The Placer herald. [volume] (Auburn, Placer County, Calif.) 1855-1991, 1859-09-10
What an Abolitionist Saw in Hayti.

7 land, the former Kansas correspondent O
the New York Tribune, and present contrib
: utor to it, has been to the free negro Repub
, lie of Havti, and seems to have got enough
of it. We give few extracts from one o
his recent letters: ". Y. Day Book
THE HOUSES OF THE PEOPLE.
The cabins of the peasantry are constructed
of bamboo, plastered outside and in with
mud, ,hatched with tache, or rice straw, and
heavy earthen floors, hard uneven, and gen.
orally dirty. They have very little furniture
in their cabins. Some have neither table or
chairs; some even are destitute of beds
An old chair or two, a hammock, and table
is generally the extent of their upholstery.
Large bamboo stalks hold their water; a
calabash contains their molasses; a gourd to
drink from, and glass bottle for taffia am
ply till the measures of their limited desires.
| was taught in my youth that contentment
is virtue; but the aspect of these cabins,
the dress and the condition of their people
convince me that it is social crime OF the
two extremes, unboundcd social ambition is
nearest, | think, 70 the Kingdom Of Heaven.
| MARKET WOMEN.
AS we walked along we met two dozen of
market women going into the city with their
small supplies of vegetables and fruit Most
OF them ride donkeys or horses-stradlle-
legs all Of them have cotton handkerchiefs
or immense coarse straw hats on their heads
Those who walk on foot carry thefr merchan-
disc on their heads. The black llayten new
er uses his hands to carry burden when he
can, by any possibility, avoid it. He puts
everything on his head that will lie there.
SOLDIERS AND MILITARY MATTERS.
We passed. also, great numbers of sol
diers generally in parties of from three to
six, returning from Port-au- Prince think
that ! have never yet attempted 10 describe
the aytien soIdierv, and indeed, it would
require more graphic pepciI than this of
mine to do justice to their arms and ward
robe. Their hats, to begin with, are of all
grades of military rank, for no order is ob
served; footmen wear cavalry hats, and the
cavalry reciprocate the compliment. In
company Of hundred men, you will find at
least thirty styles of hats, and in all proba-
bility, not five among them all which would
not attract attention in any of our cities,
from its used-up appearance, if worn by the
poorest denizen of the Five Points Their
coats are dirty and torn-their pantaloons
torn and dirty; stockings, they have none;
vests are seen, like angelic visitors, in their
ranks, while their feet gear are truly unique
and various. Some have boos-ventilatng
boots; others shoes-shoes W tn a draft
through them; others, slippers, down at the
heels; Others sandals, made out of the soes
of boots deceased, and fastened rudely by
piece of twne or leather: Many were bare
hands. Tne re e:iej their shoes in their
in part only. / have seen on a soldier a
clean and untorn pair OF pantaloons; bnt to
preserve the character of his ORDER his hat
was napless or his coat dilapidated At
Cape Hayten everything military is pnerle,
ruined or ridiculous. The Arsenal is a ruin;
so are the Forts; the cannons are rusty and
dismounted; the mortars near the Palace
of LIE Clerc noticed had been used by row.
dies as pots de chambre; there is only one
mounted gun, near the city proper, and its
carriage although recently constructed, will
not play, and consequently is utterly worth
less. The arms borne by the National Guard
and the troops are as beggarly as their ward
robe. was assured by an old citizen that
many of these muskets hare never been dis-
charged since the days of King Cristophe!
He committed suicide in 1920! Some of
these muskets, therefore, have been loaded
for nearly forty years? What devil Of a
discharge they will! make when their time for
service comes l should hate to stand at
either end of them.
CoNCERNING WOMEN AND FEMALE FASHIONS
ETC.
have seen half a dozen women during
my last three days journey, whose 0ntted
and totul warerobe would not amount to
more than ten or fifteen yards of cotton
cloth.
Nearly all Of them wore turban or check
cred handkerchief, on their heads; the other
dress was simply covering of checkered
cotton for their oins think land my com
panon comedies with me,) that two yards
each is rather too high an estimate for the
wardrobe of these women.
What Redpath thinks of our free negroes
IN this country going to Hayti, may be
judged of by the following manifesto which
he has issued to bis sable friends:
BLACK EMIGRATION TO HAYTI.
To the Free Persons of Color in Missouri and the
North.
FRIENDS: An effort, see, is now being
made in Missouri and the adjoining region,
to induce an emigration Of persons OF color
from the United States to Hayh.
earnestly advise you to "walt little Ion
ger" before accepting the prohered passage
to that Republic.
Souoque wanted Americans to labor on
his estates because they were better work
men and more easily managed and required
less oversight than his unpaid soldiery. lie
wanted good saves-that was all; for he had
neither foresight, patriotism nor liberal ideas.