"We came unto this land," they said, "whither thou sentest us, and surely it floweth with milk and honey; and this is the fruit of it. Nevertheless they be strong that dwell in the land, and the cities are walled and very great. ** We be not able to go up against the people for they are stronger than we. * * The land through which we have gone to search it is a land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof; and all the people that we saw in it are men of a great stature, and there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, which come of the giants; and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers and so we were in their sight.""

The result proved that it was not the enemies that were so formidable, it was the eyes that were cowards.

LXXXII.

VOYER CHIEN, CHIEN VOYER LA CHÉ LI.

Send dog, dog sends his tail.

Another branch of Dr. Franklin's aphor

'Numbers, ch. xiii.

ism, that if you would have your business done, go; if not, send. Your agent will be apt to follow your example, and send.

LXXXIII.

SAC QUI VIDE PAS CONNAIT RÉTÉ DEBOUT. The empty bag can't stand up.

This is the hungry slave's reply when reproached for idleness.

The Haytian's conversation abounds also in aphoristic expressions, which need only a slight change in form to be proverbs. For example, if a man's conduct justifies the worst imputations of his enemies, they say:

LXXXIV.

BATE LENEMIS LAITE POÛ BOER LA-SOUS TÊTE OUS.
He gives his enemies milk to drink on his head.
If a man has a grudge against you, they

say:

LXXXV.

HOMME LA TINÎ YON TIT COCHON CA NOURRÎ Poû OUS.

That man has a pig feeding for you.

If a man turns a deaf ear to another:

LXXXVI.

LI CASSER BOIS NANS ZOREÎES LI.

He broke wood in his ears.

Of one who brings his kindred to trouble

they say:

LXXXVII.

LI METTER D'LEAU NANS ZIEZ FAMÎE LI.

He put water in the eyes of his relations.

Conversing they call:

LXXXVIII.

CE MANGER ZOREISS.

To eat with the ears.

To cheat a person unmercifully:

LXXXIX.

ENTRER NANS VENTE YON MOUNE.

To get into a person's belly.

To accommodate one's self to the custom

of the place:

XC.

DANSER QUAND TAMBOÛ CA BATTE.

To dance as the drum beats.

A man with two faces - treachery:

XCI.

CE YON COUTEAÛ PHÊMACIE.

He is an apothecary's knife (which is two edged). Of a man who cannot keep a secret, but must bring it up and out, they say:

XCII.

CE YON GENS QUI TINÎ L'ESTOMAC FROIT. He is a fellow with a cold stomach.

The proverbs of every nationality deserve to be studied scarcely less, perhaps, for what they do not, than for what they do contain. This is especially true of the proverbs of Hayti. The reader will look in vain through this collection for any thing corresponding in spirit with the popular maxims of Poor Richard, by which labor is dignified and sweetened, poverty disinfected of meanness and vulgarity, and frugality raised to the

dignity of a Christian grace. How can the slave be expected to find pleasure in toil the fruits of which go to another, or merit in frugality which neither increases nor diminishes his own store nor adds to the comforts of any in whom he is interested? Industry, toil, thrift, economy, whether of property or time, can no more be commended to a slave than the east wind to a rheumatic. It will be remarked also that there is not a proverb in this collection which reflects the slightest interest in the church or in the forms and ceremonial of the Catholic faith, in which the Haytians are trained. Some indication of the old Vaudou worship, which they or their ancestors brought with them from Africa, and which, though proscribed by the law and the church, is still cultivated more earnestly and more sincerely than any other, may be occasionally detected, but the Christian faith seems to have left no impression upon their forms of thought or expression.

Love, the fertile mother of proverbs in