i 3 2 
The People of Hayti. 
lower class in the country, and small towns especially.” Sub¬ 
stantive plurals are unknown. They say cheval when they 
mean horses, and cheval when they speak of a horse. Accents 
are also changed- Instead of papier, for example, they say 
papier. “ This patois,” says Dr. Brown, u has few inflections 
to give it expressiveness, hut this quality is communicated to it 
in perfection by a vast variety of modifications of voice and ges¬ 
ture in the person speaking. But one mood, that known among 
grammarians by the term infinitive, is applied to the verbs, and 4 
the differences of time and circumstances are expressed by pre¬ 
fixing the particles before the word. Thus, je parle is express¬ 
ed moi parler; je parlais by moi te parler; the particles te 
and va being corrupt derivations from the auxiliary French 
verbs' etre and aller ; and the phrase signifying literally, — Me 
speak, Me was spoke, and Me going to speak. It is said that 
no foreigner is capable of attaining a complete knowledge of all 
the occult significations and the varied expressions given by the 
natives to this negro French, by the means of the changes and 
combinations to which the different phrases are subjected by the 
speakers. What cannot be expressed in any other language, 
can be easily uttered or signified through this singular flexibility 
of the Creole tongue by means of one or two words adroitly 
selected and accompanied by the peculiar gesture and intonation 
significant of the idea. This language runs readily into rhyme, 
and the blacks express both their joy and grief by song; and by 
a union of singing and pantomime, they mysteriously describe 
their future designs of insurrection, pillage, or love.’'' To Mr. 
Bishop I am indebted for the following conjugation of the verb 
faire, as it would be conjugated if the Creole had a gram¬ 
mar: 
Indicative. 
Faire — To do. 
Present. 
M’a pd fait * — lam doing. 
Ou’a p<5 fait—Thou art doing. 
* This, following Dr. Brown, should be written faire; but as both words are 
similarly pronounced, I follow Mr. Bishop’s manuscript. 
