his box of specimens on the other. Fear of possible
unpleasant consequences had caused Jones to ride fast, but he had been
followed and three separate attempts made on his life by unknown
persons. The last one resulted in a bullet through the upper part of the
left arm. He was safe enough now, however, as he remarked, there being
little likelihood of danger while under the protection of the American
consul in the city of Porto Prince.

"Don't you be too sure of that," said the consul. "There, try that and
see how you like it."

Jones sipped the cool mixture; it seemed like nectar to him in his
feverish condition. The bullet which had passed through his arm had made
a wound, which, while not in itself serious, had left him weak and
feverish.

"Yes," continued the consul, "you were mighty lucky to get off as you
did. You may not know it, but right here in Hayti the people in the
interior are as savage and bloodthirsty as any Central African tribe.
Most of the inhabitants are descendants of negroes brought from the Gold
Coast many years ago. They have reverted to their original wild state,
keeping up many of the ancient customs. Mixing as they have with the
Indians of the interior, the present race is even worse than their
ancestors. From Toussant l'Overture in 1804, when he first ruled, to
Hyppolite Florvil and Salomon, the island has been the scene of
continuous insurrection, intrigue, and murder.

"Salomon was probably the best of them all. He was an immense negro,
some six feet four inches tall, with a pock-marked face, who had
received an education in Paris and married a Frenchwoman. He, like the
rest, however, was superstitious and cruel at heart. Hyppolite was a
Voodoo priest and, it is said, an anthropophagist. The people of the
interior have an intense hatred for the white man, and still retain many
of the barbarous customs of the savages of the African interior.

"The Voodoo dance is presided over by a high priest, who usually
commands a goat or a hen to be killed, but in some of the more
important ceremonies a child is murdered, and its blood mixed with the
_tafia_ and drunk by the dancers. The high priest is called _Papoloy_.
Every two years after the dance of the moon a human sacrifice is
ordered; generally a young girl is killed and eaten. You probably ran up
against one of the Voodoo gods, and the large stone in front was
undoubtedly the sacrificial stone. How you ever got away alive passes my
compreh