INHABITANTS OF SAN DOMINGO. 405 



to more wholesale massacres. In order to hasten the end of their wretched 

 existence the Haitians themselves are said to have sworn to allow no more births, 

 thus condemning the whole race to extinction. 



In half a century the people whom the Spaniards were burning to " convert 

 to the true faith " had ceased to exist, or the few survivors had become merged 

 in other ethnical groups, white or black. About midway between San Domingo 

 and Samana Bay lies the village of Boya in a wooded upland valley, whither the 

 last Haitians retired after the almost total extermination of the whole race. 

 They were left in peace ; their chief even obtained the title of don, and called 

 himself, " Cacique of the Island Haiti." But they did not long retain their racial 

 purity, and at present it is difficult to recognise the half-caste descendants of the 

 primitive Haitians. What distinguishes them best is their long, lank and very 

 black hair. But many words of their language were borrowed by the Spaniards, 

 and thus passed into the other European tongues. Such are potato {patata), 

 cassava, maize, tobacco, iguana, canoe, cacique, and perhaps hammock [hamac). 



During the first years of the conquest the Spaniards had been accompanied by 

 some negroes, and in 1505, African slaves were sold by the Spanish traders to the 

 San Domingo miners. The trafiic was ofiicially recognised in 1517, when a royal 

 edict authorised the yearly importation of 4,000 blacks from the coast of Africa to 

 the island of Haiti. The trade was made a monopoly in favour of a chamberlain 

 of Charles Y., who sold it to some Genoan merchants. 



But the negroes were far too few to compensate for the extirpated Indians. 

 Hence many Spanish settlers, having no slaves to work the mines or cultivate the 

 plantations, hastened in search of fresh adventures, and the marvellous reports 

 from Mexico and Peru caused the emigration .to become general. San Domingo 

 would have been completely depopulated had not the governor forcibly retained 

 all the ofiicials still in the island. 



The occasion was favourable for the English and French buccaneers, who 

 raided the unoccupied parts of the island, sweeping away the cattle, horses, and 

 swine that had multiplied on the savannas. They became strong enough to drive 

 the Spaniards towards the capital, but as yet they had no fixed stations beyond the 

 trysting-places where they kept hides and other plunder for sale to passing 

 vessels. 



One of these places was a haven in Tortuga (Turtle) Island, on the strait which 

 separated this long mountain mass from the mainland. Thinking themselves 

 strong enough to found a permanent settlement here, they erected some houses 

 and depots with the aid of the French residents in St. Christopher, and began to 

 clear the ground for plantations. Driven out by the Spaniards in 1638 and again 

 in 1654, the}^ took refuge at Petit-Goâveon the north side of the south-west penin- 

 sula, and this place became a chief centre of the trade in tobacco and hides. 

 Tortuga was retaken by the French in 1659, but the land being nearly exhausted, 

 most of the settlers withdrew to the mainland, where the fortress of Port-au-Prince 

 had already been erected. 



The French colony was thus definitely established in the western part of the 



