THE REPUBLIC OF HAITI 269 



the establishment of schools. There has been a steady 

 tendency toward increased educational facilities at public 

 expense. It is believed that no less than five thousand 

 Haitian girls arc being educated under the care of the 

 sisters of the Roman Church. There are four hundred 

 national schools, besides private schools and five lycees. 

 Elementary education is free, the country being divided 

 into fourteen inspectors' districts, and nearly one million 

 dollars allotted annually. In 1870 there were four lycees, 

 six superior girls' schools, five secondary schools, one hun- 

 dred and sixty-five primary schools, two hundred rural 

 schools, one school of medicine, and one of music, with a 

 total of twenty thousand pupils. The Sisters of Charity 

 and Christian Brothers have schools in Port-au-Prince. 



The unit of money on the island is the gourde, or dollar, 

 the nominal value of which is that of the American dol- 

 lar, but this so fluctuates that the annual average may be 

 seventeen per cent, premium on the American dollar. The 

 revenue of Haiti is derived exclusively from customs paid 

 in American gold on exports, and in currency gourdes on 

 imports. The external debt of 1887 was $13,476,113, and 

 the internal debt about the same. 



The imports of Haiti in 1895 were $6,232,335, and the 

 exports $13,788,562, showing a heavy balance of trade in 

 favor of the island. The exports consist chiefly of coffee, 

 cocoa, and logwood. In 1895 the quantities exported were 

 as follows: coffee, 75,371,865 pounds; cocoa, 2,291,548 

 pounds; logwood, 138,042,053 pounds. Other exports .ire 

 cotton, gum, and honey. Of the imports in 1896 the value 

 of $4,134,000 came from the United States; $1,340,000 

 from France; $304,000 from Germany; $206,000 from 

 Greal Britain. In 1896,260 vessels entered at Port-au- 

 Prince, ISO at Cape Ilaitien, and 161 at Anx Cayes. 



It will be seen that, notwithstanding Haiti's political and 

 social degradation, i1 is financially more prosperous than 

 the more highly civilized Wes1 [ndies, excepting ( 'uba, and 

 shows the largest balance of trade. It is also interesting 



