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Letters of Henry S. Whitehead, 1942

Page 6

Fredericksted, St. Croix, Virgin Islands
November 18, 1925

Dear Mr. Wright: ---

It occurs to me that you might care to have some information about Hayti and Santo Domingo, since these countries appear from time to time in the magazine. Such (not easily available from the usual sources of such information) might be of value when you have to examine manuscripts, which are very likely to be faulty, even if they come from ex-Marines, etc., who have served there.

I. There are NOT one Papaloi and one Mamaloi in Hayti. There are many -- a pair in each community. They are held in UNIVERSAL dread by native Haytians, irrespective of class, education, etc. This is usually got wrong by writers.

II. The present-day sentiment of Hayti is not against Whites, as such; only against ANYONE (individual, group, or nation) whom) they may suspect of some desire for future subjugation of the republic. This is because Haytians have the spectre of slavery constantly before their mind's-eye.

III. White people are safe in every part of Hayti. They were as safe as any other kind of people, even before the American Occupation.

IV. Guillaume Sam was NOT destroyed in "The Palace". (A very common error of fiction-writers.) He was in a temporary "palace", a wooden house, at the time he ordered the summary execution of a number of his political opponents whom he had arrested. This was because the palace itself was out of repair because recently blown up! Sam took refuge in the French Consulate, for which he had ample precedent. He had been wounded, and his wounds dressed with idoform. The people, in search of him, discovered him in a room against the door of which a heavy bed had been pushed. They violated the sanctuary of a foreign consular building for the first time in the history of the republic, and, breaking in after removing the bed, threw Sam out of the window of the consulate (not the palace, as usually recounted) to the rest of the mob below. These cut and tore his body into indistinguishable fragments. It is believed that sixty-six persons had been shot by his orders in the holocaust which provoked the people to his destruction.

V. Obeah and Voodoo should be carefully distinguished. Obeah is "White" magic; Voodoo "Black. "Obi" (or some similar, local rendition of the first word,) is the current term for BOTH throughout the Islands. This has deluded many writers into supposing that the term PROPERLY covers all kinds of West Indian and even African magic. Such is, emphatically, not the case. Obeah is concerned with safeguarding people from natural and supernatural bad influences. Voodoo invokes such influences. To the former belong: A. Herbal medicaments. B. Fortune-telling. C. "Song-Making". To the latter belong Worship of the Snake; "Le Chevre sans Cornes" (The Goat Without Horns) i.e. child-sacrifice; and manifestations in practice, as the "Snake-Cut" of the Guiana hinterlands, with which an article in the September HARPER'S dealt very well. This illustrates well the protective character of true Obeah. 

VI. Haytien law does not discriminate against Whites, except in the matter of ownership of real property.

VII. In Hayti it is a matter of pride to be a negro. On Santo Domingo, on the same island, the reverse is the case. This is of

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Fredericksted, St. Croix, Virgin Islands November 18, 1925 Dear Mr. Wright: --- It occurs to me that you might care to have some information about Hayti and Santo Domingo, since these countries appear from time to time in the magazine. Such (not easily available from the usual sources of such information) might be of value when you have to examine manuscripts, which are very likely to be faulty, even if they come from ex-Marines, etc., who have served there. I. There are NOT one Papaloi and one Mamaloi in Hayti. There are many -- a pair in each community. They are held in UNIVERSAL dread by native Haytians, irrespective of class, education, etc. This is usually got wrong by writers. II. The present-day sentiment of Hayti is not against Whites, as such; only against ANYONE (individual, group, or nation) whom) they may suspect of some desire for future subjugation of the republic. This is because Haytians have the spectre of slavery constantly before their mind's-eye. III. White people are safe in every part of Hayti. They were as safe as any other kind of people, even before the American Occupation. IV. Guillaume Sam was NOT destroyed in "The Palace". (A very common error of fiction-writers.) He was in a temporary "palace", a wooden house, at the time he ordered the summary execution of a number of his political opponents whom he had arrested. This was because the palace itself was out of repair because recently blown up! Sam took refuge in the French Consulate, for which he had ample precedent. He had been wounded, and his wounds dressed with idoform. The people, in search of him, discovered him in a room against the door of which a heavy bed had been pushed. They violated the sanctuary of a foreign consular building for the first time in the history of the republic, and, breaking in after removing the bed, threw Sam out of the window of the consulate (not the palace, as usually recounted) to the rest of the mob below. These cut and tore his body into indistinguishable fragments. It is believed that sixty-six persons had been shot by his orders in the holocaust which provoked the people to his destruction. V. Obeah and Voodoo should be carefully distinguished. Obeah is "White" magic; Voodoo "Black. "Obi" (or some similar, local rendition of the first word,) is the current term for BOTH throughout the Islands. This has deluded many writers into supposing that the term PROPERLY covers all kinds of West Indian and even African magic. Such is, emphatically, not the case. Obeah is concerned with safeguarding people from natural and supernatural bad influences. Voodoo invokes such influences. To the former belong: A. Herbal medicaments. B. Fortune-telling. C. "Song-Making". To the latter belong Worship of the Snake; "Le Chevre sans Cornes" (The Goat Without Horns) i.e. child-sacrifice; and manifestations in practice, as the "Snake-Cut" of the Guiana hinterlands, with which an article in the September HARPER'S dealt very well. This illustrates well the protective character of true Obeah. VI. Haytien law does not discriminate against Whites, except in the matter of ownership of real property. VII. In Hayti it is a matter of pride to be a negro. On Santo Domingo, on the same island, the reverse is the case. This is of