io 
Introduction. 
I remained in the Island two months, travelling on foot from Cape Hay- 
tian to Gonaives; in an open boat from that town to Port-au-Prince, and 
on horseback from the capital to Jacmel. I occupied myself exclusively 
in gathering information, —geographical, political, and historical. I re¬ 
turned to Boston in April; but, finding that my Notes were incomplete, 
and in many instances contradictory, and desirous of correcting my first 
impressions by more extended studies, I again sailed for Hayti in June, 
—disembarking at Gonaives ; from which, in July, I made a pedestrian 
tour to the American colored settlement at L’Arcahaie. Prom that fertile 
district, I sailed to Port-au-Pi'ince, where I resided until my departure in 
September. 
My third visit was made in July of this year, for the purpose of explor¬ 
ing Tortuga and the other insular dependencies of Hayti. 
In the mean time, among other patriotic projects of progress, material 
and moral, which the Government of President Geffrard had devised, was 
the plan of inviting an immigration into Hayti of all the enlightened and 
industrious men of African descent, in the States and the Provinces of 
North America. As an Abolitionist and a Republican, I felt a 
double interest in this project, — for not only will it be an agency of 
strengthening a colored Nation, by developing its resources, introducing 
new inventions, and bringing to it also moral sources of power, and thus 
demonstrating the capacity of the race for self-government, but it will 
carry out the programme of the ablest intellects of the Republican Party, 
— of surrounding the Southern States with a cordon of free labor, within 
which, like a scorpion girded by fire, Slavery must inevitably die. 
There is no country in the world better adapted for the culture of cotton, 
sugar, rice, and other Southern staples, than Hayti. All that it needs is 
laborers, intelligent and industrious, to devote themselves to the work. 
Thus, with the lever of an enlightened immigration in Hayti, the colored 
men of America could greatly aid in overturning the system of chattel 
Slavery in the South. 
Brought into correspondence with the Government of Hayti, I sug¬ 
gested a number of guarantees to immigrants that should be officially an¬ 
nounced ; all of them, and many others subsequently asked for, (which 
will be found in the following pages) were immediately and publicly 
conceded. It will be found, also, that, in its desire for-an enlightened 
immigration, the Government has transcended, not the demands only, 
but the expectations of the friends and representatives of the colored 
people in America. Requested to indicate the measures that should be 
employed to inform the class of immigrants invited of the nature of the 
country, the offers and intentions of the Government, and all the facts 
which men, seeking a new home, are naturally desirous of learning, I 
