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 was still raging in Hayti, has been marked by more savage excesses than any previously known in Haytian history, the black authorities, hesitating at no step to gain their object, which is utterly to destroy the educated coloured class. They care not for the others; as they say, “Mulatte pauvre, li negue.”
A few words as to the origin of this book. In 1867 I was 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 was 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 to study the people more and avoid too sweeping condemnations.
I have not attempted to describe the present condition 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 welcome 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 written the chapter on Vaudoux Worship, my attention was called to a communication which appeared in Vanity Fair of August 13, 1881, 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 kidneys of a child were first-rate eating, adding that he had tried them himself; and the writer 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. 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, dug 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 with his family eating a child. In the former case the criminals were 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 were 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 were discovered fingers and finger-nails, and all the flesh proved to be that of human beings. An English coloured clergyman at Cap Haïtien said that the Vaudoux did away with all the effect of his ministry; and that his wife was nearly purchasing in the market human flesh instead of pork. Four people were fined in that town for eating corpses. When the writer arrived at Jacmel he found two 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 threw it into a well 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 1, 1881. It denies everything, even to the serious existence and power of the Vaudoux priests, and spends all its energies in abuse. The article is quite worthy of the editor,[1] who was one of the most active supporters of President Salnave, whose connection with the Vaudoux was notorious. It is in this angry spirit that the Haytians generally treat any public reference to their peculiar institution.
Mexico, January 1884.