The daily exchange. [volume] (Baltimore, Md.) 1858-1861, 1859-07-15
Correspondence Of the Ne,c York Tribune. I
A HUNT FOR HAYTIAN PROVERRS

JAcMEL, Hayti, March 9.-The first thing that |
did here soon as had diueG and bathed was ia
call on the Rev. Mr.. Webley, the English Baptist
Missionary, in order to procure his list of Haytiar
proverbs and assistance in completing the collec
ton.
For three days / have been busily engaged in do.
ing so-ransacking, personally by friends, the
memories of the old people and the more recent
recolections of the rising generation. Nv success
Is regarded as equally astonishing with nv exer-
tions-Mr. MaGeu, the standard historian of Hay-
ii, pronouncing my collection the most complete
and satisfactory ever made, | have heard II
quietly limited that Monsieur petit blanc est an,
hommles tres ercentriquel" For no man, they seem
to think, of common mold and sound mind, would
ever undertake journey of l20 miles in the tropics
for purpose so out-ot-the-way and with no money
in it.
Well here they are-the Negro proverbs so
zealously sought, so dearly paid for in money time
and sweat:
ONE HUNDRED HAYTIAN PROVERBS
!. ''When the accoma falls, every one saws it is
rotten wood" quoted this proverb in my first
letter from Cape Haytien. The accoma is one of
the grandest trees of the Antilles. The proverb is
used to express contempt for parasites who fawn TO
great men in their day of prosperity, and speak
with contempt of them in the hour of trial, or when
they fall.
2. "All kinds of food are good to eat, but every
word is not good to be spoken
3. "Before you cross the river, don't curse the
alligator's mother" The popularity of Haytian
oaths that they not the person sw orn at but
his mother Of list of ten oaths furnished me bv
gentleman, seven were different forms of cursing
somebody's mother. will speak of this peculiari-
ty again.
4. "a snake that wishes to live should not walk
on the highway"
5. "f you don't want ieas, don't play with
dogs"
6. "Great wind and little rain," the equivalent
for our "much cry and little WOOL
T. PLAY with a monkey as n, much as you please,
tian, "beware of trifiing with your friends where
they most sensitive"
8. "He is throwing away trip to pick up straws +"
That is the creole phrase for our "penny wise and
pound foolish"
9. What is not good for the sack is not good
for the bag" (Sauce for the goose. sauce for the
TO- "'The cat knows and the rat knows, and the
barrel of -four remains untouched" If you wish to
succeed in dangerous or secret enterprise, do not
let every one know your plans"
H. "G ou must play with the dog to know if he
is lousy" The more polite and common proyerbial
form of expressing this truth is:
II. at is only the knife that knows what's in the
heart of the YAM"
many mosquitoes there in the cabinet"
IA. "The good God first, and the devil after
ward"
rs "The crab boasts that he is naked"
l6. "The crab has got a shirt, but it has no
tr0wsers." That is, there is no use in possessing
superfuous things. Most of the Hayti boys are
like unto crabs in respect to clothing
This proverb reminds me of good joke, undoubt-
edly perpetrated by Faustin the First, which lest
forget it, in spite of all rules of rhetoric and order
| will here sandwich between the popular savings
Faustin issued proclamation describing and defn-
ing the costumes to be worn at Court or in the ar
MY forget which-by the various orders of no.
bility and grades of rank: but he forgot to mention
tro1Sers" The embarrassment created in conse-
quence of this oversight very great: for it be-
came question whether they were expected to ap-
pear in their shirts but the important problem was
finally solved by every one wearing such style of
pants, alone as pleased him best.
II. "Dont put the cat to watch the lard"
Is; "Fles are caught with syrup; not with vine
gar"
10. ''Good soup may be made in an old sauce
PAN"
20. "a little Ratchet will fell great wood"
q. "The thief does not like his companion to
carry big purse" Another proverb saws the
same thing about the Papaloi, or native priests.
%. "ouickly is good, but slowly is good toe. -
This proverb is rather too popular in Hayti for the
good of the country. was several times copfden-
TALLY informed that Rome was not built in a dsv.
an old fogy truth which | amended BY adding
put chicago was And | argued-taking the
price OF corner lots in the two cities as the keystone
OF my argument-that Chicago was more to be de-
sired IN country, especially such a country as
Hayti, than Rome. The Haytians should believe
their friends when they tell them that their old
cuse for the numerous faults in their society Gov
ernment and for the undevelcped condition of their
country-"Nous somme jeune''-We are a young
people-will no longer avail them; that decent
regard for the welfare of their race here in Ameri-
ca, and wherever they are held in Slavery, or un-
der social ban-as we'll as a patriotic national
pride, demands that they shall endeavor earnestly
and industriously, to show, not by excuses or
words, but by a country highly civilized and
by gigantic commerce, that they are the equals
in every respect to the whites, whom in war
they defeated, disgraced, and drove out of their
island.
%. ''Be in a hurry-but you won't make the day
light come"
"a. eyes does not go up mountain" That is,
saying that you will do it does not accomplish your
promise.
%. al have signed with my name but not with
my feet" | have promised to do it, but Ihave not
set about it yet
26. ''When the child dies in its mothers arms, no
one reproaches"
p. "Before you speak turn your tongue over
seven times"
2S. "Walk fast, you'll get there tomorrow. WALL
slow, you'll get there to-day" More haste less
49,. "The day the leaf dies is not the dav it
rots" -' N"' ~
30. s'It's not the day my mother dies that
weep" Both of these proverbs are used to express
the idea that it is not until some time after misfor-
tune that we feel its weight.
81. "a good horse is sure tc die under its
80. ''The donkey works that the horse may be
decked with oold lace