ECONOMIC CONDITION OF HAITI. 415 



the Ilaitiaiis had placed at the disposal of the Americans for the purpose of mahing 

 experiments. But the first essay was disastrous ; over a third of the settlers were 

 carried off by epidemics, hunger and homesickness, and the survivors had to be 

 sent back. At present the island is dotted over with flourishing banana-groves, 

 the produce of which is exported to the United States. 



Jacmcl, on the south coast where it begins to curve round to form the Beata 

 peninsula, has the advantage of lying near the capital by th3 overland route, though 

 distant over 280 miles by sea. Were the two places connected by a railway across 

 the neck of the peninsula, Jacmel would become an outlet of Port-au-Prince towards 

 the south. Farther east follow the little seaports of Les Caijes de Jacmel and Sale- 

 Trou, that is, "Dirt-hole," but often written SaHrou to avoid offending the suscep- 

 tibilities of its inhabitants. 



Economic Condition of Haiti. 



There can be no doubt that during the revolutionary troubles and war of inde- 

 pendence the population was greatly reduced, though to what extent cannot now 

 be determined. Most of the whites had been massacred, while those who escaped 

 to Cuba and other places were followed by many of their slaves. Of the blacks 

 and mulattoes multitudes fell in battle and the summary executions. The Haitians 

 were probably reduced by one-half during the fifteen years of the revolution, 

 falling from 600,000 to 300,000, and, according to some authorities, even to 260,000. 

 Since that time there has been no lack of civil strife, but it has not seriously 

 affected the bulk of the inhabitants. In the interior peace has been the normal 

 condition, and the natural fecundity of the black race is such that the population 

 should be doubled in fifty years. Even in the unhealthy capital the birth-rate is 

 twice as high as the mortality, and at jDresent the Haitians can scarcely number 

 less than a million. An unpublished report made to M. Salles in 1889 estimates 

 them at 994,000. The density per square mile would thus be about half that of 

 France, not much for such a fertile country. 



It has often been asserted that in Haiti as in Cuba the female population is 

 much greater than the male. It is more certain that the peojole are reverting, at 

 least in colour, more and more to the African type ; nor could it be otherwise. At 

 the beginning of the revolution the half-breeds wore less than one-tenth of the whole, 

 and the wars all tended to increase the disparity in favour of the blacks, who form 

 the vast majority. Hence, since the white element has almost been eliminated, the 

 crossings necessarily result in the gradual absorption of the half-breed in the full- 

 blood negro. 



But if the complexion is mostly ybyj dark, African features, such as those of the 

 Wolofs and Serers, are seldom met. The new environment has re-modelled the fea- 

 tures, which have become largely assimilated to the European type. Immigration 

 contributes but slightly to the growth of the population. The negroes from the 

 States, differing from the natives in speech, religion, and usages, generally keep 

 aloof, while those from the French Antilles fraternise readily with the Haitians. 

 Emigration is very limited and chiefly directed towards Snn Domingo and Venezuela. 



