The Present State of Hayti (Saint Domingo) with Remarks on its Agriculture, Commerce, Laws, Religion, Finances, and Population. Franklin Jameson J.
the abode of fertility, and the scene of extraordinary political changes and events, lies in latitude 18° 20´ north and in longitude 68° 40´ west from Greenwich, having on its west the islands of Cuba and Jamaica, on its east Porto Rico, the Bahamas on its north, and bounded southerly by the Carribean Sea. Its extent has been variously stated; but Edwards, who describes it to be about 390 miles in length from east to west, seems the most correct; and it appears from late surveys to be nearly 150 miles in breadth from north to south. The Abbé Raynal has represented it at 200 leagues in length, and from 60 to 80 in breadth, but it is evident that his estimation is erroneous. Rainsford also states it to be about 450 miles in length, but from every information which I could obtain, its length does not appear to exceed 400 miles, nor its breadth 140. The reader, therefore, must look into these discrepances, and judge between them. As it is not easy to survey a country intersected by wilds and impenetrable mountains, much is necessarily left to conjecture.
It is the most extensive, and was at one period of its history the most productive of the Antilles, and was called by the aborigines Haiti, or Highland, and by which ancient designation it is now generally known, that of St. Domingo having been abolished at the revolution. To convey an adequate idea of what this once delightful island was, is not the object of the present work; on this head it is sufficient to observe that in the richness and extent of its productions, and in its local beauties, it exceeded every other island in the western hemisphere, and that the two divisions of the east and the west, when under the respective governments of Spain and France, were considered and indeed known to be the most splendid and most important appendages to those crowns. Its plains and valleys presented the most inviting scenes from the richness of the pastures and the verdure with which they eternally abounded. Its mountains were also said to contain ores of the most valuable kind, and produce timber admirably adapted for every useful or ornamental purpose. Nothing could exceed the extreme salubrity of the whole country, nor could it be surpassed in the vast exuberance of its luscious fruits, and in those productions of the soil which became the general articles of export, and from which all the wealth and all commerce of this colony flowed.
The French division, though infinitely less extensive than the Spanish part, and not containing a third of the whole island, has been considered the most valuable spot in the western world. The Spanish division however has greater natural resources, and affords greater facilities for agricultural operations: but the very extraordinary exertions of the French planter in the culture of the soil, compensated for the want of those advantages possessed by their Spanish neighbours, who, more indolently disposed, relied on the produce of their mines, which afforded, as they imagined, greater local riches than those which could be obtained from either agriculture or commerce, forgetting that these alone furnish the wealth which can render any country really and permanently prosperous and great.
It appears from every authority, that the first colony established here by the French, was settled in the sixteenth century, having been attracted thither by the Buccaneers, who had previously obtained a footing in the island from excursions which they often made from Tortuga, for the purpose of hunting the bulls of the Spaniards. These hardy and predatory warriors attracted the French, who supplied them with such necessaries as they required, and even sent them many settlers, with arms and implements for defence and labour. The extreme fertility of the country invited them to make some efforts to gain a permanent footing in it, and by means of intrigue coupled with a little force, they succeeded in obtaining possession of the whole of the west end, the line of which seems to have run in an oblique direction, from about Cape François on the north to Cape Rosa on the south. Having surmounted all the obstacles that presented themselves, and having overcome those difficulties which generally accompany the first attempts at colonization, or are met with in a newly discovered land, they pursued with incredible ardour and industry the culture of the soil, and the improvement of their valuable acquisition.
The Spanish court, jealous of and unable to contend with their rival colonists, submitted to France, when the two cabinets at home came to a mutual understanding and adjustment, respecting these foreign possessions. An arrangement was entered into, under which commissioners were appointed for settling the boundaries, and fixing the rights which had formed the ground of disputes between the settlers of these rival nations. The line of demarcation finally agreed upon commenced at the bay of Mansenillo on the north, dividing in its course the river Massacre; thence taking rather a westerly course, it reached an acute point at Dondon, and afterwards proceeded southerly to the river Pedernales.
This tract of country, as conceded to the French, contained about 1000 square leagues, exceedingly irregular in its character, intersected with mountains, and having plains confined and difficult of approach, so as to make it altogether much inferior in point of natural value to even a single district of the Spanish division; having also two extreme points or capes, Cape Nicolas Mole on the north, and Cape Tiburon on the south-west extremity, in both of which the soil is less valuable, from its being so very mountainous, and from its not possessing those facilities of communication which can be obtained in other districts. Notwithstanding the disadvantages against which the first settlers had to contend, and in defiance of every local obstacle, they seemed to have been impressed with the conviction, that if a spirit of perseverance and labour could be diffused amongst them, they would ultimately be richly rewarded for all their toil, and all that anxiety and deprivation to which it appears, at their first setting out, they were unquestionably subjected. Their conclusions were just, and time shewed the correctness of the principles on which they reasoned and acted, for their colony gradually rose in estimation; and at so early a period as the year 1703, under the government of M. Auger, a native of America, and who in early life had been in a state of slavery, it had become of so much consideration to France, that the greatest possible efforts were made to extend their system of cultivation to the whole of their colonial territory. That officer was indefatigable, it is said, in his exertions in encouraging and in stimulating the colonists in the culture of the lands, and as he had been previously governor of Guadaloupe, it is to be inferred that he possessed no ordinary skill in the business of preparing the ground for the production of those exotic and indigenous plants which became the main articles of export to the mother-country. That he was a most efficient governor all writers admit, for he had brought the state of his colony to a very high pitch of prosperity, when he died, lamented by all who had lived under his command. The plantations at this period had increased in every part, particularly in the valleys, where the soil was more congenial, and where the labour could be performed without being attended with those difficulties which impeded it in the more mountainous districts. In the western parts the cocoa-tree had begun to produce most luxuriantly, yielding great wealth to individuals, and a large revenue to the state. The sugar-cane had also arrived at great perfection, and the art of manufacturing the sugar from it had been for some time carried on with astonishing success. Coffee plantations were establishing, and the planters in every direction were vying with each other in bringing their properties into the highest possible state of cultivation.
In the year 1715, however, the island suffered a very severe calamity, and in the succeeding year another followed, in both of which almost all the cocoa-trees perished, and considerable damage was done to every vegetable production; and the planters, who had by this time acquired an easy, if not a competent fortune, sustained losses that only time and continued exertion could possibly repair. It will be seen, however, that a great improvement gradually followed, and that agriculture had not been neglected, for in the year 1754 the colony had advanced to a wonderful pitch of prosperity, and seems to have satisfied the wishes of the proprietors of the soil, as well as the most sanguine expectations of the government. It is said by an anonymous writer, that “the various commodities exported from the island amounted to a million and a quarter sterling, and the imports to one million seven hundred and seventy-seven thousand five hundred and nine pounds. There were fourteen thousand white inhabitants, nearly four thousand free mulattoes, and one hundred and seventy-two thousand negroes; five hundred and ninety-nine sugar plantations, three thousand three hundred and seventy-nine of indigo, ninety-eight thousand nine hundred and forty-six cocoa-trees, six million three hundred thousand three hundred and sixty-seven cotton plants, and about twenty-two millions of cassia-trees, sixty-three thousand horses and mules, ninety-three thousand head of horned cattle, six millions of banana trees, upwards of one million plots of potatoes, two hundred and twenty-six thousand of yams, and nearly three million trenches of marrioc.”
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