I have not noticed any particular ceremonies at the birth of children, nor at marriages. In the latter some are striving to imitate the upper classes, and marry in church, but the mass of the people are still not regularly married. I have noticed, however, their great fondness for a display of jewellery on these occasions, and if they do not possess enough themselves, they borrow among their friends, and every one who lends is sure to attend the wedding, as much to keep an eye on their cherished property as to join in the amusements inherent to these occasions. Though I have attended many funerals of the upper classes, I have had no occasion to be present at one of the peasantry, though I have seen the body being carried at night from the town to the house of the deceased in the hills. One evening, at about ten, we heard a roar of voices in the distance; presently we saw torches flashing in the road, and soon after a crowd, perhaps of a hundred people, swept by at a running pace, all screaming, yelling, or shrieking at the top of their voices. Those who led this awful din were hired mourners, who pass the night near the corpse, making it hideous with their professional lamentations. There are regular wakes, at which eating and drinking are permitted, and drunkenness not prohibited. All classes in Hayti, like their brethren on the Guinea coast, love pompous funerals, and it is quite a passion among the female portion of the community to attend them, as it is only at funerals and at church that the ladies can see and be seen in their most careful toilettes. The most curious wake I ever saw was at Santo Domingo city. I was walking about after dark, when my attention was drawn to a house where music and dancing were going on. I approached, and looking through a window, saw a most singular sight. In a high chair was placed in a sitting position the corpse of a child, dressed up in its very best clothes, as if a spectator of the scene. The music was playing briskly, and a regular ball appeared to be going on, in which the mother of the child took the principal part. I inquired of my companion what this meant, and he said that the people explained it thus:--The priests had taught them not to weep, but rather rejoice, at the death of a child, as it passed directly to heaven. They took this teaching literally, and danced and made merry. “Whom the gods love, die young.” The negroes, as a rule, live to a good old age, and bear their age well; they also keep their magnificent white teeth to the last, which they ascribe to diligent cleanliness and the crushing of the sugar-cane under their strong grinders: their hair also preserves its colour much later than that of the white. In fact, it is difficult to guess the age of a negro.