all that i had seen in the streets of port-au-prince had prepared me for a splendid equipage , yet this surpassed my imaginings , being an exquisite glass carriage with footman , coachmen , and two armed guards on horseback , all of them black africans , in full livery with powdered wigs and satin clothes the journey into the hills was most pleasant , the sky overhead stacked with high white clouds and the hills themselves covered with beautiful woodland and fine colonial dwellings , many surrounded by flowers , and the banana trees which grow here in abundance i do not think you can imagine the lushness of this landscape , for the tenderest hot house blooms grow here in wild profusion all year round .