THE YOUTHS CABINET.

 

EDITORIAL TABLE<TALK.

A WORD ABOUT HAYTI.
rR. Eprror,—By
your request, I
will talk a little
to your children
about Hayti. I
am pretty well
acquainted with it, as I have
resided there for several years.
It is one of the largest and
richest of the West India isl-
ands. The first name given to
it by Europeans was Hispan-
iola, and afterwards they called it Santo
Domingo. It is now called Hayti, which
is the original name given to it by the In-
dians, and signifies a mountainous coun-
try. However, the entire country does
not abound with mountains. There are
many extensive plains in it; and, gene-
rally speaking, the soil of both mountain
and plain is very fertile. There flourish
the palm and cocoa trees. The cactus
grows some fifty feet high, and a foot
and a half in diameter.’ I herewith send
you a specimen of the wood of this spe-
cies of the cactus, which may serve you
for a cane. I split it from a branch of
the cactus that made four such sticks.
You will perceive that the wood is now
very light. When green, however, it is
quite heavy. I found it a heavy load to
shoulder a short block of the tree, and
carry it half » mile. There are many
precious woods in Hayti, such as the ma-
hogany, logwood, redwood, and lignum
vitee. Coffee is picked from the tree, or
large bushes; so is the cotton; and log-
wood is used for fuel. Large quantities
of the latter exported to foreign coun-
tries. The brig that myself and family

   
 

took passage in lately, brought two hun-
dred and fifty tons of this wood; and
surely it is quite a disagreeable article for
freight. It is so full of ants, scorpions,
and centipedes, that everybody on ship-
board is annoyed with them.

The people of Hayti are descendants
of Indians and. Africans. Most of them
are Africans, and are very black. They
are in a very uncultivated state, as to
morals and civilization. Indolence, su-
perstition, and immorality prevail to an
alarming degree. The people are all Ro-
man Catholics of the most ignorant kind.
Perhaps no people are more in want of
good missionaries and school teachers than
the Haytiens. Yet the government is so
tyrannical and changing, that it is a great
and trying work to do anything for their
moral improvement. The missionaries
now there are very deserving people ; but
there is hardly one missionary to fifty
thousand people. Almost all the Haytien
children are growing up in ignorance and
crime. The Emperor makes soldiers of
all the boys and men, from fourteen years
to fifty. These are obliged to serve in
the army three-fourths of their time.
They have no one to take them by the
hand, and talk to them of Christ and
salvation. One of the most trying things
of my life, was my being obliged to close
my mission school at Port de Paix, in
June last. Oh, how the scholars wept!
They seemed to be aware of what they
were about to lose. Poor heathen chil-
dren! I fear that it will be a long time
before they have another missionary
among them. Doubtless many of the
children who read the CaBtnet, are pious

boys and girls. I hope that such chil-