Page:Haiti- Her History and Her Detractors.djvu/27



Between 17° 55' and 20° north latitude, and between 71° and 77° west longitude from the meridian of Paris, lies the island which in the United States is often called "the mysterious Haiti."

Before the fifteenth century its inhabitants, numbering about one million, used to be relatively happy: the Old World was unaware even of their existence.

They were very tawny, rather small in stature, with long, black, and smooth hair. Simple in their manners, more indolent than active, they were contented with little; moreover, their wants were not very great.

The men and the girls wore no clothing; the women only had around their waists a cloth reaching to their knees. They supported themselves by fishing, hunting, and by raising corn and vegetables of an easy culture; from their cotton they made nets, hammocks, etc.; they took great pleasure in smoking the dried leaves of the tobacco plant. Polygamy was practiced.

Through the coarse ceremonies of their religion can be traced the idea of the immortality of the soul and the existence of a Supreme Being, whose mother, Mamona,