Santo Domingo past & present with a glance at Hayti. Partie 2

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APPEND!

TOR T.

hardly a writer who does not speak in the most glowing terms of this island, its climate, its scenery, productions, and the general natural intelligence of its people, and their gentleness and kindness of disposition under favourable circumstances. I am glad to bear testimony to the fact, from personal observation, that the masses of the people of St Domingo will compare favourably with those of Great Britain, Belgium, or France. Canon Kingsley has been by some deemed romantic because, familiar as he is with the lower classes of his own country, and with the masses particularly of the London population, who live, in many cases, utterly ignorant of pure air, light, and warmth, he should wish that the beau足 tiful but unsettled solitudes of the New World might be peopled by some of their number. But the writer so far agrees with him that he wishes, in these days of international meetings, that some grand in足 ternational organisation could be formed to transport those who have not the means themselves, to those parts of the western continent where a new field of health, labour, and riches would be open to the teeming populations of the old world, and no more favourable or desirable spot does he know than the beautiful Island of St Domingo. While I do not wish to inflict upon the reader a mass of dry -statistics, which he would probably never read, it is due to the full understanding of our subject that I give some practical information in reference to matters that have been much misunderstood, most of which I extract from the reports of the United States Commissioners, verified as it has been by my own personal experience and consultation of every' available authority. And, firstly, in regard to climate and health. The testi足 mony of witnesses, the observation of the Commissioners, and the reports of special investigations, show that it is generally a healthy country. Emigrants easily become accustomed to the climate. On the coast, where hot weather prevails, care


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