A Glimpse of Hayti and Her Negro Chief [Signed C.M.B.]. (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1850. Excerpt: ... CITY OF ISABELLA. L9 CHAPTER II. REMOVING some leagues to the eastward, on feh the shore of a fine bay, Columbus founded a city, --the first built by Europeans in the New World, --to which he gave the name of his patroness, Isabella. The walls, markets, churches, and courts of justice, of slender enough materials we suspect, rose rapidly; but the low and moist climate, against which the lofty cavaliers disdained to take proper precautions, spread disease among them. There is an invincible attachment, in the people of almost all old nations, to their original habits. To this day the Spaniards stoop haughtily to the exactions of a tropical climate. You witness the ladies in the modern cities of the Antilles, having their heads covered at noon with only the embroidered veils of their native country; and--in the evening, when the cool atmosphere condenses the vapours arising from the earth's surface, and chills the whole frame--coursing over the extensive boulevards in open volantes, dressed in the light attire of the ball-room. The children of Castile and Arragon are not to be chased by ignoble fevers from their ancient manners. The maladies of the mind, however, mingled with those of the body in their progenitors of the city of Isabella. The majority had embarked in the enterprise with the most visionary expectations. Many expected a life of perpetual joy, and riches more than they could transport. What was their disappointment, when they found themselves doomed to labour to which they had never been habituated, and compelled to seek the barest comfort by intolerable exertion As the only means of dispersing the storm of discontent which he saw gathering, Columbus proposed an expedition into the interior of the country. Leaving his brother in command at Isabe...