Cleveland morning leader. [volume] (Cleveland [Ohio]) 1854-1865, 1860-07-04
i A summcr ON The BOrders Of the Carrib.
~ ..n.
RErunLIcA poMINICANAl
LETTER l.

twas amid showery morning on the 18th
day Of May, 1860, that the brig John Butler,
which we were aboard, left her dock in New
York and anchored off the Jersey Flats
Though clouded and showery most of the
day, there were intervals of bright warm sun
shine. The undulating slopes and tall pop
lar trees Of Staten Island and the neighbor-
ing shores looked cheering; and the many
white sailed vessels and newly painted
steamers plying in and out the North and
East Rivers presented picturesque and ami
mated scene, quite in contrast with the dark
walls and stately steeples of the city which
arose beyond. Altogether, the pure air and
and characteristic views Of New York Bay,
amply repaid the inconvenience of remain
ing all day in sight of the great metropolis
without the privilege Of being jostled in its
streets or enjoying a snuff of the peculiarly
heated atmosphere with which it is peryaded.
On the moraing Of the 10th We sailed out
Of the Bay, passed Sandy Hook, and were at
Sea. The first vessel we met coming in was
the Poria Plata, hailing from New York, and
owned by German firm on the corner Of
Broadway and Wall streets. The cargo, as I
have since learned, consisted principally of
mahogany and hides.
A comparatively quiet sameness character
lied the voyage. With light clouds pencil
ling the sunset sky, fresh breeze stifening
the sails, and the ship gliding smoothly over
the buoyant waves, the sensations were at
times delightfully."- exhilerating, and even su-
premely delicious. But there were no dead
calms-nO terrific storms To-day was the
pale blue sky and the deep blue ocean spread
ing everywhere around and tomorrow the
sky was equally as fine and the same "dark
heaving' ocean as boundlessly sublime"
Twelve days sail and a long, dim, blueish
outline as if Of land, 400 miles in length,
stood out above the waves. For once I was
agitated with all the anxieties of hope and
fear. We were approaching the lovely and
| beautiful shores of St. Domingo, embracing
as it does, the Dominican and Haytian Re-
publics, but, however thrillingly interesting
their past history may have been, tho prdc-
teal question was, whether | should not find
the present state of affairs here unsatisfactory
and the climate hotter and less healthy than
desired, or whether the luxuriant indications
of opulepce and ease now beheld might not
prove 10 be more captivating than expected,
and the climate even more delightfully."- salu-
/ brious than had previously dared to antici-
pate. Though far away, lwatched the regu-
/ larly rising table lands with all the enthu-
siasm of which my nature was capable.
Next morning we had entered the "Port
of Silver puerto de Pata), anchored, and
then awaited the coming of the Custom
House officers. The officers came, some white,
some colored, but all dressed in nice white
linen coats and pants, Panama hats, and
light gaiter boots With them came Mr..
Collins gentleman American-to whom I
| had letters. He received me cordially, would
! show me around the country, introduce me
to the General (black }, and did a variety of
other things quite un-American as l thought,
but very gentlemanly indeed.
! The sport of Silver" is a very poor har-
Dor, but if there is anything on earth de-
serving the epithet, the surrounding scenery
| is divine. Nothing could be more magnif-
/
| insignifcance half so much.
| The greatest indigpity to which l have
been compelled to submit was the register
ing my name as an American citizen. pre-
| sented myself to the American Consul Whose
| son and clerk by the way is a mulatto. y
The nice correspondence of Mr.. Marcy was
but just to show what indefna6Ie dfsdfhiet=-
! tons there were between colored, and black,
whites and negroes, as citizens I would
like to know how man is to tell whether
be is an American citizen. Not that wish
to be one, for when we get our new Prayer
] Books published we intend to have inserted,
" From the desire to be American citizens
| Good Lord dsliUer as n But if the picture
which hangs in the rotunda at Washington
gives any idea Of Websters complexion, his
friends may thank Heaven he died before
1861.
One cannot but observe the ancient appear
anee in the style OF everything here around
! him. The houses are built mostly one story
/ high, with cOnieal shaped roof for no other
reason than that is way this generation found
| them. MIR. Collins is bachelor, lives in the
upper part of an airy adobe two story house,
with, a charming Yerandah running full length,
flowers outside the garden of Eden.
JUNE 6.-This morning party of us went
out to see the farm Of Mr.. Smith-the fugitive
| slave-whOse well directed enterprise had at
! tracted some attention, and whose story has
been published in the Tribune. He is not
| so fine looking man as l expected to see is
indeed ordinary, speaks no Spanish, and for
that matter very little English, but he has
will of his own and determination to do
| something which gives an advantage over
half dozen persons who go to school to lose
their common sense. Mr.. Smith was a slave
| in South Carolina, and had been taken by
his owner from Charleston to Key Vest
He, and some others of his fellow servants,
| including his wife, took sail boat and after
suffering incredibly from sea sickness and
from having mistaken his distance, finally
reached New Providence, which he had pre-
viously learned to be an English Colony. He
proceeded Immediately to declare his inten-
ton to become a British subject and went to
work. Wages beingllow in Nassau he con-
cluded to remove to Dominica and go to
farming. He purchased piece of land at a
nominal price, and with the assistance of his
wife, soon cleared it of its tropical Jungle
In breaking up the ground he used.a plow,' a
startling innovation to the rude mode of cul-
tivation here, but which produced most
salutary results The yield of his crops
have been so immense that in little
more than a years time he has paid for his
house and his farm of forty acres, and has
now a standing crop worth five hundred dol
lars. This may not seem very remarkable to
person who has never seen a sand hill nor
yet been to Canada, but to me it is a miracle
But my principal object in writing at this
time is to mention the fact that Mr.. Smith
planted, on trial, few seeds of Sea Island
Cotton, the product of which has been sent
to New York, and pronounced worth IA cts.
per pound. Now there are persons from the
Southern States, and some perhaps in Cleve-
land, who have made small fortunes by the
cultivation of cotton at perhaps not more
than half this sum, and that where the cotton
had to be replanted every year. It produces
well here for seven years, and there is no
telling when it dies. t.--r r.--.-,
It is somewhat SO with everything, not
even excepting the people. In all this town