him in rents 90,000 francs, which at present rates in American money would be equivalent to $18,000. In giving his certificate of residence at Nantes in that eventful year, Captain Audubon publicly declared that he possessed a dwelling, a sugar refinery, and warehouses or stores at both Les Cayes and Saint Louis. Moreover, his West Indian estate was not completely settled until 1820, two years after his death. [Illustration: LES CAYES, HAITI: THE WHARF AND POST OFFICE; AT THE LEFT IS SEEN A PILE OF LOGWOOD AWAITING SHIPMENT.] [Illustration: LES CAYES, HAITI: THE MARKET AND CHURCH OF SACRÉ CŒUR. After photographs made at Les Cayes in June, 1917, and obtained through the kindness of Mr. Ferdinand Lathrop Mayer, Secretary of Legation, Port-au-Prince, Haiti.] Slaves were regarded in Santo Domingo as an indispensable commodity, as they had been in Virginia and the Carolinas for a century past, and were still to be for three-quarters of a century to come; the "friends of the blacks" as the abolitionists were called, were considered by most planters as the enemies of the whites. Degradation and cruelty, ever attendant upon a system that drew its chief support from the self-interest of a class, were all too common in the island, yet there were many who earnestly strove to soften the lot of their slaves. Though a born fighter, Jean Audubon was humane, and the evidence, so far as it goes, shows that his own slaves were treated with kindness and consideration. This period in Santo Domingo, particularly from the year 1785 to 1789, not only is important for our story, but happened to mark a crisis in French sovereignty in America. It will be necessary, therefore, to follow certain events in a history which can serve only as a warning to mankind, for it contains little to satisfy the understanding and nothing to excite the fancy or gladden the heart. It is to be noticed first, however, that according to the accepted accounts, John James Audubon was born of a Spanish creole mother, in Louisiana, in 1780. Shortly after his birth, his mother is said to have gone to Santo Domingo, where she perished in a local uprising of the blacks, when Jean Audubon's plantations and property were totally destroyed; Jean managed to escape with only his two children, a few faithful slaves, and a part of his money and valuables, to New Orleans, whence he subsequently went to France. Investigation of existing records has proved that these statements are not in accord with the facts, but before entering into further personal details it will be well to examine those conditions on the island of Santo Domingo which led many into easy fortune only to involve them later in a ruin as complete and irretrievable as it was unforeseen and unnecessary.