at and his cigar
in his mouth, looking as if all the world belonged to him, and as if all
the world, and the Hayti blacks in particular, were aware of the fact.
The Yankee, whether we like it or not, is the acknowledged sovereign in
these waters.

The landing place was, or had been, a jetty built on piles and boarded
over. Half the piles were broken; the planks had rotted and fallen
through. The swell was rolling home, and we had to step out quickly as
the boat rose on the crest of the wave. A tattered crowd of negroes were
loafing about variously dressed, none, however, entirely without clothes
of some kind. One of them did kindly give me a hand, observing that I
was less light of foot than once I might have been. The agent's office
was close by. I asked the head clerk--a Frenchman--to find me a guide
through the town. He called one of the bystanders whom he knew, and we
started together, I and my black companion, to see as much as I could in
the hour which was allowed me. The language was less hopeless than at
Dominica. We found that we could understand each other--he, me,
tolerably; I, him, in fragments, for his tongue went as fast as a
shuttle. Though it was still barely eight o'clock the sun was scalding.
The streets were filthy and the stench abominable. The houses were of
white stone, and of some pretensions, but ragged and uninviting--paint
nowhere, and the woodwork of the windows and verandahs mouldy and
worm-eaten. The inhabitants swarmed as in a St. Giles's rookery. I
suppose they were all out of doors. If any were left at home Jacmel must
have been as populous as an African ants' nest. As I had looked for
nothing better than a Kaffir kraal, the degree of civilisation was more
than I expected. I expressed my admiration of the buildings; my guide
was gratified, and pointed out to me with evident pride a new hotel or
boarding house kept by a Madame Somebody who was the great lady of the
place. Madame Ellememe was sitting in a shady balcony outside the
first-floor windows. She was a large menacing-looking mulatto, like some
ogress of the 'Arabian Nights,' capable of devouring, if she found them
palatable, any number of salt babies. I took off my hat to this
formidable dame, which she did not condescend to notice, and we passed
on. A few houses in the outskirts stood in gardens with inclosures about
them. There is some trade in the place, and there were evidently
families, negro or European, who lived in less squ