The circulating medium in the early days of Haytian independence consisted of foreign gold and silver coins, and then some fabricated in the country, of inferior quality and appearance, of both silver and copper. In 1826, President Boyer beginning to feel the pressure of his engagements with France, issued paper notes of different values. Being irredeemable, they soon fell to a heavy discount, 3½ to 1. The succeeding Governments, as I have noticed, continued the same course, until, on the accession of Soulouque to power, the exchange was about 4½ to 1. The unchecked emissions after he ascended the imperial throne gradually lessened the value of the paper, until, in 1858, it was 18 to 1. Some order having been put into the finances by General Dupuy, the exchange in 1863 was more favourable, being 12½ to 1; the troubles which succeeded in 1865 sent it to 17 to 1; and with the revolutionary Government of Salnave and the civil war that followed it went down like the assignats during the French Revolution,--in 1857, 30 to 1; in 1859, 3000 to 1. The issues of Salnave’s Government were so discredited that they were at one time exchanged at 6500 paper dollars for one of silver. Until lately the American dollar and its fractions, with a plentiful bronze currency, sufficed for all wants. Now, however, a special Haytian dollar is being coined, with the object apparently of preventing its export--a very futile expedient, as experience proves. A sort of National Bank, managed principally by Frenchmen, was established a few years since, but its operations do not as yet appear to have had much influence on the country. As the bank, however, has some control over the collection of duties, it may introduce a more honest perception of these imports; but I do not think the managers will find that their lines have fallen in pleasant places. THE END. PRINTED BY BALLANTYNE, HANSON AND CO. EDINBURGH AND LONDON. FOOTNOTES: [1] Ever since the reign of Soulouque, professional authors have been paid by the Haytian Government to spread rose-tinted accounts of the civilisation and progress of Hayti. But twenty-four hours in any town of that republic would satisfy the most sceptical that these semi-official accounts are unworthy of belief. [2] Mackenzie states that he noticed the thermometer marking 99° every day for considerable periods. [3] It is a well-known fact that the noise of the approach of an earthquake is generally heard; but in Port-au-Prince there is a curious phenomenon which I have never known explained. A subterranean noise is frequently heard approaching from the plains, and appears to pass under the town without any movement of the earth being perceptible. The Haytians call it “le gouffre,” or “le bruit du gouffre,” and many fancy the whole of that portion of the island to be undermined, and predict a fearful fate for the capital.