42 AUDUBON, THE NATURALIST 



to New Orleans, whence he subsequently went to 

 France. Investigation of existing records has proved 

 that these statements are not in accord with the facts, 

 but before entering into further personal details it will 

 be well to examine those conditions on the island of 

 Santo Domingo which led many into easy fortune only 

 to involve them later in a ruin as complete and irre- 

 trievable as it was unforeseen and unnecessary. 



For nearly a hundred years the western half of Santo 

 Domingo had been held by France, and to every out- 

 ward appearance it had enjoyed such unbounded and 

 steadily increasing prosperity that it was regarded with 

 envy on every side; in fine, it seemed to be one of the 

 richest and most desirable colonies in the whole world. 

 Historians, said an observer of a later day, 5 were "never 

 weary of enumerating the amount of its products, the 

 great trade, the warehouses full of sugar, cotton, coffee, 

 indigo and cocoa; its plains covered with splendid 

 estates, its hillsides dotted with noble houses; a white 

 population, rich, refined, enjoying life as only a luxuri- 

 ous colonial society can enjoy it." Few could then see 

 the foul blot beneath so fair a surface, or realize that 

 what had been bought by the misery and blood of a 

 prostrate race would demand an equivalent, and that a 

 settlement might be forced. 



Negroes had been imported into Santo Domingo 

 from the African coasts in incredible numbers, first by 

 Spain after she had succeeded in exterminating the in- 

 offensive native Caribs, and later by France. One hun- 

 dred thousand blacks of all ages were entering the col- 

 onies each year, and to secure this number of bossals, 

 as the native Africans were called, involved the death 



5 See Sir Spencer St. John, Hayti, or the Black Republic, 2d ed. (New 

 York, 1889). 



