Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1859-09-14
HAYTI -sE.YIsITED-No. 4.
ST. MARKS, July 16, 1859.

and put a pot on it. When their kettle has no
cover, they covered it with the nicely-fitting
half of calabash or "gourd."
These gourds or calabashes serve a great
many useful purposes in Hayti for they are
of every size and form, and can be made to
take the place Of almost every kind of crock
cry. Cut a hole in the top of small oval
shaped one, and it answers with admirable fit
ness for flask. A hole cut in the top of a
large one needs only corn-cob, as a stopper,
to take the place of q dem1ohn, for molasses
or water. With part of the stem as handles,
they make excellent dippers. The smaller
ones, cut in two, are very good substitutes for
saucers and the large ones, similarly sliced
are as handy as large bowls. They are uni
versally used in the rural districts for all of
| these purposes. The country girls bring all
their rnolasses to market in large ovalshaped
gourds. Bamboos abound everywhere, and
are also pressed into domestic service. A large
sized one with the dividing films cut out-three
or four feet in length-answers all the purpos-
es Of water pail. 1t seems as if Nature in
tended the people of tropics to be lazy, for it
requires so very little to furnish house ev-
erything to eat requires so little care to cult
vate; the necessities of a warm climate are so
few and so easily supplied.
AN EDITOR ON EXHIBITION.
As the woman was preparing the repast out
side, | sat at the table writing, paying no at
tention to the old oquacious negro who seem
ed to be disposed to patronize and bore me, .and
several of the people OF the place came to the
door, politely bonjoured the petit blanc, and
having satisfied themselves with a view Of
white woman, went off again, as | should
Judge, to send their neighbors. Many of the
younger folks had evidently never seen
white man before.
"Petit blanc" was the name given, in the
colonial days, to the landless whites-just as
"poor white trash" is the courteous designation
of the slaveless whites Of our Southern States;
but whether it was used as a term of reproach
or as distinctive appellation merely, / have
not been able to discover Nowadays, how
ever, the phrase petit blanc" is applied to ev-
cry white, without distinctions for every white
man here is landless, and is likely to remain so
for century to come. AS one woman entered
and said, ''Bon jour, Monsieur" heard the
old fellow tell her, 'Li vot beau-frere p
The woman sat down and they talked a long
sation. The supper was ready in the course
of an hour clean little towel was spread at
the end of the table and a basin Of soup and
dish of sweet potatoes were then placed on
it. l try to do justice to everything and
every one in Hayti; and | did not feel dispos-
posed at the time to make the soup and the
potatoes an exception And | didn't. When
| got through, the potatoes were handed to the
old man and the woman who had recently
come in and her two coal-black children.
A HosPITABLE OFFER.
After eating them, the old fellow told me
that the two women were his daughters that
the husband of the woman who had cooked
the provisions had gone away that she had
no little children and what was Moucha,-
capitane or a machant l understood this
much, but this was not half of what he said
lie next asked me where | lived or where
was going and, as | did not know which,
answered that | was travelling to St. Mark.
And when would Moucha return?
Moucha didn't know.
Eli bien: avez-vous besoin dune femme?
l guess | stared at this extraordinary ques-
ton. The old wretch continued by informing
me that l should be at perfect liberty to take
either of his daughters to st. Mark, and ''pLdce"
with her-To place is to live together without
marriage. | declined this hospitable PROPOSE
tlOil Will Il NdSI uttl vi WulCu uIu
not seem to be taken i'll good part by either of
the ladies.
A BED AND ABED.
In an hour or SO one of the women brought
a bundle of a kind of course straw carpet
from the inner room, spread it out ON the floor
and put little white sheet over it, She then
took one Of two utensils, like our sugar
troughs, filed it with clothing, and putting it
under the carpeting at the top, thus formed a
pillow. Mouchas bed was ready.
The old fellow went off but the women con-
tined to talk together for Il couple Of hours.
They could not understand why insisted on
the door being kept open. They gave me to.
understand that the "yermeen" would come in
if the door was not kept closely shut all night
An old woman soon Joined the party and,
when one of the others left, kept up an inces-
SAINT talk for an hour. But, at length, bidding
me bon soir, they both left me in possession
Before this time, however, the old fellow had
returned and renewed his proposition npre-
sence of the women.
The room had been lighted all the even
ing, with one of the thin long yellow wax
candles of the country, assisted by stripes
Of bOiS chandelLe, = candle wood "a very
resinous kind of pitch pine. Extinguish-
ing the lights and opening the door, 81
laid me down to rest" | had been lying
half an hour, when the old fellow rc-appeared,
entered and shut the door close by putting q
chair against it.
The prospect Of spending the night in
close cabin on mat on the floor, with an old
fellow with an ulcerous leg, and breath per-
fumed with the vlest of tobacco and ta6ia
was more than / could bear. One in such a
bed was quite enough. did not object to the
bed, for had slept in far harder ones nor to
a decent bedfellow, for had sometimes shared
a bod with thirty 9TH bnt IN
the roof was pretty high and ornamented with
such merry bagatelles as planets and stars.
This bed, on the contrary, was spread under
the granary | alluded to in my last commune
cation, and there were rats among the corn,
which, from time to time, kindly threw down
the kernels on my face.
AS soon as the old fellow returned, and Law
down, rose, opened the door, put on my coat,
strapped on my knapsack, and left.
A MOONLIGHT WALK.
The moonlight here is extraordinary clear.
AS l walked along | could read the writing, in
pencil marks, of my second letter to the Spy
and your printers will affirm, perhaps swear
that it is indistinct enough in daylight in
Worcester.
crossed the wooden bridge from which the
village takes its name, and was soon on wide
wet road. 1t must be charming highway in
the winter; but in this the rainy season, it is
rather bad walking. For some miles there APP
peared to be no houses or cultivated land and
the general aspect Of the tracts under tillage
afforded no material for description Always
the same as had seen before, | paid little at
tention to the cabins or the field of plantains
and sugar cane. met two men on horseback
each Of them armed with a sword 1t is
quite common to carry a sword when riding
on horseback, but it is foolish custom, as
highway robberies or murders are almost I'M
| knnwn in Hayfi