It has often been remarked what curious names are affixed to negroes, as Cæsar, Lord Byron, Je-crois-en-Dieu. This doubtless arose from a rule which existed during the French occupation, that no slave could be given a name which was used by their masters, so that the latter were driven to very curious expedients to find appellations for their bondsmen; this rule applied in a lesser degree to the freedmen. _Blanc pas trompé nègue_ is the name given by the Haytians to common blue shirting. I may notice another peculiarity of the negresses. They object to carrying anything in their hands--they will invariably poise it on their heads. I have often seen them carrying a bottle thus, talking, laughing, running, without having the slightest fear of its falling. The negroes have very singular words of insult, and I remember seeing a man roused to fury by a little black servant of mine, who, after exhausting every offensive word in her vocabulary, suddenly said in Creole-negro, “Mangé chien.” The black fellow darted at her, and had she not made a precipitate retreat into the house, she would have felt his club on her shoulders. It is an offensive custom among people of all classes in Hayti to repeat, as a sort of ejaculatory oath, a rather dirty Creole word. Men educated in a former generation cannot get rid of the habit, and many of the lower orders appear to use it at the close of every sentence. When Soulouque was Emperor he often consulted our Acting Consul-General, the present Sir Charles Wyke, now our Minister in Lisbon, as to the usages of the Courts of St. James’s and Hanover, and it is said that our agent gave him a hint that habitual swearing was certainly contrary to courtly usages. Soulouque took this hint in good part, and thought that he would try his hand on an old general notorious for this habit. So the Emperor watched his opportunity, and the first time his victim swore, he called him up and said, “General, I have decided that no one who comes to court can be permitted to use that offensive word with which you interlard your conversation.” The general looked surprised, and answered, “Emperor, f----, of course I will obey, f----, your commands, f----.” “There, you see,” replied his “Altesse,” “you have used the forbidden word three times.” The poor general now completely lost his head, and answered, “F----, Emperor, f----, if, f----, I am not allowed, f----, to use the word f----, I will cease, f----, from coming to court, f----.” The Emperor could not but laugh, and troubled the general no more, for the habit was too engrained. I should have treated this story as an exaggeration had not I myself heard an old officer equally profuse in his ejaculations.