saw them lying empty on the same spot, and I never heard what became of them.

The curse of Port-au-Prince is fire. Every few years immense conflagrations consume whole quarters of the town. Nothing can stop the flames but one of the few brick-houses, against which the quick-burning fire is powerless. During my residence in Port-au-Priuce five awful sires devastated the town. On each occasion from two to five hundred houses were destroyed. And yet the inhabitants go on building wretched wooden match-boxes, and even elaborate houses of the most in flammable materials. Companies should be careful how they insure property in Port-au-Prince, as there are some very well-authenticated stories of frauds practised on them both by Europeans and natives. Port-au-Prince, on my first arrival in 1863, was governed by a municipality, over which presided a very honest man, a Monsieur Riviere, one of those Protes tants to whom I have referred in my chapter on religion.

As a new arrival, I thought the town sufficiently neglected, but I had reason to change my opinion. It was a pattern of cleanliness to what it subsequently became. The municipality, when one exists, has for its principal duties the performance or neglect of the regis tration of all acts relating to the " etat civil," and to divide among its members and friends, for work never carried out, whatever funds they can collect from the city. At the back of the capital, at a distance of about five miles, was the village of La Coupe, the summer residence of the wealthier families. As it was situated about 1200 feet above the level of the sea and was open to every breeze, it afforded a delightful change from the hot, damp town ; but during the civil war of 1868 the best houses were destroyed and never recon structed.