416 MEXICO, CENTRAL AMERICA, WEST INDIES. 



Little progress has been made in agriculture and the industries. This may be 



attributed to the system of land tenure, an inheritance of the old régime. After 



the expulsion of the French the system was maintained in favour of the people of 



colour, who had succeeded the whites as landowners. Thus the bulk of the 



peasantry were still deprived of the land, despite their frequent revolts to seize it 



by force. It is often asserted that these risings of the " piquets," or " pikemen," 



as- the insurgents were called from their usual weapon, were caused by racial 



hatred as between the black and coloured people. But far more important than 



colour was the land question. 



" Nègue riche li mulafte, 

 Mulatte pauve li nègue ! " 



says a local proverb.* 



At last, in 1885, eighty years after the proclamation of independence, a law 

 was passed authorising the distribution of the public domain in lots of fi'om 3^ 

 to 6 acres to all citizens undertaking to grow colïee, sugar or other colonial 

 produce. But hitherto small freeholds have remained the exception, at least in 

 the central and accessible districts. The fertile plains continue almost every- 

 where under large plantations, the smaller lots being held under lease. 



To prevent the return of the whites, the seventh article of the constitution 

 prevents all foreigners from purchasing the smallest particle of land. It is 

 asserted that were capitalists allowed to acquire land they would soon revive the 

 former prosperity of the countr3\ Possibly they might, but at the expense of 

 the black population, which would be again reduced to slavery under another 

 name. 



Sugar, formerly the chief crop, has ceased to be cultivated in a large way ; it 

 is now grown onl}^ for the local demand and the fabrication of rum. At present 

 the staple product of the soil is coffee, which is cultivated far more extensively 

 than during the period that followed the war of independence. The assertion 

 that the blacks merely gather the berry from shrubs planted in the days of 

 slavery is a gross libel. Since the last century the plants have been renewed at 

 least three times, and during the war of secession the cultivation of cotton was 

 also rapidly developed, until the revival of the industry in the States again made 

 all competition impossible. Cacao has quadrupled since colonial times, and 

 tobacco is also more extensively grown than formerly. Amongst other articles of 

 export, one of the most valuable is logwood, first introduced in 1730. 



Trade, which rapidly declined during the revolutionary wars, represents 

 scarcely one- tenth of the importance it possessed under the old system. Formerly 

 field labour was almost exclusively engaged in the production of colonial produce 

 for exportation to Europe, whereas now it is directed chiefly to the cultivation of 

 supi^lies for the wants of double the population. Commercial relations are chiefly 

 carried on with the United States and Great Britain, France taking only the third 

 position in this respect. 



Puolic works are still in a rudimentary state. The roads are badly kept : 



* Th it is, " Negro enriches mulatto ; mulatto impoverishes negro." 



