even preserve silence nor stand on his legs, like a man of sense."

XLII.

It is distressing to think how many thousand poor creatures must have lain down at night with misery and awakened to despair before the mint of slavery could have coined the three proverbs which follow:

BON BLANC MOURRI, MAUVAIS RÊTE.'
The good white dies, the bad remains.

XLIII.

SOLEIL COUCHÉ, MALHEUR PAS JAMIN COUCHÉ. The sun sets, misfortunes never.

But there is no situation so desperate that has not its alleviations, and even the poor slave found comfort in reflecting that —

1 This was a local saying among the negroes of Cape François in the time of the French, and was a bit of raillery on their part. St. Mery, vol. I, p. 342, says: "For a long time there has been a cracked bell here, the sepulchral sound of which is quite in harmony with the interments which it announces. The negroes pretend that it accords with and makes the base of the other church bell; there being a pair of them, and they say 'bon blanc' " etc. The single bell at the church of Cape Haytian in 1845-6, was still called "Bon Blanc."— Hunt.

XLIV.

MÊME BATON QUI BATTE CHIEN NOIR LA PÈ

BATTE CHIEN BLANC LA.

The same stick that beats the black dog may beat the white

one.

Disappointment, humiliation, sorrow, sickness, and death visit the palace of the rich white as well as the cabin of the poor black.

The French say, The devil is not always at the door of the poor man.1 And again, The sun rises here, he sets there.

In a more Christian spirit, the Spaniards say, God has made no one to abandon him; and the Russians, What God has wet, He will dry.

In the same sense, the mother of Baron Stockmar, one of the friends and counsellors of Queen Victoria and her late husband, used to say, "Heaven takes care that the cow's tail shall not grow too long.”

Le diable n'est pas toujours à la porte du pauvre homme.

XLV.

BATTRE UN NÈGRE, C'EST LE NOURRIR; BATTRE UN INDIEN, CEST LE TUER.1

To beat the negro is to feed him, to beat an Indian is to kill him.

XLVI.

CHIEN GAGNÉ QUATRE PIEDS MAIS LI PAS CAPABLE DANS QUATRE CHEMINS.

The dog has four feet, but he does not walk with them in four roads.

In these dissuasives from spreading our butter over too much bread, we find the principle of division of labor, the discovery of which is one of Adam Smith's titles to fame, and a forecasting of specialization, which is the distinguishing characteristic

1 This proverb is not of African origin nor is it current in Hayti; the present race knowing nothing of Indians who had disappeared long before their advent. The people of Martinique, which the French settled before they settled Hayti, had Indian as well as negro slaves, and this proverb originated among the white people there and applies to the differing dispositions of the two kinds of slaves. Du Tertre (Histoire des Antilles vol. II, p. 490), gives it thus: Regarder un Sauvage de travers, c'est le attre; le battre c'est le tuer; battre un négre c'est le nourrir."- Hunt.

of the march of modern science. Because we have faculties which qualify us for usefulness in many callings, we are not therefore to attempt to master all callings, but as the dog uses his four legs to walk in a single path, so we are advised to use all our faculties to attain the greatest proficiency in whatever vocation we may reasonably hope for the greatest success. Concentration is the secret of success. All might have wealth if they would give as much thought to acquiring it as they do to spending it.'

XLVII.

MISERE FAIT MACAQUE MANGER PIMENTO.2 Hunger will make a monkey eat pepper.

Necessity has no law, or, as the Haytians also say:

This slave proverb in Hayti was a simple protest against being required to do too much. The version as I remember it runs thus: "Chien dit li gagné quatre pieds, mais li pas capable couri quatre chemins à la fois.” Schoelcher gives the Martinique version as Chien gagné quattre pates, mais le pas capable prend quatre chemins" Hunt.

There is a tradition that one of the four small quad

XLVIII.

BONDIN PAS TINI ZOREILLES.

The belly has no ears.

That is, there is no reasoning with starvation. Jejunus venter non audet libenter, or, as Seneca says, Venter precepta non audit.1

The ancients also had a proverb analogous to this, but applicable to another order of ideas;

Venter ingenii largitor.

The belly (that is, hunger) develops talents. There is a very old French Provençal proverb to the effect that He who needs fire will seek it with his fingers.

rupeds of Hayti was a monkey, but it became extinct long before the arrival of the negro and all the monkey negro proverbs originated elsewhere than in Hayti.— Hunt.