The popular stories current in Hayti of the difference between the races that inhabit it are rather characteristic. It is said that a white man, a mulatto, and a negro were once admitted into the presence of the Giver of all good gifts, and were asked what they wished to possess. The first-named desired to acquire a knowledge of the arts and sciences; the second limited his pretensions to fine horses and beautiful women; the third, on being asked, shuffled about and said that he had been brought there by the mulatto, but being pressed to answer, replied he should like a bit of gold lace.
They say again, Mark the difference of the three when arrested and thrown into prison: the white man demands paper and ink in order to draw up a protest; the second looks about for the means of escape; whilst the third lies down and sleeps twenty-four hours at a stretch; then waking up, he grumbles a little, but soon turns on the other side and sleeps a second twenty-four hours.
Another curious saying among them is:—
“Nègue riche li mulatte,
Mulatte pauvre li nègue.”
These trifles indicate the opinion the different sections of the people have of each other, and there is much truth in the estimation.
The politeness of the country negro is very remarkable, and you hear one ragged fellow addressing another as monsieur, frère, or confrère; and this civility is very pleasing, as it gives promise of better things whenever education shall be extended to the country population.
The town negro rarely, however, equals the peasant in manners, though among each other there is not much left to be desired. Both classes, at the same time, are infinitely superior to our colonial negroes, who are in Port-au-Prince proverbial for their insolence.
Every one who mixes in Haytian society is struck by the paucity of black gentlemen to be met with at balls, concerts, or the theatre, and the almost total absence of black ladies. At some of the largest parties given by the late President Geffrard, I have counted but three black ladies to perhaps a hundred coloured; and although the gentlemen were more numerous, it was evident that their presence arose from their official positions, and not from a desire to mix with the society.
There is a marked line drawn between the black and the mulatto, which is probably the most disastrous circumstance for the future prosperity of the country. A faithful historian, after carefully studying past events, can come to no other conclusion than that the low state of civilisation which still obtains in the island arises principally from this unmeaning quarrel. The black hates the mulatto, the mulatto despises the black; proscriptions, judicial murders, massacres have arisen, and will continue to arise as long as this deplorable feeling prevails. There is no sign of its abatement; on the contrary, never was it so marked as at the present day. A black Minister once said to me, “We blacks and whites like and respect each other, because we are of pure race, but as for those mulattoes”——