Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-09-19

rum0rS drifting ABOUT says the writer,
| "stories that had oozed out from the guard
ed silence shrouding those dark green
shores. stories of snake worship and poi
sonings, human sacrifice and cannibalism.
Haiti appeared to be a stage with the cur
tain DOWNFALL the world knew that the
dramas Of life and death were being played
out over and over again behind that cur
tain. but with what horrible or curious de-
parture from the ordinary tenor OF human
existence none could guess. Ships from
Europe and America move perpetually round
and along her coasts and call at her open
ports. ocean cables link her to the rest OF
the globe. but for all these things. five
miles inland you lose touch with civiliZa-
ton. with the world I do not know pre-
cisely what l expected. but do know that
1t was not at all like the reality. The boat
that had. landed me put off: I saw the
rowerS slide into their stroke; waited till
they reached the shadow of the steamer,
the gangway was raised. the boat swung
inboard and the liner dYed away over the
glinting sea. Then I turned, stepped from
the boarding and was on Haitian earth. 1
walked slowly along, taking the measure
of things. 1t was dirty street. albeit the
chief one of the chief town of southern
Haiti (JacmeD and the sun was scalding.
The place was all acrush with human be-
ings of African race and their donkeys. A
lean dog or two baskedGint the alleys. There
were shops, open cavernous places with the
stock-in trade of the proprietor depending
from ropes round the walls. Pavement or
footpath there was none. There were many
empty houses with Sma shed shutters, fire.
SCARED shells which seemed all the emptier
for the pitiess sunlight The bawl and
chatter of voices. the jostling crowd. the
scream of an angry man in the hot street.
the few cool stores with their propretorS
seated chairs in the doorways, the I'M
calmly wooden houses with their sprawling
side posts, the sun, the smell the dirt
this was Haiti. Jacmel. though the prin-
cipal port in southern Haiti, does not boast
either hotel or rest house, where one can
hope for a nights shelter. The British con-
sular agent was most kind and offered to
put me up for the night
The White Man Without Rights.
Here Gin the city, the white man. as OPP
posed to the black, has no rights worthy Of
the name. Moreover, the town is under
martial law. After 9 you are challenged in
the streets, and at no time Of the day or
night are you out OF the sight of a soldier
At intervals Of from 80 to 100 yards you
find post OF soldiers. They live in ram
shackle guard rooms made Of wood turned
rust colored from lack of care and the
corroston of torrent,al rains, Iongish hovel
| with the inevitable piazza raised some two
feet above the street Below flows an open
drain. The heavy faces of the men are
blotched with sleep collection OF guns
lean against the trees at various angles.
The whole is more like mid-forest bivouac
| Of few ragged blacks than the scene in
the main thoroughfare of capital Even
| III the TldCe, WHICH contains Lie COHSuldleS
and the chief shops, there Is a heap Of filth
| five or six feet high and more than proper
| tionately long. And this is the cleanest
street in Port-au-Prince. 1 have seen more
! than one of these unhealthy spots to which
| is attached the sobriquet of white mans
| grave, but none of them have the invita-
| ton to disease written so plainly across
| their faces as this city of Port-au-Prince.
1t is about the flthiest place in the world.
| Shut in by mountains from the cool north
| winds, 1t stews on from year to year IN
stagnant heat No smallest effort Is made Ie
their concentrations, flow down and help
| to fill up the harbor. +
The Military Force.
II occupied myself for some time in look
| ing up the numerical force of military
Haiti I could find no exact statistics Of
later date than 1867, when there were $500
generals of division. 1000 regimental Of
| ficers and $500 privates At this computa-
| tion the troops commanded by each general
| OF division consisted of one private ana one
regimental officer and one-thirteenth of
regimental officer. An urban general Is In
| most cases but name, whereas his con-
gener of the country Is usually a living
power. Under his fierce rule the commune
| bows to the rigor of the law; the peasantry
\ cannot be said to prosper, but at least they
are inoffensive and polite. The reason Is
| not far to seek. s. The black man can no
more govern his black brother successfully
| without tyranny than you can reach
| blind mans sense without touch or speech.
| No appeal is made to his reason; he Is CO.
creed by solid fear. Hear him pray and you
| will understand him better He does not
supplicate his God; he demands of his God;
| he essays to bargain. This Is because his
| deity is far away out of sight; therefore in
| relation to that unEelt power he begins to
| esteem himself and his desires and to be
| puffed up out offs all adue proportions.
| Whereas the grip Of his generals iron hand
| Is Enthusiastically evident over all the hours
| of his daily life. 49, n
when you know how the Haitian SOL
| der Is paid you know how Haiti Is gov
| erned. The principle Is one and indtvisi-
| BILE. The paymastef takes toll OF the 80
centimes and passes 1t on to the first gen
| eral The first general, who Is a very big
| general indeed, hands 1t on In simmer
| bulk to the second general. He In turn
transfers it.. further diminished, to his next
\ in command. The captain ffghtens lest It
should be too heavy for the lieutenant to
| carry. and the lieutenant not liking to
| break the chain, takes his own discount;
| thus the soldier who receives centtmeS Is
in luck: he who gets ten Is rayorite OF
| the gods. And when at last ne has pock-
eted 1t, his lieutenant comes along ana
wins 1t Off him at the universal game OF
dice This sounds very grotesque. but Il
| is none the less the sober truth. Nor IL It
| a matter of isolated instances: 1t happens
every week as regularly as pay day comes
Vaudoux Worship.
/ I'm Haiti the nominal religion is Roman
Catholicism. but 1t is no more than a thin
| veneer; beneath you find. not traces merely,
but solid groundwork OF West African
superstition. serpent Worship and child sac