430 



HAYTI. 



HICKS PASHA, WILLIAM. 



he announced that the leader of the rebellion, 

 Boyer Bazelais, had poisoned himself at Mira- 

 goane on the 27th of that month, after being 

 wounded in an engagement at Gaoy on October 

 22d. During the rebellion there was a battle 

 between the steamers Dessalines and La Patrie, 

 both vessels being considerably damaged, the 

 Government craft, the Dessalines, losing its 

 commander, and La Patrie seven men. 



Natural Resources. There is no tropical coun- 

 try on the earth capable of producing a greater 

 variety of agricultural and mineral products 

 than Hayti. The sugar-cane thrives nowhere 

 better ; it was introduced into the island by 

 Columbus on his second voyage, in 1493, from 

 Gomera, one of the Canary islands, and as ear- 

 ly as 1506 it was cultivated to some extent, as 

 it was found that it succeeded better than in 

 any of the other islands ; thence it was intro- 

 duced by French Jesuits with some negroes 

 into Louisiana in 1751. In 1791 Hayti export- 

 ed to France 70,000 tons of sugar and 30,000 

 tons of coffee. While in all other tropical 

 countries where slavery has been abolished the 

 cultivation of staple products has gradually re- 

 covered from the effects of disorganized labor, 

 this has been the case in Hayti only so far as 

 coffee is concerned, of which the country still 

 produces 35,000 tons annually on an average, 

 or about as much as a century since. But its 

 sugar industry has become practically extinct. 

 The quality of the coffee, although pure-fla- 

 vored, ranks lowest in the world's markets, 

 because it is slothf ully cultivated, gathered, and 

 prepared, most of it mixed with black beans 

 and fragments of stones ; yet it is the staple 

 product of the country, and a short coffee-crop 

 involves poverty for a season. 



The other agricultural products are cocoa (al- 

 so lowest in quality) and a little cotton. Wax 

 and honey are exported, and logwood, mahog- 

 any, and cedar of good quality are produced. 



The country abounds in mineral deposits, but 

 none is worked ; thus, there are iron, tin, cop- 

 per, manganese, cinnabar, and coal-seams at 

 Camp Perrin and Aux Cayes, and gold is met 

 with in a great many localities. 



Native writers on Haytian economical and 

 agrarian subjects complain that the system of 

 rentals is bad on the plains, where the proprie- 

 tor of the soil shares in the profits accruing 

 from the cultivation of it with the small farmer 

 who cultivates under a lease from him. In the 

 mountain districts this is different, for there 

 small plantations, the property of those culti- 

 vating them, abound, and ^le products are bet- 

 ter prepared for market. These writers say it 

 is a peculiar trait of the negro that, however 

 small it may be, he wants to work on a planta- 

 tion of his own, and only under such conditions 

 will he bestow care on what he raises. 



Commerce. In the fiscal year 1881-'82 the 

 amount of import duties collected at the eleven 

 ports then opened to foreign trade was $1,859,- 

 044, and of export duties, $2,102,805. The 

 aggregate value of merchandise imported at 



Port-au-Prince during the same year was $1,- 

 906,196, and the chief articles exported from 

 there were coffee, 51, 702, 927 pounds; logwood, 

 264,012,050 pounds ; cocoa, 3,382,199 pounds; 

 and cotton, 1,790,832 pounds. 



AMERICAN TRADE WITH HAYTI. 



The following table shows the increase of 

 coffee importation from Hayti into the United 



States : 



The maritime movements of 1881 were as 

 follow : 



HICKS PASHA, Col. William, an English officer, 

 commanding an Egyptian expedition against 

 the Mahdi in the Soudan, who perished with 

 his entire army at the battle of Kashgate on 

 Nov. 4, 1883. He entered the Indian army 

 in 1849, and served through the Sepoy rebel- 

 lion. In the Rohilcund campaign he was pres- 

 ent at the action of Kukralee, at the taking of 

 Bareilly, and in the battles of Bunnee, Ma- 

 homdee, and Shahjehanpore. He took part in 

 the campaign for the subjugation of Oude and 

 was with Lord Clyde at the capture of Sunker- 

 pore, the defeat of Beni Madho, the capture of 

 Fort Buxar, and through the operations across 

 the Gogra. He was present in the subsequent 

 actions with Nana Sahib. For bravery at the 

 battle of Sitka Ghaut and in the capture of the 

 enemy's guns, he received a medal. He be- 

 came a captain in 1861. In the Abyssinian 

 campaign of 1867-'68 he served as a brigade- 

 major, and distinguished himself at the capture 

 of Magdala, receiving a medal and the brevet 

 rank of major. He was promoted to major in 

 1868, to lieutenant-colonel in 1875, and in 1880 

 became an honorary colonel, and was appoint- 

 ed to the reserve. He went to Egypt with the 

 British military expedition, and, after serving 



