VI. 
Seaports of tjjapti. 
T HE seaports of Hayti rather unfavorably impress the travel¬ 
ler who has never previously visited the West India 
Islands or Central American States. From various causes, — 
earthquakes, chiefly, and fires, the indifference of past govern¬ 
ments, and the want of proper workmen, — they do not present 
that aspect of prosperity and neatness which distinguish our 
Northern cities or the towns of the British American Prov¬ 
inces. The streets are ill-paved, and seldom indicate the 
scavenger’s care; and the stores and private dwellings very 
plainly show that the art of house-painting has not attained its 
last perfection. 
Port-au-Prince, the capital, is a city of 26,000 inhabitants. 
It is the seat of Government, and consequently the residence 
of the President and his ministers; the place where the high 
courts of justice and the legislative bodies meet. It is the chief 
port and largest city of the Kepublic. It has the most sultry 
climate of all the cities in the Island; yet at Furcy, only 
eighteen miles distant, there are forests of pines, and a tempera¬ 
ture suited for the growth of all the trees and vegetables of the 
temperate zones. 
Cape Haytian, or Cape Hayti, (Cap Haytien,) is a town of 
six or seven thousand inhabitants. It was the capital of the 
kingdom erected by Christophe, and was formerly known as 
the Little Paris of the Antilles. It was destroyed by an earth- 
