Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 11.djvu/579

Rh Hayti possesses a great diversity of. In the, where it is generally hot and moist, the thermometer often rises to 96° and sometimes to 100°; but in the highlands the readings are seldom above 76° or below 60°. In the most elevated parts a fire is sometimes agreeable. The s are divided into the wet and dry. Rains are heaviest and most frequent in May and June, when the rivers, some of which have but a scanty supply of water in the dry, flood portions of the. Hurricanes are not so frequent as in the Windward Islands, but violent gales often occur. The prevailing winds are from the east. Agriculture is very backward, and the implements used are rude. The staple productions for which the was once famous are now imperfectly cultivated or neglected altogether. Mining, once profitably carried on, is generally abandoned from lack of capital, though some -washing still continues in the northern streams. Some mahogany and dyewoods are cut in the interior, and hides, wax, and honey are collected for export, but on a comparatively small scale. The business of the country is chiefly in the hands of foreigners, settled in the cities and larger s. The of the is about 700,000, of which 550,000 are subjects of the Haytian  in the west, and 150,000 of the Dominican  in the east. Of the Haytian nearly 500,000 are of n descent, of the Dominican about 25,000. Of the mixed races about 125,000 are of, and 50,000 of descent. There are also a few Germans, Italians, and natives of the, settled chiefly in the coast s. The language of the eastern end of the is , that of the western an impure  patois. The history of Hayti begins with its discovery by, who landed at St Nicolas Mole, Dec. 6, 1492, having left Cuba the day before. The was then occupied by about 2,000,000 people of a low type of humanity, who are described by the historians as feeble in intellect, and morally and physically defective. The natives called the Haiti (ous country) and Quisquica (vast country). named it Espagnola (Little ), which was Latinized into Hispaniola. Adventurers from Europe, attracted chiefly by the exaggerated stories of, flocked thither, and the natives were reduced to , although many made a gallant resistance. After about 30 s of grinding servitude, nearly all the aborigines had disappeared. A few es were brought into the as early as 1505, and in 1517 a royal edict authorized the importation from  of 4000 es a. The, stronger and better able to bear the labour which had been death to their predecessors, multiplied to such a degree that the has finally passed into the hands of their descendants. About 1630 a mixed of  and English, who had been driven out of St Christophers by the, established themselves in the  of Tortuga, where they soon grew formidable under the name of buccaneers. They at last obtained a footing on the mainland of Hayti, into which they had previously made only predatory excursions; and by the of Ryswick (1697) the part of the  which they held was ceded to. The, called Saint Domingue, languished for a while under the restrictions imposed on its trade by the mother country, but after 1722, when these were removed, it attained a high degree of prosperity, and it was in a flourishing state when the Revolution broke out in 1789. The was then composed of three classes,, free people of colour (mostly ), and. The free people of colour, some of whom were wealthy proprietors, demanded that the principles of the Revolution should be extended to them; this was opposed by the, who had previously engrossed all the public honours, and the two classes were already violently inflamed against each other when the national convention (1791) passed a decree giving to the all the rights of  citizens. The adopted at once the most violent measures, and appealed to the mother country for a reversal of the decree. But when the took up arms for their defence at the time of the insurrection of the plantation  (August 23, 1791), the  endeavoured to conciliate them. In the meantime the home Government reversed the decree granting them political rights. The now took part with the, and a most destructive  raged for several s, during which each party seemed to study to outdo the other in acts of cruelty. Commissioners were sent out from, with full power to settle the quarrel, but could effect nothing. In 1793 the abolition of in the  was proclaimed. In September of the same a British force invaded the ; but, though some partial advantages were gained, the  made sad havoc among the troops, and prevented any solid success. , the leader of the, came to the aid of the , the home Government having in the meantime ratified the act of the commissioners in freeing the. He was made commander-in-chief of the army, and in 1798 forced the British to evacuate the. By the with, made at Basel in 1795, France had acquired the title to the entire , which now received the name of Saint Domingue. In 1801, then master of the whole country, adopted a constitutional form of government, in which he was to be president for life. Bonaparte, then first consul of France, determined to reduce the and restore, sent to Hayti 25,000 troops under General Leclerc. The were compelled to retire to the s, but kept up a desultory  under ’s able leadership. Leclerc, wearied of the, cajoled the chiefs into a suspension of arms, and having invited  to an interview, seized him and sent him to France, where he died in prison in 1803. The, infuriated by this act of treachery, renewed the struggle under Dessalines with a barbarity unequalled in the previous contests. The, further embarrassed by the appearance of a British fleet off the coast, now gradually lost ground, and in 1803 agreed to evacuate the. On the 30th of November of that, 8000 troops surrendered to the British squadron. In 1804 independence was declared, and the aboriginal name of Hayti was revived. Dessalines was made governor for life, but in October of the same he proclaimed himself emperor, and was crowned with great pomp. He soon began to display the cruelty of a tyrant, and in 1806 he was assassinated. His position was now contended for by several chiefs, one of whom,, established himself in the north, while Pétion took possession of the southern part. The re-established themselves in the eastern part of the, retaining the  name, modified to Santo Domingo. Civil now raged between the adherents of  and Pétion, but in 1810 hostilities were suspended,  declared himself king of Hayti under the title of Henry I.; but his cruelty caused an insurrection, and in 1820 he committed suicide. Pétion had died in 1818, and was succeeded by Gen. Boyer, who, after ’s death, made himself master of all the part of the. In 1821 the eastern end of the proclaimed its independence of, and Boyer, taking advantage of dissensions there, invaded it, and in 1822 the dominion of the whole  fell into his hands. Boyer held the presidency of the new government, which was called the of Hayti, until 1843, when he was driven from the  by a revolution. In 1844 the people of the eastern end of the again asserted their independence, and 