There is one subject necessary to mention, though it is a delicate one. Like the negroes, the mulattoes have often a decided odour, and this is particularly observable after dancing or any violent exercise which provokes perspiration, and then no amount of _eau de cologne_ or other scents will completely conceal the native perfume. The griffes, however, are decidedly the most subject to this inconvenience, and I met one well-dressed woman who positively tainted the air. With the exception of those who have been sent abroad, the Haïtiennes have had until lately but few chances of education, and are therefore little to be blamed for their ignorance. This want of instruction, however, has an ill effect, as the time necessarily hangs heavy on their hands, and they can neither give those first teachings to their children which are never forgotten, nor amuse themselves with literature or good music. It is the fashion in Hayti to vaunt the goodness and tenderness of their women in sickness; but what women are not good and tender under similar circumstances? I have received as much kindness in suffering from the Malays when wandering in Borneo as any one has perhaps ever received elsewhere. The fact is, that these qualities are inherent to women in general. Perhaps the greatest praise that can be given to the Haytian ladies is, that they do not appear inferior to others who reside in the tropics in the care of their children, or in the management of their households, or in their conduct towards their husbands. They have their ways in public and their ways in private, but their greatest defect is their want of cleanliness, which is observable in their houses, their children, and their own clothes. Without going so far as to say, with the naval officer, that “their customs are dirty, and manners they have none,” I may say that they have habits which are simply indescribable; and when not dressed to receive company they are veritable slatterns, sauntering about their houses all day in dirty dressing-gowns, and too often in unchanged linen. Their bedrooms have a close, stuffy smell, the consequence of the above referred to indescribable habits, which is highly displeasing to a stranger, and induced an American gentleman to remark that their rooms had the smell of a stable. They are also very careless in another way, and will go into their kitchens even in their silks, and aid in preparing sweetmeats; and the stains on their clothes from this cause reminded me of a young Malay lady cooking a greasy curry whilst dressed in a rich gold brocade, and upsetting half of it over her dress in an endeavour to conceal herself or her work.