being taken up with sandbanks, gravel beds, marshy tracts and stagnant bayous; and so frequently and erratically does the river change its channels, and to such sudden rises is it subject, that the local authorities are obliged to keep guides stationed on its banks almost continuously, in order to direct travelers across.
The rapids and cascades of Dominican streams are pregnant with possibilities, but up to the present time they have remained in their pristine condition, nor is their energy utilized to drive a single piece of machinery. The largest and most beautiful waterfall of the island is doubtless that of the Jimenoa River, in the mountains some ten miles south of the city of La Vega, where the Jimenoa rushes over a precipice one hundred feet in height, producing clouds of spray and a roar that can sometimes be perceived as far as Jarabacoa, six miles away. Another beautiful fall is that of the Dajabon River, on the Haitian frontier, 30 feet in height, and there are notable cascades also on the Comate River, near Bayaguana, on the great plains; on the Nigua and Higuero Rivers, not many miles from Santo Domingo City; on the Inova River, near the town of San José de las Matas; and on the Guaranas River, on the Haitian frontier in the commune of Neiba.
The only lakes of any size are two which lie in the Neiba Valley, the larger one, Lake Enriquillo, being comprised entirely within Dominican territory, while of the smaller one, variously called Etang Saumatre, or Lake Azuei, or Laguna del Fondo, through which the frontier line passes, less than one-fourth is under Dominican jurisdiction. They are both very picturesque, and with the greenish color of their water and their arid mountain surroundings recall portions of Lake Titicaca in Bolivia. In stormy weather they become as rough as the ocean. Lake Enriquillo derives its name from the last Indian cacique of the Island, the romantic chieftain Enriquillo, who after fiercely resisting the Spaniards finally in 1533 concluded an honorable peace with them on the island of Cabras in the center of this lake. The lake is over 70 miles in circumference, having a length of about 33 miles and a width ranging from 3 to 9 miles, Cabras Island, 6 miles long by one in width, is the home of herds of goats. Lake Azuei is but 15 miles in length with a width of from 2 to 7 miles.
Though the two lakes are scarcely five miles apart, Lake Enriquillo is 102 feet below and Lake Azuei 56 feet above sea-level. Both lakes receive the waters of several small fresh water creeks, yet they apparently have no outlet and their water is salt, that of Lake Azuei only slightly, but that of Lake Enriquillo more so than the sea. On Cabras Island, however, there is a fresh water spring, and three lagoons to the east and south of Lake Enriquillo also contain fresh water. Lake Azuei often shows the paradox of going down during the rainy season and rising during the dry season; the phenomenon is attributed to the presence of springs at the bottom of the lake, which are unusually copious at the end of the rainy season. Both lakes have at least one variety of ocean fish, though the nearest point of the seacoast is some twenty miles distant; turtles abound in both and there are many alligators in Lake Enriquillo and a few in Lake Azuei.
The climate of Santo Domingo is that of the torrid zone and is characterized by heat and humidity. Yet the heat rarely becomes as intense as it sometimes does in the United States in summer and the nights are always cool and pleasant. The mean annual temperature of Santo Domingo City is between 77° and 78° Fahrenheit, and the variation between the mean temperature of the hottest and coolest month is hardly more than 6°. The highest temperature recorded in Santo Domingo City in a period of seven years was 95°. The average highest temperature in July and August is between 91° and 92°. In the mountainous regions of the interior there is a noticeable difference in temperature; it is necessary to sleep under a blanket every night of the year and the temperature sometimes falls below the freezing point. The pleasantest months of the year are from December to February.
The heat of the climate is tempered and rendered bearable by cooling breezes which are seldom absent. During the day the prevailing breeze is from the east, but shortly after sunset a breeze sets in from the interior, blowing out to the ocean, and continues until after sunrise.
The heavy rains also tend to cool the atmosphere. The island is so cut up by mountain ranges running in different directions that there is no regular rainy season for the whole country. In the south, the west and the interior, the rainy season is generally reckoned as lasting from April to November, while in the eastern section the rainy season is from May to December. These seasons are not absolute, for at times there are heavy rains during what should be the dry season, while occasionally there are many days of drouth during the wet months. The rains are rarely long-continued drizzles, but instead for several hours the floodgates of heaven are opened wide, after which the sky clears and remains serene until the following day. The amount of rainfall varies in different parts of the country, being lightest in the arid districts of Monte Cristi, Azua and Barahona.
The United States Weather Bureau maintained a station at Santo Domingo City for a number of years and from the observations made the following data are compiled:
OBSERVATIONS FOR SANTO DOMINGO CITY
Highest Lowest Mean Average Mean temperature temperature relative Average number temperature recorded recorded humidity rainfall of days °F °F °F per cl. inches with rain
January 74 86 61 85 2.01 11 February 74 88 60 82 .96 8 March 75 87 59 79 2.15 9 April 76 91 59 80 6.86 14 May 78 88 67 83 6.29 13 June 78 90 67 86 7.42 18 July 79 92 67 86 8.34 18 August 80 95 68 84 6.77 17 September 79 93 69 85 7.63 16 October 79 92 67 86 9.63 15 November 78 91 64 85 2.76 11 December 76 89 61 87 2.09 11 —————————————————————— Annual 77 95 59 84 62.91 161
Santo Domingo has at intervals felt the violence of the destructive hurricanes which occasionally ravage the West Indies. They often combine the features of a tornado and a cloudburst, and while the furious whirlwind wrecks houses, uproots trees and strips forests bare of leaves, the accompanying severe rains swell the streams to abnormal height and cause extensive inundations. The hurricane season is reckoned as beginning in July and ending in October and when during this period a sudden fall of the barometer announces the proximity of unusual atmospheric disturbances all shipping keeps to the harbors and the dwellers on shore take measures to guard against the devastating rage of the wind.
The first West Indian hurricane of which we have any record was that of 1502 which destroyed the first city of Santo Domingo and sank a Spanish fleet. More recent storms felt in Santo Domingo were those of 1834, 1865, 1876 and 1883. That of September 6, 1883, desolated the southwestern provinces of the Republic, and the rise of the Ozama River swept away the bridge connecting the capital with the opposite shore. The hurricane of 1899 which laid waste the nearby island of Porto Rico was scarcely felt in Santo Domingo. The latest unusually heavy storm was that which swept over the Republic during the first week of November, 1909, and caused much damage, especially in the Cibao. A sudden storm in the afternoon of August 29, 1916, accompanied by a kind of tidal wave, surprised the American 14,500 ton armored cruiser “Memphis” at anchor in the roadstead of Santo Domingo City and wrecked it against the rocky shore.
With regard to health conditions, the Dominican Republic has been maligned because of the fevers that decimated the English and French armies in the Haitian wars of a century ago. It must be remembered, however, that the French part of the island being shut out from the eastern breezes by high mountain ranges is hotter than the Spanish part, and that the European troops, improperly clad and fed, underwent great hardships and were ignorant of sanitary precautions. Among travelers it is the concensus of opinion that climatic conditions in the Dominican Republic are as favorable as in any other tropical country. Far from presenting dangers to health there are few districts in the Republic which with proper hotel accommodations would not offer delightful refuge to invalids seeking to escape the rigors of the northern winter. The salubrity of the climate is reflected in the sturdy character of the peasantry, and exemplified by numerous cases of unusual longevity. In the towns the death-rate is somewhat higher than in the country regions; but the very fact that in spite of uncleaned streets, reeking garbage heaps, and defiance of sanitary precepts by the majority of the inhabitants, there has been so comparatively little sickness, bears strong witness to the healthfulness of the country. By a law of 1912 boards of health were established, and under American impulse more attention is now being given to sanitation.
As no census of the Republic has ever been taken and data relative to births and deaths have not been collected regularly, it is not possible to compile statistics as to the death rate in the various provinces. The data so far available seem to indicate that the healthiest province is Puerto Plata, followed by Santiago, Azua and Monte Cristi, after which come Santo Domingo, La Vega, Espaillat, Pacificador, Samana and Barahona. The mortality rate is highest in the province of Macoris where the annual number of deaths is reported to average about thirty per thousand.
The most frequent endemic diseases are malaria which is to be feared near marshes and stagnant waters, pulmonary consumption, which, however, is not more common than in the United States, and diseases of the digestive organs. Yellow fever is unknown and the sporadic cases which have occurred were due to the importation of the disease from other countries. The only epidemic in recent years occurred in Puerto Plata in 1901 when ten deaths were recorded.
The hookworm disease is very prevalent, but its ravages are not so apparent as in certain other tropical countries. Venereal diseases are exceedingly common. Evidences of the presence of leprosy and elephantiasis are occasionally seen. The measures taken for the segregation of lepers are far from thorough; the lepers’ asylum of Santo Domingo City is situated inside the city walls and is surrounded by habitations of the poor. Cases of typhoid fever are sometimes registered during the hot spell, from July to October, but the victims are usually foreigners who have been careless of climatic requirements. The foreigner who will observe temperance and prudence in all things, who will be careful of what he eats and drinks, who will avoid exposure to rain showers, or to drafts when in perspiration, will easily become acclimated. Realizing that many tropical disorders originate in a foul stomach, the natives upon the slightest provocation have recourse to a purgative, and the custom is one which the stranger should not hesitate to adopt.
CHAPTER IX
GEOLOGY AND MINERALS
Rock formation.–Mineral
deposits.–Gold.–Copper.–Iron.-Coal.–Silver.–Salt–Building stone.–Petroleum.–Mineral springs.–Earthquakes.
The geological formation and the mineral wealth of the Dominican Republic have never been thoroughly studied, in part because of the physical difficulties and in part as a result of the civil dissensions. The government has never had money to spare for such objects, and private investigators have suffered much hardship and lost many days in opening paths through tangled underbrush, and in crossing rugged mountain ranges in uninhabited regions. The physical obstacles and the necessarily superficial examination consequent thereon may explain the contradictions of detail in different reports. About the middle of the nineteenth century several studies were published, and three scientists who accompanied the American Commission of Inquiry in the year 1871 made a report on geological conditions.
From such studies as have been published it appears that the rock formations of Santo Domingo correspond to the secondary, the lower and middle tertiary and the quaternary epoch. The most ancient part of the island is the central mountain range, also a series of protuberances in the Samana peninsula, the nucleus of the Baboruco mountains and a single point in the northern coast range near Puerto Plata. The tertiary lands are those forming the entire northern part of the island from the central range to the sea, portions of the Samana peninsula between the older rocks, a large area to the southwest of the Zamba hills, smaller tracts between the Jaina and Nizao rivers, and the region between the salt lakes on the Haitian frontier and between Barahona and Neiba. The modern lands are the coast plains and the small terraces on the south of the central range and on the south of the Baboruco mountains, the Maguana, Azua and Neiba valleys, small areas on the north coast at the foot of the mountains, and the marshes and Yuna River delta at the head of Samana Bay.
In the central mountain range is found a nucleus of eruptive rocks which have raised and twisted sedimentary strata, covering them and forcing them aside. This nucleus is not a regular feature of the whole length of the chain, but is an irregular mass beginning about at the middle, in the region of the Jaina River, and extending in a series of parallel lines obliquely across the backbone of the range to the border of the Republic and on into Haiti. Among these rocks and bent and broken by them are the slates, conglomerates and calcareous rocks which are found in the mountains and over the whole surface of the island. The character of the central range and the inclination of the strata of cretaceous rocks make it probable that the island emerged from the sea in the eocene period, its area being then confined to the extent of the central mountain chain, with a few small islands to the south, one or more islets to the northeast, comprising the older peaks of the Samana range, and a small archipelago to the southeast, where the hills of Seibo now are. During the miocene period these islands became surrounded with coral reefs, the vestiges of which remain in strips of calcareous rock found in the same position in which they were deposited. Towards the end of the tertiary period, after a time of quiet, there was a new rise of the land. While the hills to the south of Samana Bay and the bed of the Cibao Valley from Samana Bay to Monte Cristi rose slowly, there was an upheaval further to the north, and the Monte Cristi Range was formed. Before this period it had been a bar at sea-level, covered with a clayey sediment of chalk. At a later geological period the great plains to the north and east of Santo Domingo City were formed.
Traces of valuable minerals are so general in the Republic that it is said there is hardly a commune where a more or less abundant mineral deposit is not found. The exceptions are the lands of recent coralline formation, such as the municipality of San Pedro de Macoris and the southern portion of the commune of Higuey.
The magnet which attracted the Spaniards at the time of the conquest was the island’s mineral wealth, especially the gold deposits. It is a historical fact that large quantities of gold in dust and nuggets were collected during the first years of Spanish colonization. According to the Spanish writers, from 1502 to 1530 placer gold was produced to the value of from $200,000 to $1,000,000 per annum. The fleet which set out in 1502 and was wrecked by a hurricane before leaving the coast waters of Santo Domingo was laden with gold mined in the island. A tribute of a small amount of gold each year was imposed on half the Indians of the country. Much of the gold came from the mountains behind Santiago and La Vega, from the gold-bearing sands of the Jaina River, around Buenaventura, and from the vicinity of Cotui, then called “Las Minas.” Ancient pits are still to be found in all these places. At La Vega a mint was established for coining gold and silver. A nugget of extraordinary size was found by an Indian woman in a brook near the Jaina River; her Spanish masters in their exultation had a roast suckling pig served on it, boasting that never had the king of Spain dined from so valuable a table. The Indian received no part of the gold: “she was lucky if they gave her a piece of the pig,” remarks Father Las Casas. This nugget was purchased by Bobadilla to send to Spain, and went down with the 1502 treasure fleet.
The gold deposits found by the Spaniards were the surface accumulations of centuries. When these were exhausted and the supply of cheap labor fell off owing to the dying out of the Indians, the mineral production waned. In 1502 labor difficulties caused a temporary cessation in mining. In 1511 many mines were definitely closed because of the scarcity of laborers and because the cultivation of sugar-cane offered surer profits. Then came the discovery of mines of fabulous wealth in Mexico and Peru, and the interest they aroused, as well as the lack of labor in Santo Domingo, caused the mines of the island to be completely neglected. Finally, in 1543, mining work ceased and by a royal decree all mines were ordered closed. Prospecting and desultory mining, especially placer mining, have been kept up, however, until the present day.
The prospecting has generally been confined to the more accessible regions and nothing is known of the mountain valleys in the interior. The mineral deposits discovered have been of sufficient richness to cause the formation of mining companies for their development or further investigation. I do not, however, know of a single case where prospectors or mining companies have ever made expenses. The cause of failure has most frequently been the lack of transportation facilities in the island, on account of which the cost of carrying the ore to a place where it might be reduced became prohibitive. Sometimes enterprises failed because the deposit turned out to be too small, sometimes because the ore did not keep up to the standard, and not infrequently mining companies fell by the wayside because of bad management. Enough evidence of mineral wealth has been found to justify the belief that workable deposits do exist, and to warrant careful further investigation, especially as the means of communication are extended.
The metals most frequently found are gold, copper and iron. Veins of auriferous quartz are found throughout the central chain, the richest lodes being encountered in metamorphic rocks near crystalline formations. The metal is most abundant in placers formed in the river beds. Such placers are common in the Jaina River and its tributaries in the province of Santo Domingo; in Bonao creek in Seibo province; and in the Verde River, the streams of Sabaneta and a number of other streams of the Cibao. On the upper Jaina and on the Verde River there are still persons who make their living by washing gold from the river sands. Hydraulic mining was attempted in Santiago province, but after the construction of an expensive canal the project was abandoned. Under the liberal mining law mining privileges have in recent years been granted for gold mines reported at numerous places in the communes of San Jose de las Matas, San Cristobal, Janico, San Juan de la Maguana, Sabaneta and others. Prof. William P. Black, one of the scientists accompanying the United States Commission of Inquiry in 1871, reported:
“There is a very considerable extent of gold-bearing country in the interior and gold is washed from the rivers at various points. It is found along the Jaina, upon the Verde, and upon the Yaque and its tributaries, and doubtless upon the large rivers of the interior. Some portions of the gold fields were worked anciently by the Spaniards and Indians. There are doubtless many gold deposits, not only along the bed of rivers, but on the hills, which have never been worked, and there probably is considerable gold remaining among the old workings. The appearance of the soil and rocks is such as to justify the labor and expense of carefully prospecting the gold region.”
Copper is next to gold in frequency of occurrence. Some of the best deposits have been found in the commune of San Cristobal, province of Santo Domingo. A company working lodes at Mount Mateo on the Nigua River, encountered ore yielding as high as 33 per cent of copper. On the Jaina River near the ruins of Buenaventura, I have seen promising ledges of copper ore. Copper carbonates predominated, the green ore known as malachite and the beautiful blue ore azurite were quite common, and white quartz, which on being broken showed little specks of native copper, was also to be found. The asperity of the region, the absence of roads and the uncertainty as to the extent of these deposits caused the attempts at working them to be but feeble until recently, when extensive works of development were undertaken in the vicinity. Copper veins have also been reported in the mountains of the commune of Bani, province of Santo Domingo; in the communes of Cotui and Bonao, province of La Vega; in the canton of Moncion, province of Monte Cristi; in the commune of San Juan de la Maguana, province of Azua, and at a number of other places.
Iron is reported in large quantities in various parts of the country. The largest deposit so far known is on the banks of the Maimon River in the municipality of Cotui, being a bed of black magnetic oxide of iron, nine miles long. It is said to be excellent in quality and inexhaustible in quantity. The difficulties of transportation in this case could be obviated by the canalization of the river to its confluence with the Yuna River, so as to make it navigable for small boats. Iron ore has been discovered on the slope of Mt. Isabel de Torres behind the city of Puerto Plata, limonite deposits at various places in Santo Domingo province, and a rich black iron oxide on the upper Ozama River. A layer of iron pyrites extending from Los Llanos all the way to Sabana la Mar was believed by its discoverers to be a gold mine. The central ridge of Santo Domingo is part of the same mountain chain which extends through Santiago province in Cuba where enormous quantities of iron are produced, and it is not improbable that some of the Dominican mines will be found to pay.
Coal mines found in the Samana peninsula produced a kind of lignite which proved of little commercial value and gave rise to the belief that the Republic’s coal deposits had not emerged from the formative period. Later investigations show that while there is considerable undeveloped lignite, coal suitable for fuel is not wanting. Small coal deposits have been discovered in the Cibao Valley, between the central and the northern mountain chain, in the province of Pacificador and that of Santiago. Anthracite coal found at Tamboril, near the city of Santiago, was used to run a small motor exhibited at an industrial fair in Santiago in 1903. In the commune of Altamira, province of Puerto Plata, lignite and anthracite beds have been discovered, and traces of anthracite have also been found in San Cristobal commune, and in the petroleum region of Azua. In the central mountain chain a valuable coal deposit has been found on the Haitian side and similar beds may be expected in Santo Domingo.
Silver has been discovered at Tanci, near Yásica, in the commune of Puerto Plata. The old chronicles refer to silver mines at Jarabacoa and Cotui in La Vega province, also to others near Santiago, near Higuey and on the Jaina River. Platinum occurs at Jarabacoa, traces of quicksilver have been found near Santiago, Banica and San Cristobal, and tin in Seibo and Higuey.
Rock salt is found near Neiba in inexhaustible quantities, there being several hills of native salt covered with a thin layer of soil. The fact that the waters of Lake Enriquillo are saltier than the sea is attributed by some to a deposit of this kind. The salt is so pure that it does not attract moisture and deliquesce. The isolation of the district has been an obstacle to the development of the salt mines, but there is a project for the building of a railroad to the port of Barahona. Part of the salt used in the island comes from salt ponds near Azua, where salt is obtained from sea water by solar evaporation.
On a hill at the confluence of the Jimenoa and the Yaque del Norte an alum deposit reaches the surface and the natives gather alum which they sell in Santiago City. A deposit of amber having been reported in the Cibao a company was formed several years ago for its development, but as the company did nothing, so far as known, except issue stock, and no part of the untold millions which were affirmed to be within easy reach has materialized, the deposit is not regarded as possessing commercial value.
For building purposes there is a large variety of limestone and lime. The coral rock is easy to quarry and soft enough to shape with the axe, but exposure to the air makes it hard as granite, as is proven by the old buildings and city walls of Santo Domingo City, which have stood for centuries. In the central range, on the Samana peninsula and near Puerto Plata, granite, syenite and other building stones are found, but owing to the absence of transportation facilities they are not utilized. In the Bani region a sandstone occurs from which grindstones are made. Clay of a fine grade, proper for the manufacture of bricks and tiles, is abundant. Clays of various colors, found in the interior of the island, are suitable for the manufacture of paints. Gypsum is found, especially in Azua province, and the presence of kaolin and feldspar in the province of Santo Domingo, south of the central range, offers a possibility of porcelain manufacture.
Petroleum has been found in large quantities in the vicinity of Azua. The presence of the oil is suspected in other parts of the island and it is claimed that a petroleum belt which is believed to extend from Pennsylvania to Venezuela embraces a considerable portion of the Dominican Republic. Near Puerto Plata, during rains, one of the streams flowing down from the mountains in the Mameyes section, is covered with greasy spots thought to be petroleum that has oozed from the subsoil. Traces of petroleum have also been discovered near Neiba, and in the provinces of Pacificador and Seibo.
Borings have been made only in the neighborhood of Azua. A pool known as “agua hedionda,” “stinking water,” had long suggested petroleum, and an American company known as the West Indies Petroleum Mining and Export Company undertook the development of the field. Oil was struck on November 14, 1904, the well spouting oil to a height of seventy feet and producing about 500 barrels per day. The grade of the oil was 22 Baume gravity with an asphaltum base. It was better than the average of Texas oil and was considered a good fuel and lubricating product. The main difficulty in this field was the presence of salt water above the oil (as is often the case in oil regions), which here came in rapidly at a depth of about 900 to 1000 feet. It was necessary to put a gate valve on the first well, keeping it enclosed for a period of six months, in order to prevent the damaging of the surrounding property from the flow of oil, as there were no storage tanks. During this time the continued agitation of the casing by the gas pressure and the looseness of the upper soils and shales let in the salt water and ruined the well, and, it is to be feared, to some extent affected the surrounding territory. The company sunk four wells more, all but one of which produced some oil, but as the salt water entered in such large quantities they were unable to penetrate below the 1200 feet level and were forced to abandon the wells at just about the depth where they expected to reach the real oil sand. The fifth well showed greater evidence of a genuine oil field than any drilled previously but for the same reason it could not be carried to the desired depth. At this point dissensions arose in the management of the company with regard to the method of drilling, the suggestion being made that a combination drilling machinery comprising what is known as the rotary process be adopted in combination with the old cable rig style. No agreement was reached, and operations were discontinued. Since the beginning of 1917 other interests have made investigations and it is rumored that development work will shortly begin. There are indications that if drilled with the proper appliances the field will yield excellent results. How far the Azua oil field extends is a matter of conjecture, but it has been estimated to cover an area of over 190 square miles.
Thermal springs are also found near Azua. At Resoli, about 21 miles southwest of Azua City, there are hot sulphur springs of very copious flow. Nearby there is one of tepid water, slightly acid and stinging, though pleasant to the taste, and with no trace of sulphur. Within a radius of a hundred yards there are about a dozen springs of different temperatures and medicinal properties, and the place is admirably adapted for the location of a health resort. Mineral springs, especially sulphur springs, abound along the western frontier of the Republic. On the Viajama River, where a sulphur mine is reported, there are cold sulphur springs which are said to have gushed forth for the first time during the earthquake of 1751. To the east of Santiago are the Anibaje springs which contain sulphur and iron. Hot and cold sulphur springs are found in the outskirts of San José de las Matas, southwest of Santiago, and hot springs at Banica, and to the east and west of Lake Enriquillo.
While there are no volcanoes on the island, severe seismic disturbances have at times occasioned great havoc and loss of life. One of the first and most memorable was that of 1564 which overthrew the cities of La Vega and Santiago de los Caballeros. La Vega was at that time a good sized town with substantial brick houses, and the masses of masonry strewn about in the thicket which now covers the site of the old city give evidence of the force of the earthquake. In 1654 and 1673 dwellings and churches in Santo Domingo City were damaged by lesser shocks, and in 1751 an earthquake wrecked edifices in the capital, and completely destroyed the old city of Azua and the town of Seibo. The most recent and perhaps the most disastrous earthquake was that of 1842 when a violent commotion in the northern part of the island demolished the cities of Santiago de los Caballeros on the Dominican side and Cape Haitien on the Haitian side, bringing death to hundreds of their inhabitants. Since that date there have been no severe shocks, though, as is the case in other West India Islands, slight tremblings of the earth are not infrequent. I have experienced several of such tremblings in Santo Domingo and have never been able to ward off a kind of creepy feeling when the rattling of windows and doors indicated their approach and passage. Near the ruins of ancient La Vega the natives point out a spot in the woods which they call “tembladera” and where they say the earth quakes at the approach of man. Investigation discloses that while the earth really does tremble when anyone walks at this place the cause is not so deep-seated as many imagine, the phenomenon being caused by the fact that the rich loamy soil is sustained by the interlaced roots of trees, the foundation having been washed away by subterranean waters, and the grassy floor is swayed by every motion upon it.
CHAPTER X
FLORA AND FAUNA
Agricultural conditions.–Land titles and measures.–Wet and arid regions.–Exports.–Sugar.–Cacao.–Tobacco.–Coffee.–Tropical fruits.–Forest products.–Insects.–Reptiles.–Fishery.–Birds. –Cattle raising.
Of all the islands visited by Columbus none impressed him so favorably as Santo Domingo. His enthusiasm is reflected in the glowing description given in his letter to his friend and patron, Luis de Santangel, dated February 15, 1493, of which the following forms part:
“In it (la Española) there are many havens on the sea, coast, incomparable with any others I know in Christendom–and plenty of rivers, so good and great that it is a marvel. The lands there are high, and in it there are very many ranges of hills and most lofty mountains, incomparably beyond the Island of Cetrefrey (Teneriffe); all most beautiful in a thousand shapes and all accessible, and full of trees of a thousand kinds, so lofty that they seem to reach the sky. And I am assured that they never lose their foliage, as may be imagined, since I saw them as green and as beautiful as they are in Spain in May, and some of them were in flower, some in fruit, some in another stage, according to their kind. And the nightingale was singing, and other birds of a thousand sorts, in the month of November, round about the way I was going. There are palm trees of six or eight species, wondrous to see for their beautiful variety; but so are the other trees and fruits and plants therein. There are wonderful pine groves and very large plains of verdure, and there is honey and many kinds of birds and great diversity of fruits. There are many mines of metals in the earth, and the population is of inestimable number. Española is a marvel; the mountains and hills, and plains, and fields, and the soil so beautiful and rich for planting and sowing, for breeding cattle of all sorts, for building towns and villages. There could be no believing, without seeing, such harbors as are here, as well as the many and great rivers and excellent waters, most of which contain gold. In the trees and fruits and plants there is great diversity from those of Juana (Cuba). In this island there are many species and great mines of gold and other metals.”
Columbus’ panegyric on the beauty, fertility and resources of the Island has been echoed by every writer and traveler who has since visited the country. The United States Commission of Inquiry to Santo Domingo reported in 1871: “The resources of the country are vast and various, and its products may be increased with scarcely any other limit than the labor expended upon them…. Taken as a whole, this Republic is one of the most fertile regions on the face of the earth. The evidence of men well acquainted with the other West India Islands declares this to be naturally the richest of them all.” Yet the country’s wonderful resources are to-day in almost virgin condition; in the greater part of the Republic’s extent they remain absolutely untouched; in the remainder the beginning of development has scarcely been made.
In the first days of the colony it appeared that agricultural prosperity would quickly be attained. Great plantations were set out and the remains of palaces and convents in Santo Domingo City testify to the wealth they produced. But the prosperity was founded on the basis of slavery. The laughing aborigines soon succumbed under forced labor, the importation of negroes was found expensive, and hopes of better fortune attracted the colonists to the American continent. While the country languished under restrictive trade regulations, stock raising became almost the sole pursuit of the Spanish section of the island. In the meantime the French settled the western coast, and the name of their colony, also founded on slavery, became a synonym for wealth and luxury. The development of the Spanish section had scarcely begun at the end of the eighteenth century when it was blocked by wars, the Haitian occupation, and later by the civil disturbances. The native had no incentive to accumulate property, which would only attract revolutionists, and the foreigner was chary of investing his money in so turbulent a community. What progress has been made is due to the short periods of peace, principally the period of Heureaux’s ascendancy, from 1880 to 1899, and the periods from 1905 to date. The rapid and gratifying strides made since the Dominican-American fiscal treaty increased the probabilities of peace are an indication of what the country may and will in time attain. As an English-speaking resident put it, paraphrasing a familiar saying in the United States, “If the people will only raise more cacao and less Hades, the country will soon be a paradise.” At the present time the most serious obstacle to rural development is the lack of adequate means of communication–roads and railroads. It is evident that the interior cannot be developed so long as the cost of transportation is prohibitive or the roads are impassable during a great part of the year.
The condition of land titles leaves much to be desired. All titles are supposed to be derived from original grants by the crown or the government of the Republic. As there is no record extant of such grants and as much land has been acquired by adverse possession, the amount of land remaining to the state cannot even be the subject of an intelligent guess. The greater part of such land passed to the Republic as successor to the Spanish crown, another portion was added in 1844 by the confiscation of property belonging to Haitians, but no attempt has ever been made to survey or even to list state lands. According to some estimates the state owns as much as one or even two-fifths the area of the Republic, but it is probable that these estimates are exaggerated and almost the only tracts remaining to the government are situated in the inaccessible mountain region of the interior and along the Haitian border. The income of the Republic is still insufficient to leave money for the investigation of public lands, and every year’s delay will permit more of such lands to be absorbed by private persons.
A large portion of the rural land is held in common. Tracts originally belonging to one owner descended undivided among his heirs for generations, individual heirs sometimes sold their shares, and the result is that often the tract belongs in common to many persons, some of them holding very small shares. The shares of the co-owners are known as “pesos de posesión,” “dollars of possession,” corresponding to the value given them at some remote period. The owner of any undivided portion of such “comunero” property, though he hold only one or two shares or “pesos de posesión,” may enter upon and cultivate any part of the land he finds unoccupied by other co-owners, and use anything growing or existing thereon, except certain timber or unless it be the result of the labor of other co-owners. That this peculiar mode of enjoying the comunero property has not resulted in friction and conflicts may be ascribed to the smallness of the cultivated fields, the small population and the enormous expanse of vacant land. For the prospective purchaser the doubts surrounding the title to comunero lands are enhanced by the existence of fraudulent “peso” titles and by the destruction of public offices where title transfers should have been recorded. In recent years much division of comunero land among the co-owners has been going on and such action is facilitated by a law of 1911, but the importance of the matter merits additional laws to cheapen and hasten the division.
All the planting of small crops by the poorer countryman is done in what are called “conucos,” cleared spaces fenced by sticks laid tightly against each other in order to keep out the wild pigs which infest the country. The construction of the fences is a laborious task, yet after one or two years they require extensive repairs, and when the repairs are such as to amount to a practical rebuilding, the “conuco” is commonly abandoned, and a new one located elsewhere. This method is wasteful of fence-material and land. The planting is done in the most primitive way, commonly by making a hole in the ground with a machete or by using a forked stick as a plow. There are few hoes, and among the natives no modern steel plows.
A “conuco” is usually about one acre in extent, or to be precise twenty-five varas conuqueras square. Though the metric system is the official system of measurement and is gradually coming into use, many of the older standards still prevail. A common measure of length is the Castilian vara, about equivalent to an English yard; the vara conuquera, about two and a half yards; the tarea, used for measuring fences, twenty-five varas conuqueras in length, and the league, something over three miles. The common units of surface measurement are the tarea, of about one-sixth acre, and the caballeria of 1200 tareas or about 200 acres.
Generally speaking, a line drawn from Cape Isabela on the north coast, through Santiago, to the mouth of the Nizao River in the south, divides the country into two regions of which the eastern one has abundant rainfall and luxuriant tropical vegetation, while in the western one there is little rain, and cactus plants and thorny bushes betoken the aridity of the soil. The two ends of the Cibao Valley seem like different countries, the eastern end covered with palm-trees, ferns and other flora of the torrid zone, and the western portion dry and dotted with giant cacti of fantastic shape. In the country near Azua and Monte Cristi I have imagined myself on the plains of New Mexico, with their scorching heat, their cactus, mesquite bushes and distant violet mountains fading into the azure sky. While arid, these western regions of Santo Domingo are as fertile as the rest of the country and when irrigated give remarkable crops. One of the Dominican government’s projects is an extensive irrigation scheme for the Monte Cristi district. The most productive portion of the Republic is undoubtedly the Royal Plain in the Cibao Valley, which is of almost incredible fertility. It is covered with a rich black loam from three to fifteen feet deep, as can be seen wherever brooks have cut ravines into the earth, and is referred to as the Mississippi Valley of the Dominican Republic.
The greater or less elevation of the land has likewise produced different agricultural zones: the lower plains of the southern coast are favored for sugar planting; the slightly higher lands are given over to cacao and coffee, and the highest part of the country, the mountain region, is covered with timber. Broad savannas are a feature of the southern portion of the Republic; on the plains to the east of Santo Domingo City, all the way to the ocean, there are great seas of grass, like the prairies of the United States, with large islands of trees, while to the west they constitute lakes in a continent of forest.
All tropical fruits grow in profusion and many vegetables, fruits and cereals indigenous to countries of the temperate zone are successfully grown. Practically all the vegetables and fruits, as well as the grains and staples of the Middle States of the American Union may be produced, especially in the higher portion of the island. The fact that raspberries and delicious grapes grow wild in the highland indicates the possibilities of fruit culture. With a view to encouraging agriculture the various provinces for years had “boards of development” paid from national funds, but the positions on these boards were regarded as political plums, and while the members drew their salaries, no other result of their activities was apparent. The government has also made spasmodic attempts to establish an agricultural experiment station, but with its limited resources nothing tangible has been accomplished. The establishment and extension of large sugar estates was stimulated by a law of agricultural franchises, enacted in 1911, granting excessively broad privileges and exemptions to sugar, cacao and coffee plantations which registered under that law.
The table on the opposite page shows the quantity and value of the principal exports of the Dominican Republic since 1913 and is the best illustration of the fact that agriculture is the mainstay of the country.
EXPORTS OF THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
1913 1914 1915 1916 Sugar (raw) kilos[1] 78,849,465 101,428,847 102,800,551 122,642,514 value $3,650,556 $4,943,452 $7,676,383 $12,028,297 Cacao kilos 19,470,827 20,744,517 20,223,023 21,053,305 value $4,119,955 $3,896,489 $4,863,754 $5,958,669 Tobacco leaf kilos 9,790,398 3,705,549 6,235,409 7,925,151 value $1,121,775 $394,224 $972,896 $1,433,323 Coffee kilos 1,048,922 1,831,938 2,468,435 1,731,718 value $257,076 $345,579 $458,431 $316,827 Hides and kilos 541,154 685,042 638,020 616,446 skins value $241,072 $253,832 $270,356 $334,665 Sugar cane value — $62,585 $195,782 $295,622 Bananas bunches 592,804 114,142 327,169 348,560 value $296,368 $57,044 $166,432 $172,615 Beeswax and
honey value $206,749 $207,290 $144,579 $176,144 Molasses kilos 12,064,038 17,962,441 15,484,205 18,752,440 value $60,737 $93,787 $100,023 $120,738 Forest value $167,037 $66,464 $64,368 $57,250 products
Cotton kilos 242,221 167,123 141,623 91,258 value $85,398 $67,830 $60,600 $31,759 All other value $263,224 $200,211 $240,457 $601,964 exports
———————————————— Total value $10,469,947 $10,588,787 $15,209,061 $21,527,873
[Footnote 1: 1 kilo = 2.2 pounds]
Sugar, the leading export, is the principal product of the southern portion of the Republic. In contrast with the cultivation of cacao, coffee and tobacco, sugar planting requires a large outlay of capital. The fields must be carefully prepared, extensive ditching must be done in order to provide irrigation during the dry season; the fields must be cleaned repeatedly while the cane is growing; and when the cane eventually matures, after fourteen to eighteen months of growth, it must upon cutting be immediately transported to the mill, where expensive machinery grinds it and fabricates sugar from the cane juice. The large sugar plantations of the country are all owned by foreigners, principally Americans and Italians, but dependent upon them are many small plots, planted under contract with the central factory by small native owners or contractors. Before the establishment of the first of these plantations near Macoris in the early eighties, the apparatus for making sugar was as crude as that employed by the first colonists, consisting of small presses turned by oxen, and large caldrons to boil the cane. The other West India Islands are dotted with the ruins of old sugar mills erected in the beginning and middle of the last century, but those days were not favorable to investment in Santo Domingo and such buildings and ruins are absolutely wanting in this island.
Most of the large plantations are located in the vicinity of San Pedro de Macoris, and to them the city owes its rapid development. These represent a value of millions of dollars, are equipped with plantation railroads and modern mills and extend over thousands of acres of the plains behind the city. The great Consuelo estate, the Santa Fé plantation, the Porvenir and the Puerto Rico estates are owned by American capital, and two others, the Quisqueya and Cristobal Colon plantations are owned by Americans and Cubans. The Angelina estate is an Italian investment, but its owners hold it in the name of the General Industrial Company, a corporation organized by them under the laws of New Jersey, apparently with a view to claiming American protection in case of disturbances. The principal owners of this estate as well as of other Italian sugar estates on the south coast are heirs of J.B. Vicini, who was a wealthy Italian merchant of Santo Domingo City.
One of the largest sugar estates of the Republic is the Central Romana, which controls some 40,000 acres near the port of La Romana, and is owned by the South Porto Rico Sugar Company. Since the first crop in 1911 the cane has been shipped to the mill at Guanica, Porto Rico, for grinding, but a huge fifteen-roller mill, which will be the largest on the island, is now in course of erection at La Romana.
Two plantations near Santo Domingo City, San Isidro and La Fé, belong to Americans. The Italia sugar estate at Yaguate, near the Nizao River, the Ocoa estate and the Central Azuano, on the outskirts of Azua all belong to the Vicini heirs. At Azua there is another plantation, the Ansonia estate, which is the property of Americans. The plantations at Azua and Ocoa are watered by irrigation, those of Azua deriving their water from artesian wells. American capital is also establishing sugar plantations near Barahona. On the north coast there are only two small sugar plantations near Puerto Plata, in which German and Spanish capital is interested, but another is being established at Sosua.
So rich are the Dominican lands that cane will grow from the same root for ten and even twenty years, while in Porto Rico and the lesser Antilles long cultivation has exhausted the soil and replanting is necessary every three years. Near Macoris the planters have had so much land available that instead of replanting they have often abandoned their old fields and taken up virgin lands instead. The busiest time in Macoris is the crop season from November to May. Many laborers are then required, and as native labor is not abundant, large numbers of negroes come from the British West Indies to work on the plantations, returning to their homes when the cane has been cut.
Most of the Dominican sugar goes to the United States and a large portion is eventually sold in Canada and England. When the amount of sugar produced in little Porto Rico is compared with that grown in Santo Domingo, it is evident that the Dominican production might easily be increased to twenty times its present figure.
While sugar attracts the foreigner, the Dominican’s favorite staple has been cacao. The cacao or chocolate tree grows in a number of the West India Islands, but in none of them is it cultivated to such an extent as in Santo Domingo. Cacao is peculiarly fitted to be a “poor man’s crop,” as little land and labor are required and, while the trees are growing, corn, bananas and other crops can be raised on the same field. Most of the cacao is raised on small plantations, producing from fifty to one hundred barrels, a barrel being worth about eight dollars. For the preparation and planting of the field of a poor man the whole family turns out and neighbors often come to help, regular planting bees being organized. The larger landowner makes contracts for the preparation of his lands, paying at the rate of $2 or $2.50 a tarea.
The best months for planting cacao are the wet months, which in the Cibao are May and October. Small holes are dug in the earth about three yards apart and three beans placed in each. When the sprouts grow into young trees, two of the three should be cut off, and the best developed allowed to remain; but the countrymen generally permit all three to grow, with resulting dwarfed trees and poor crops. To protect the small plants from the hot sun a yuca or cassava plant is set out next to each one. While the trees are growing, corn is planted between the rows and three or even four crops are obtained in each year. After two years the cacao trees begin to bloom, after three years they begin to give fruit, and their production gradually increases until their eighth year when they reach mature growth. Each tree furnishes about two pounds of cacao per year. On the larger plantations less attention is paid to ancillary crops and the cacao plants are raised in seedbeds, the seedlings being transplanted to the field after six months or a year. When the pods containing the cacao beans are ripe the beans are extracted, soaked in water and then dried in the sun. During the crop season cacao beans are spread on mats before every native hut and in the streets of every town and village in the Cibao, and the sourish smell of the drying bean pervades the air.
The principal cacao region is the Cibao and the upper Seibo plain, and the largest plantation, belonging to the well-known Swiss chocolate manufacturer, Suchard, is situated near Sabana la Mar, on the south side of Samana Bay. The cacao here produced is not of the finest grade, such as that grown in Ecuador, but goes to make the cheaper grades of chocolate.
The ease with which cacao is planted and the profits to be derived from it often cause the small farmers to neglect everything else for cacao and purchase articles of food which they could themselves raise. The consequence is that when the cacao crop fails, there is widespread want and discontent.
Cacao has been exported since 1888, before which time it was grown for local consumption only. For years it led the country’s exports, until sugar took first place in 1914. The greater portion of the cacao crop is exported through the port of Sanchez, on Samana Bay. Formerly almost the whole crop went to Europe, Havre being the chief market, but of late years the United States has become one of the principal buyers.
The cultivation of tobacco is confined to the Cibao region, where it was grown by the Indians when the Spaniards landed. It is a crop yielding rapid returns, but cacao has paid so much better that the progress of tobacco culture has been slow. The effort of the countrymen to produce quantity rather than quality has prevented the development of the finer grades and the price paid for Dominican tobacco is low. While the tobacco grown is of inferior quality, there is no reason why it should not be susceptible of improvement as the climatic and soil conditions of the interior valleys are very similar to those of the tobacco regions of Cuba and Porto Rico.
Tobacco is grown mostly by small planters and sold to the large commercial houses of Santiago and Puerto Plata. Practically the entire crop is exported through Puerto Plata. Before the European war the great market for Dominican tobacco was Hamburg. Up to 1907 tobacco was exported only in leaf, but since then a small cigarette industry has developed.
Coffee is another native crop the development of which has been checked by the popularity of cacao. It is also a crop which can be grown with profit on small tracts of land. The coffee bushes flourish in the mountains and are grown under the shade of larger trees. A clearing having been made in the forest, the small coffee trees are planted in rows or irregularly and near each a banana or plantain tree. The latter reach full height within six months and afford shade until guava and other shade trees planted on the field have attained sufficient size. A wait of five years is necessary before the coffee bushes begin to bear, but after that they continue indefinitely every year, the only labor required being that of keeping the plantation clear of brush and picking the berries when they are ripe. The trees grow to a height of six or eight feet; they bloom with a fragrant, white, star-like flower which on withering leaves the green embryo of the berry. When the berry has reached the size of a hazel-nut it turns red and is picked, much of the picking being done by women. The berries are poured into a simple machine which extracts the two coffee beans encased in each berry. The beans are dried in the sun, on the largest plantations in drying machines. They are then transported to the merchants in town, where they are polished in another machine, assorted and bagged for export. The town of Moca owes its name to the fact that the principal coffee plantations lie in its vicinity. Other important coffee districts are Santiago and Bani. About two-thirds of the coffee of the Republic is exported from Puerto Plata.
The coffee of Santo Domingo is of excellent quality. In normal times the greater portion was exported to France and Germany, but most of it now goes to the United States.
With one exception the limitless resources of Santo Domingo with reference to fruit culture have remained untouched. The single exception was the United Fruit Company’s banana plantation at Sosua, about ten miles east of Puerto Plata, and even this estate is at present, in consequence of the greater attractiveness of sugar, being converted into a sugar plantation. Otherwise there has been no attempt to raise fruit for export, though the sweet and bitter orange, the lemon, the lime, the grapefruit and the paradoxical sweet lemon, grow wild. Pineapples are raised only for the small home consumption. An obstacle to the cultivation of such fruits at the present time would be the absence of rapid fruit steamers to the United States. The fruits peculiar to the torrid zone all grow in profusion and among them the native is fondest of the juicy mango, the guava, the aguacate or alligator pear, the anon or custard apple, the guanabana or soursop, the mamon or sweetsop, the mamey or marmalade fruit, the nispero or sapodilla and the tamarind. From the large palm-groves about Samana Bay cocoanuts and a little copra are exported, principally to the United States.
Small attempts have been made to cultivate other products to which the country is adapted. Growers of cotton and hemp are encouraged by results, but a rice plantation established in the swamp-lands near the head of Samana Bay proved a failure rather on account of errors of management than for other reasons.
In the forests which cover her mountains Santo Domingo has hardwoods, dyewoods and building timber of inestimable value. Only a generation ago mahogany trees grew all the way to the water’s edge, but years of wasteful cutting have exhausted the nearer supplies and the more valuable woods must now be sought in the interior. In the mountains and on the high plateaus of the interior there are hundreds of square miles of Spanish cedar and longleaf pine. The principal woods exported are mahogany, guayacan, known to commerce as lignum vitae (one of the hardest woods and so heavy that when in loading the steamer a log drops into the sea it sinks to the bottom like iron), bera or bastard lignum vitae, espinillo or yellowwood, campeche or logwood (a famous dyeing material), sparwood and cedar. Other forest products exported are dividivi, a tanning bark, and resins. Most of these exports go to the United States and England. For the preparation of lumber for local needs there are sawmills in La Vega and Santiago de los Caballeros.
With regard to indigenous fauna Santo Domingo occupies a position midway between the diverse and abundant fauna of Cuba and the more limited species of the Leeward Islands. Insects abound and in all the coast towns it is necessary to sleep under a mosquito bar. Wild bees are found in many parts of the country and apiculture has met with much success. Of poisonous insects there are few. Those sometimes met with are the species of tarantula known as the hairy spider, the spider known as guava, and the blue spider, also the scorpion and the centipede. Their sting produces intense pain, inflammation and fever. They are found in crevices, under stones, in caves, and in rotten wood. The last two are often seen in old houses, but daily use of the broom and duster will make them appear but rarely. Some of these animals grow to a large size. On a ride on the Haitian border my horse shied at a tarantula in the trail, and in calling my Dominican companion’s attention to it, I remarked that it was as large as a saucer. “That is nothing,” he replied, “there are many around here as large as a soup plate.”
There are few classes of reptiles. Santo Domingo is a paradise where serpents are at a discount, for they are few in number and although occasionally some are found of considerable size, they are all harmless. Lizards are plentiful in the forests, the largest class being known as iguana, which is eaten by some of the country people, as it was in former days by the Indians. The lizards are all inoffensive. A species of alligator is found in the lower waters of the Yaque del Norte and of the Yaque del Sur, and in the salt lakes on the Haitian border. Tortoises occur in such numbers that their shell forms an article of commerce.
Crustaceans and testaceans are abundant in number though few in species. A tiny oyster is found, not much larger than a thumb-nail, but very succulent. The marine fauna is the same as that of the neighboring Antilles, the sea and rivers teeming with edible fish, to which, however, but little attention is paid. Sharks infest the coasts and render bathing unsafe except behind protecting reefs. Occasionally, too, a manati, or sea-cow, is seen. This strange mammal has breasts which resemble those of a human being and emits cries that sound almost human. It was probably a party of manati gamboling about in the water which induced Columbus gravely to enter in his logbook that he had sighted mermaids near Monte Cristi.
Of birds there are over one hundred and fifty species, about ninety-five of which are residents and among these several peculiar to this island. The forests resound with the cries of parrots and other birds of beautiful plumage; from any point on the coast pelicans and other ichthyophagous birds can be observed darting into the waters after their prey; the lakes and rivers are the home of thousands of wild ducks; myriads of wild pigeons breed in the woods; and the number of insectivorous birds, including the sweet-singing nightingale, jilguero and turpial, the swallow and the small pitirre and colibri, is infinite. The caves are inhabited by swarms of bats, the guano of which, mingled with the calcareous detritus of the rocky walls, is found in great deposits and constitutes a good fertilizer.
At the time of the discovery the Spaniards found very few kinds of quadruped mammals. One was the agouti, looking like a large rat and inhabiting the forests; another the coati, similar to the squirrel and easily domesticated. Three other classes are mentioned, the quemi, mohui and perro mudo (dumb dog), but are not now to be found and as the description of two of them almost tallies with that of the others above mentioned, it is possible that different names were applied to the same animals. It is possible, too, that reference was made to the solenodon or almiqui, an animal long thought to be extinct but of which several specimens have recently been found in Santo Domingo. This animal is about two feet, long and resembles a rat, but having a long prehensile snout and the habits of an ant-eater, it is considered to be a remnant of the early zoölogical type from which diverged both the rodents and the insectivorous animals of the present.
The Spaniards introduced the European domestic animals, which immediately began to flourish. During the seventeenth and eighteenth century the principal and for a long time almost the only industry of the Spanish portion of the island was cattle-raising. Some of the cattle and pigs escaped to the woods and reverted to the wild state, and towards the middle and end of the seventeenth century great herds of wild cattle roamed over the island. Such herds no longer exist, but wild pigs have found their way to the most remote recesses of the mountains and are the plague of the fields. The equine species, sprung from the Andalusian horses brought by the Spaniards, has degenerated considerably and the best horses in the Republic today are of Porto Rican stock, but attention is at last being given to breeding. The largest herds of cattle roam about in the unfenced arid regions of the northwest. Hides are exported in large quantities, but there is little dairying. Of late years attention is being directed to improving the stock and several stock farms have been established near San Pedro de Macoris.
Sheep raising is followed to some extent in the arid regions of the southwest and northwest, but the wool is of coarse grade. An important industry in these regions, especially in the neighborhood of Azua, is goat-raising. My inquiry as to the population of Azua was answered by the purser of the Clyde line steamer: “About three thousand people and about three million goats.” Though his estimate of the number of goats may have been somewhat exaggerated, the fact is that they are everywhere in evidence and charge through the streets in droves, and at the great Azua church I found a goat in the vestibule looking reverently in. Over nine-tenths of the goatskins exported from the Republic go to the United States.
CHAPTER XI
THE PEOPLE
Population.–Distribution.–Race.–Descendants of American negroes.–Language.–Physical traits.–Mental traits.–Amusements. –Dances, theaters, clubs, carnivals.–Gaming.–Morality.–Homes.
The estimates of the early Spanish writers as to the Indian population of Hispaniola at the time of its first settlement in 1493 range all the way from one million to three million inhabitants. While it is probable that the former number was nearer to the truth, it is evident that the island was well inhabited, for Columbus found every valley swarming with natives. The severe labor imposed by the Spaniards made such frightful inroads on the native population that within a decade labor for the plantations and mines began to grow scarce and forty thousand inhabitants of the Bahama Islands were imported to increase the supply. They were lured on board the Spanish transports by the promise that they were to be conveyed to the beautiful home of their departed ancestors and though they did indeed quickly join their deceased relatives, it was not until after a taste of purgatory in the mines of Santo Domingo. In 1507 the entire Indian population was estimated at only 70,000, in 1508 it had fallen to 40,000, and in 1514 to 14,000. Six years later the remnant of the aborigines united in the mountains to resist the Spaniards to the end, but in 1533 a treaty was concluded by which the Indians were assigned certain lands near Boya, thirty miles northeast of Santo Domingo City. According to some authorities 4000 and according to others only 600 natives remained to take advantage of this provision. Thereafter all mention of the Indians disappears from Dominican annals. Types recalling Indian characteristics are sometimes seen, however, and it is probable that some Indian blood is still represented in the country.
Father Las Casas, the friend of the Indians, is credited with the suggestion that in place of the frail natives negroes be imported for labor in the mines and on the plantations. The earliest importations seem to have taken place in the opening years of the sixteenth century, for as early as 1505 King Ferdinand authorized the shipment of more negroes in lots of 100. Later, licenses were issued for the importation of negro slaves by the thousands and many more were probably smuggled in. The Spanish population also grew rapidly until about 1530 when the colony reached the zenith of its wealth and prosperity. Twelve years later, when the decline had become marked, it was estimated that besides a substantial white population there were 30,000 negro slaves on the island. The superior attractions of other newly discovered countries and the fear of piratical invasions had by 1591 decreased the total population of the colony to 15,000. This number remained almost stationary until about 1663 when it began to dwindle further until the low water mark was reached, about 1737, and the entire population of the Spanish portion of the island was estimated at but 6,000. Timely tariff concessions revived trade and encouraged immigration and new importations of slaves the number of inhabitants increased rapidly and in 1785 was reckoned at 150,000, including 30,000 slaves and a considerable proportion of free colored persons. A decade later saw the beginning of the negro insurrection in the French section of Santo Domingo; the horrors attending this war, the invasion of the Spanish colony by the Haitians, the menace of further invasions, the frequent changes of sovereignty, and adverse economic conditions, produced an exodus in the course of which the great majority of the white population abandoned the island, many with all their slaves and dependents. A few returned, but in 1809 it was calculated that the inhabitants of Spanish Santo Domingo numbered 104,000 and in 1819 but 63,000, of whom the greater number were colored. During Haitian rule, from 1822 to 1844, white emigration again took place and white immigration was discouraged, while settlements of negroes from Haiti and the United States were made in different parts of the country. The increase of the population since that time has been subject to little outside influence; there has been practically no emigration, and immigration has been insignificant, the few new settlers being chiefly negroes from the British colonies, Haitians, Porto Ricans, Syrians and European merchants. In 1863 an ecclesiastical census, based on the returns of the various parish priests, placed the population at 207,700. This number may be described as little more than a compilation of guesses and was probably exaggerated. A similar ecclesiastical census taken in 1888 gave a total of 382,312 inhabitants.
These ecclesiastical computations were founded to some extent on parish records of baptisms and burials, but this basis became more and more precarious as the population increased. Probably the records most nearly accurate are the baptismal records of the Church, for almost every Dominican is baptized at some time in his life. The death records are the least complete on account of the obstacles presented during the civil disorders and the distance at which many country people live from the place of registry. A law of civil registry, requiring the inscription of all births, marriages and deaths has been only indifferently carried out and during times of insurrection entirely suspended. A government census was begun in 1908 but not concluded. Any accurate computation is thus out of the question.
Unofficial estimates of the population to-day range all the way from 400,000 to 920,000. In 1908 an official estimate based on birth statistics, placed it at 605,000. An unofficial estimate in 1917, made on the assumption that there are 1000 inhabitants for every 37 births reported, calculated the total population at 795,432, thus distributed among the several provinces:
Santo Domingo … 127,976
Santiago …….. 123,972
La Vega………. 105,000
Pacificador…… 90,569
Seibo………… 68,135
Espaillat…….. 64,108
Azua ………… 59,783
Puerto Plata … 55,864
Monte Cristi … 41,459
Macoris………. 28,000
Barahona …….. 17,891
Samana ………. 12,675
The estimate of 37 births per 1000 inhabitants is probably too large as the birth-rate in Jamaica is but 34.6, in the Leeward Islands 33, and in the birth-registration area of the United States only 24.9. A reduction of ten per cent in the above figures would probably make them more nearly correct. That would give a total population of about 715,000. Accepting the number of inhabitants as 715,000 the population per square mile is about 39.6. A comparison with the surrounding West Indian countries reveals considerable disproportion. The Dominican Republic is not quite one-half the size of Cuba but has only one-fourth the number of inhabitants; it is almost double the size of the Republic of Haiti but has less than one-half the inhabitants; it is five times the size of Porto Rico and has but one-half the population; it is one hundred and seven times as large as Barbados but has only four times the population. If the Dominican Republic were as densely populated as the neighboring Republic of Haiti, it would have 3,000,000 inhabitants; if the population were as dense as that of Porto Rico, it would be 7,000,000; if the Republic were as densely inhabited as Barbados it would have over 21,000,000 people. Though the climatic and topographical conditions of the country would not permit it to become as thickly populated as Barbados, there is no reason why it should not support a population proportional to that of Porto Rico.
As in the other West India Islands the population is principally rural. There are probably not more than a dozen towns in the Republic with more than 1500 inhabitants. A government census of Santo Domingo City, the capital and largest urban center, taken in November, 1908, showed a population of 18,626, and the number is now estimated as 21,000.
A census of Santiago de los Caballeros, taken by the municipal authorities in 1903, showed an urban population of 10,921, the present estimate being 14,000. The estimated population of Puerto Plata is about 7000; La Vega and San Pedro de Macoris are believed to have about 5000 inhabitants each, but in every other case the urban population falls below 3000. The population of the Dominican Republic is not scattered uniformly over the country, but is to be found chiefly in a fringe along the shore all the way from Monte Cristi to Barahona, and in the Cibao Valley. The most densely populated region is that part of the Cibao Valley known as the Royal Plain. In the mountainous interior there are vast stretches almost or entirely uninhabited; and remote valleys which have not been visited since the days of the conquest.
The vicissitudes through which Santo Domingo has passed, the departure of so large a proportion of whites in the beginning of the nineteenth century and the intermingling of blood before and since that time have determined the character of the population. At the present time the pure negroes are in a minority, constituting probably less than one-fourth the entire population. The great majority of the inhabitants are of mixed Spanish and African blood, their color ranging from black to white. The lighter shades predominate, especially in the Cibao. There is also a sprinkling of pure whites, the majority of whom are to be found in the Cibao region or are foreigners residing in the larger cities. Many families would pass for white anywhere, showing absolutely no trace of colored blood, and it is difficult to believe confidential assurances of their intimate friends, indicating a different condition. A few families trace their ancestry back to the first Spanish colonists. As most of the blacks live south of the central mountain range the population of this region is a good deal darker than that of the northern part of the island. The census of Santo Domingo City in 1908 reported 7016 whites, 6934 colored persons and 4676 blacks, but apart from the circumstance that numerous white foreigners reside in the capital, it is probable that many persons were classified as white who would have been considered colored in the United States under the stricter rules there prevailing.
A comparison with Haiti discloses marked racial differences. In the French-speaking republic about ninety per cent of the inhabitants are pure blacks, the remainder being mulattoes. The distinction between the two countries is due to several circumstances: in Santo Domingo the pure blacks have never been in a majority; the whites have never all left the country; massacres of mulattoes and whites have never taken place; there have never been political parties based on color; and the relations between the races have always been cordial. In company, side by side, mulattoes, blacks and whites have lived, worked, enjoyed themselves and fought their revolutions. There is absolutely no color line. A friend of mine from Virginia received quite a shock the first time he attended a state ball in Santo Domingo and saw an immense negro, as black as coal, a member of Congress, dancing with a girl as white as any of the foreign ladies present. He rushed to the refreshment room and beckoned to a tall mulatto in a dress suit: “I’ll have something to cool off, here waiter–” He was stopped just in time for he was mistaking the secretary of foreign affairs for a waiter; but after this experience he was afraid of giving his order to anyone else for fear he might be offending some other high official. The blacks are commonly the lower laborers, but negroes are to be found in all grades of society and are not infrequently represented in the cabinet itself. Of the presidents the majority have been of mixed blood, but several, like Luperon and Heureaux, were full-blood negroes. It appears that the strong strain of white blood in the country has elevated all, mulattoes and negroes. The negroes have produced men of high ability: Heureaux, for instance, though unscrupulous and cruel, was a man of remarkable sagacity and energy.
It must not be supposed for a moment that the Dominicans are inimical to whites or, like their neighbors, the Haitians, prefer to see their country peopled by negroes only. On the contrary they are anxious to be considered as belonging to the white race and are not pleased by reference to their mixed blood. For this reason the former policy of the United States of sending colored men as ministers and consuls to Santo Domingo was resented by the Dominicans who saw therein an evidence of contempt. I have often heard Dominican statesmen express an eager desire for immigration, but only white immigration. This sentiment is reflected in immigration laws and in several concessions granted in late years in which the concessionnaire was prohibited from importing laborers of African or Asiatic descent. The Congress has even made appropriations for the introduction of white families and their settlement along the Haitian frontier, but the isolation of this region and other circumstances made such laws impracticable of execution.
During Haitian rule, from 1822 to 1844, a different policy prevailed. President Boyer was desirous of seeing every part of the island populated by blacks and accordingly settled Haitian negroes in various parts of Santo Domingo and encouraged negro immigration from the United States by premiums to ship captains bringing such immigrants. The American negroes were distributed in Haiti and in Santo Domingo, particularly near Puerto Plata and in the Samana peninsula. The Puerto Plata settlers have mingled with the rest of the population, but around the town of Samana, where the largest settlement, consisting of some sixty families, was made, the descendants of the American immigrants still form a distinct class. Large portions of the peninsula are taken up by their well kept farms, and one of the sections or districts into which the commune of Samana is divided, is officially named “Sección de los Americanos.” The people still preserve the English language and proudly proclaim that they are “of American abstraction.”
They have kept considerably aloof and only in recent years have there been marriages between them and their Spanish-speaking neighbors. Their exclusiveness has more than once been criticised by Dominicans. Of the original settlers all have passed away, their surviving children are advanced in age and the third generation is in its prime. The Methodist preacher of the district, a kindly black man, presented me to the oldest person of the American colony, a woman of about eighty years of age who was born only a few years after her parents arrived from Virginia. As the old woman stood smiling in the door of her little cabin, the walls of which were covered with leafy creepers, she looked the picture of an old Southern mammy. Her dialect was typical; when I said: “I am glad to meet you, Mrs. Sheppard,” she answered, beaming, “Me likewise, I’se always glad to meet Americans, I is.” Several of the American negroes have distinguished themselves in military matters, one of the most noted being General Anderson who grew gray in many revolutions.
Between the coast towns and the ports of the surrounding countries, particularly Porto Rico, there is considerable coming and going. This was called to my attention the first time I set foot on Dominican soil, when a large negro darted out from a group of loungers on the wharf and seized my suit-case, crying: “Let me carry your baggage, Judge.” Surprised, I inquired how he knew me, whereupon he asked reproachfully: “Don’t you remember you sent me to jail in Mayaguez for shampooing a saucy stevedore’s head with a brick?”
Whether as a settler or transient visitor the foreigner may be sure of courteous and respectful treatment so long as he himself observes the proprieties. The laws grant the foreigner rights as ample as in the most advanced countries of the world.
The language of Santo Domingo is Spanish, and the comparative purity with which it is spoken is remarkable when the long period of isolation of the country and the extended duration of Haitian rule are considered. In this particular Haiti offers a contrast, for though French is the official language the mass of the people speak Creole French, a patois unintelligible to anyone who has not lived in Haiti. The Dominicans do not lisp the “c” as do the Spaniards, and other peculiarities of Spanish as spoken in America are manifest, but on the whole the difference between the Dominican’s Spanish and the Spaniard’s Spanish may be compared to the difference between English as spoken in the United States and as spoken in England. Like several other Spanish-American nations the Dominicans are to be distinguished by their preference for certain words and endings, and by their accent and inflection. As everywhere else the unlettered classes are given to grammatical faults and provincialisms, but on the whole the vocabulary of the Dominican peasant contains fewer archaic expressions and Indian roots than that of the Porto Rican “jibaro” and is more easily understood by the outsider. Slight differences of pronunciation are noticeable in different parts of the country: the people of Seibo are inclined to use the vowel “i” instead of the consonant “r” and say “poique” instead of “porque,” somewhat as the New York street urchin says “boid” for “bird”; the people of Santiago sometimes drop the “r” entirely and say “poque,” as the Southern negro in the United States says “fo” for “four”; the peasants of Puerto Plata show a tendency to use the “u” instead of “o” and say “tudu” instead of “todo,” like some of the inhabitants of Catalonia in Spain. The Azuans claim to speak the best Spanish of the Republic, but their claim is disputed by other provinces.
Besides Spanish, the English and French languages are heard to a limited extent. On the Samana peninsula, where the descendants of American negroes are in a majority, as much English is spoken as Spanish, and in the coast towns, San Pedro de Macoris, Puerto Plata, Monte Cristi and Santo Domingo, it is also often heard. In these cities it is usually the singsong English of negroes from the British colonies. Along the Haitian border and at the extremity of the Samana peninsula, where a Haitian colony was planted by President Boyer, the French language is spoken. On the wharf at Monte Cristi I have encountered fruit-vendors from the interior who spoke no language except Creole French. Some persons who have been born and bred on the Samana peninsula know not a word of Spanish but only English. Many members of the wealthier class of the Republic have studied or traveled in Europe or the United States and speak one or more foreign languages. In Puerto Plata I was surprised to hear a jet-black negro speak German fluently; he had been educated in a commercial school in Hamburg. The larger cities have their foreign colonies, consisting principally of merchants, and most of the languages of Europe are represented.
As a race the Dominicans are robust and sturdy. All the Dominican presidents of late years have been men of commanding physique, fitting representatives of their people. As far as industry is concerned the average Dominican is little more laborious than absolutely necessary to support himself and his family. Why should he do more when nature has been so bountiful and when in the past any accumulated fruits of his toil might have been swept away by the next revolution? The spirit of the tropics pervades the country and the tendency not to do to-day what can be conveniently left for “mañana” is constantly observed.
The Dominican women are as a rule graceful of body and fair of face, with large and beautiful eyes. They make devoted wives and loving mothers. The ladies of the better class are quite as susceptible to the allurements of Parisian fashions as their American and European cousins, and the scenes at balls and at evening promenades on the plaza are very attractive. The heat of the climate makes a liberal use of powder necessary, and it almost seems as if the darker the color of the woman the greater is her fondness for powder, so that some of the negresses assume an almost grayish hue. The Dominican woman is very domestic, she rarely goes out except to church, to an occasional dance or to the band concerts on the plaza. Before her marriage she is carefully chaperoned and guarded; all courting takes place in the presence of her mother or some other near relative.
Notwithstanding the large mixture of African blood and long isolation of the Dominican race, the strong personality of the Spaniard has survived unmodified and the population is to-day as thoroughly Spanish in character, customs and mode of thinking as the people of Cuba and Porto Rico. How completely the Spanish consciousness pervades the country was illustrated by a remark made to an American naval officer by the mayor of an inland town of Santo Domingo; he was a very black negro, but in the course of a discussion observed: “Your arguments will fit Anglo-Saxons, but _we Latins_ are a different people.” The first trait noticeable is the politeness of Dominicans of every degree. Only once have I met a rude official and that by a curious coincidence was the very first one with whom I had dealings, but after this beginning there were no further exceptions to the rule. A charming characteristic is the open-hearted hospitality everywhere encountered. The stranger who is introduced in any home is immediately assured in the customary Spanish way: “This is your house.” The words, though figuratively spoken, are sincere, and the hosts are glad to have their new friend visit their house as though it were his own. As companions the Dominicans are delightful, being generally jovial and amiable. Some there are, especially among the country people, whose natural reticence makes them seem sullen, but once the ice is broken they are quite as light-hearted as the others.
In the idealistic tendency of their mind the Dominicans strongly show their brotherhood with the other Spanish peoples. In this connection the spirit of their renowned kinsman, Don Quixote de la Mancha, is often in evidence. When one of them mounts his Rocinante in defense of some particularly attractive abstract proposition, nothing less than a blow from a windmill will bring him back to reality. And so when any person or group of persons become enamored of an idea they are unwilling to brook contradiction or compromise. The inclination of the majority to do their will irrespective of the wishes of the minority and the unwillingness of the minority to bow to the resolutions of the majority have been and will continue to be grave problems in the government of the country. Even in personal relations a spirit of intolerance can frequently be noticed and while almost anything is forgiven a friend, not a single redeeming feature is recognized in an enemy. To their idealistic tendency may be ascribed the worship of the words “patriotism” and “liberty.” Unnumbered sins have been committed under the cloak of patriotism, and true personal liberty, such as it is understood in the United States, has never prevailed in Santo Domingo; but the adoration of these conceptions continues and it is to be hoped that now, with American assistance, it will bring real and lasting liberty to the country. Perhaps it is their idealism, as much as their isolation, which causes the Dominicans to take themselves so very seriously and renders them so extremely sensitive to criticism or jokes on the subject of their country, customs or revolutions.
Foreigners sometimes complain that the affirmations of Dominicans cannot be trusted. In many cases investigation has shown that these foreigners were misled with regard to some mine, woodland or other property they had come to buy. Persons anxious to sell mines and other undeveloped properties have not distinguished themselves for veracity in any country, and with regard to sincerity in general the Dominicans may be regarded as no better but certainly no worse than the general run of humanity. With their personal friends they are generally loyal and true, but in their political relations the picture is not so attractive; for while there have been many cases where subordinates have followed their fallen chief into exile rather than submit to the victor, it is saddening to note the frequency with which governors of provinces and other local authorities have betrayed the confidence reposed in them by the chief executive, and have initiated or joined revolutionary uprisings. I have heard both ex-President Jimenez and ex-President Morales sorrowfully complain that their fall was due to the treachery of trusted subordinates. A particularly repulsive case of perfidiousness was that of General Luis Felipe Vidal, a prominent politician, who participated in the murder of President Caceres, though he had only a few hours before visited the President, played billiards with him and fondled his infant daughter.
Of all amusements there is none which appeals so strongly to every class of the population as dancing. Every public holiday is an excuse for the giving of a “baile” or dance, and when holidays are scarce the “baile” is arranged anyhow. So, while elsewhere special occasions are celebrated by banquets, here the rule is to give a dance. Historical anniversaries, political triumphs, religious holidays, weddings, birthdays, christenings: all are celebrated by dances. Waltz music is popular but the favorite dance music is the pretty Porto Rican “danza,” which is kin to Mexican airs and to the Cuban “guaracha” and may be compared to a flowing brook, now gliding along serenely, now rushing in cascades. The dances are often interrupted by the serving of sweets and ices.
In the country the dance music is quite different. A rhythmic beating is kept up on a drum made of a barrel or hollow log and rude fiddles or guitars or an accordion play an accompaniment. To the traveler, riding along his road at night, the deep regular rumbling of the drums of distant “bailes” comes with indescribable weirdness. In some dances the participants engage in a monotonous chant, in others there are pauses in which the young men must quickly improvise verses on some subject suggested by one of the lassies. In the cities the dances begin at ten o’clock at night and last until the wee hours of morning, but in the country they begin at almost any time and occasionally last two or three days–especially during the Christmas holidays.
These country dances with drum accompaniment are similar to those popular among the negroes in Porto Rico and are probably an African legacy. But, like Porto Rico, the Dominican Republic is absolutely free from the practise of those barbarous negro rites, of which dances like these often form part, and which are known in Haiti under the name of “voudou,” in Cuba under that of “witchcraft” and in the British West Indies under that of “obeah,” and which sometimes lead even to human sacrifices. This is all the more remarkable in Santo Domingo as the adjoining Republic of Haiti has been the worst sufferer from such practices.
The country dances are occasionally the scenes of violent personal altercations. While drunkenness is very rare and a drunkard is regarded almost as a social outcast, the countrymen are fond of regaling themselves with rum made of cane juice, and at dances where such rum is served it is not infrequent for some one to become unduly excited. If he happened to meet another in the same condition and a controversy arose with reference to some dusky damsel, a frequent unfortunate outcome was, until lately, for both to draw revolvers and blaze away at each other and if ejected from the house to stand nearby and fire through the wooden walls. In Porto Rico such affairs are decided with the machete and only the immediate combatants are hurt, but revolver bullets are more dangerous to the innocent bystander than to those doing the shooting. In Macoris I was told of a dance where the casualties were fifteen killed–more than in the average revolution. Yet so deep-seated is the fondness for dancing that after the smoke has cleared away and the dead or wounded victim been removed, it has often happened that the ladies dried their tears and men and women continued with the “baile.”
Up to the time of American intervention in 1916, the practise of carrying weapons was general. In the country a man strapped on his pistol or carried his gun as he would in other countries put on his necktie or take up his cane. At the railroad stations in the Cibao I have sometimes observed everyone congregated about the station wearing a revolver more or less visible, except two or three, evidently the poorest farm-laborers, who could not afford anything more than a dirk and who gazed at the others with envious eyes. Beautiful pearl-handled revolvers were proudly exhibited to the public eye, and on one occasion I saw a little boy not over ten years old with a revolver that reached to his knee. The habit was all the more indefensible as it was absolutely unnecessary, Santo Domingo being as safe a country to travel in as any other. Governors of provinces sometimes forbade the carrying of arms, but the prohibition was rarely enforced with reference to their friends and adherents. The American authorities have put a stop to the habit, however, and confiscated all the arms they could find; some 15,000 rifles and revolvers have thus been taken up.
After all, the average Dominican will resent a shot less than a blow. A story is told of a prominent youth in the capital who received a slap during a quarrel; the aggressor fled, but the young man kept holding his handkerchief to his cheek for days until he met his assailant and was able to wipe out the insult in blood.
Only in the larger towns are there facilities for the gratification of the popular fondness for theatrical performances. Puerto Plata has a pretty theatre. In Santo Domingo City the ancient Jesuit church, long abandoned, was converted into a theater, the stage being located where the altar formerly stood, the boxes occupying the aisles, and the chairs of the audience being arranged in the nave; but a new open-air theatre, the “Teatro Independencia,” is more commodious. The Spanish drama is popular, as well as the delightful Spanish “zarzuela” or musical comedy. Owing to the isolation of the country it is not often visited by good professional troupes, and the interior is entirely dependent upon amateur talent.
In social life the clubs are prominent features. A town must be unimportant indeed if it has not at least one club where the men can meet, read the papers and play cards or billiards. The first attention shown the stranger within the gates is to take him to the club and enroll him as a visitor, this action being equivalent to a general local introduction. The clubs give pleasant musical and literary entertainments and dances attended by the best local society. In Santo Domingo, Puerto Plata and Santiago the ladies have a club of their own where they can meet and chat to their hearts’ content. Needless to say the most popular entertainments and dances are those given by the “Club de Damas.” All these clubs have been of great value in the social development of the country and many of them have given important impulses to education.
Another valuable contribution to civic development is rendered by the municipal bands existing in many towns. They are voluntary associations and tend to awaken in the inhabitants an interest and pride in their city. On Sunday night and sometimes on other nights during the week they play on the plaza, while the people, following the usual custom in the Spanish cities, promenade up and down. Such scenes are very attractive, the ladies, dressed in their best, with their light gowns brilliant in the moonlight; the men walking with them or watching the promenaders. It is on the plaza and in the ball-room where Cupid’s arrows do most execution.
Of late years some interest has been shown in athletics, and baseball has invaded the island. Bicycle races occasionally form part of public celebrations, and horse-races and tournaments have long been popular.
Santo Domingo may be said to have two carnivals, one on St. Andrew’s day, November 30, the other during the three days preceding Lent. The former is the more exciting. Until recent years there was not a person in the capital and Santiago, where the populace was most given to the typical diversion of the day, who did not voluntarily or involuntarily participate therein. The diversion consisted in throwing water or flour or both on everyone within reach. The poorer people would arm themselves with great syringes and discharge them at every passerby or through the keyholes of house-doors. Others would station themselves at points of vantage with barrels and tubs of water and duck the unwary they were able to entrap. People of the better class would place great tubs of water on their balconies or roofs, which the servants would assiduously keep filled while their masters emptied buckets-full on friends in the street. The young men rode through the streets in open carriages, bombarding the ladies on balconies and housetops with eggs filled with perfumed water, and receiving drenchings in return. Within the last few years the authorities have restricted or prohibited the throwing of water, and the principal celebration of the day is now what is called a “white dance” given by the better society, at which the participants are supposed to come dressed in white in order that the many-colored confetti, serpentines and gilt powders which those present throw at each other between dances, may appear to better effect. During the carnival proper, before Lent, the streets are filled with masked persons in groups or alone, who dance, make impudent remarks or otherwise indulge in nonsense, to the special delight of the ubiquitous small boy. The better class celebrate with masquerade balls, where the merry spirit of the Dominican is given free rein.
The principal vice of the country is gaming. Men of the better class play cards, dominoes, chess, checkers and billiards, for money, but they do so rather for pastime than for gain. Among the poorer classes, however, the predominant idea is that of making money quickly. Cards and dice are often used, but the typical form of gambling, the one at which the poor countryman is fondest of staking his hard-earned wages, is the cockfight. Every town has its cockpit where on Sundays and holidays the barbarous sport is carried on in the presence of crowds of whooping, screaming spectators who often ride miles to attend. The authorities claim that efforts have been made to stop this sport, but that they have all been unavailing. It constitutes a source of municipal income, the right to open cockpits being annually conceded to the highest bidder by the various municipalities. Raffles and lotteries are also permitted by law, being subject to taxation by the municipalities, and in one or two cities there are municipal lotteries.
With respect to morality the same conditions may be said to prevail in Santo Domingo as in other southern countries, the women being in general virtuous and pure and the men inclined to amorous intrigues. The official statistics relating to marriages and births show that of the children born in the Republic almost sixty per cent are illegitimate. These figures, while serious, are rendered less alarming than would appear at first sight by the large number of what the census-takers term “consensual unions” among the humbler classes, or cases where a man and woman, though not united by marriage ceremony, live together publicly as man and wife, rear a family and are as faithful to each other as if they were legitimately married. “Married but not parsoned” is the way in which such unions are referred to in some of the British West Indies. The considerable number of these unions may be explained by the high cost of the marriage ceremony,–for while there are some priests ready to waive their fees for a religious wedding and some alcaldes who are satisfied with what the law allows for the civil ceremony, others are not so complaisant–also by the fact that such unions have become so common that the parties see nothing wrong in them, and further by the circumstance that the parties often believe it more to their advantage to remain single rather than to be married. A friend of mine had a respectable colored man working on his plantation, the head of a large family, but not married to the woman with whom he had been living for over a score of years and to whom he was devotedly attached. My friend endeavored to persuade him to marry the woman, but the answer was a determined negative. “If I marry her she will know I have to support her and she may get careless and lazy. Knowing that I can leave her when I like she will continue to behave herself.” Persuasion was then tried with his wife and her refusal was almost identical: “If I marry him he will know that I am bound to him and then he may go and fall in love with some other woman. Knowing that I can leave him when I like he will continue to behave himself.”
The homes of the poorer people are mere huts generally built of palmwood and covered with palm-thatch. The houses of the country people are exactly like the “bohios” used by the Indians at the time of the conquest, as pictured and described by the early writers. In the towns outside of the capital wooden houses are the rule and some of the wealthier people have pretty chalets. In the large cities there is a good deal of “mampostería” construction: brick or stone work, covered with cement. In the capital the walls of a majority of the houses have come down from the early days and are of great solidity–here a man’s house is literally his fortress. The barred windows of the olden days are here still to be seen. One-story structures are the rule, and there are few if any of more than two stories. The heat of the climate makes window-glass impracticable and the windows and doors are fitted with shutters which permit the air to pass through. Except in the houses of the wealthiest persons the furniture is very simple and of small amount. In the parlors a caneseat sofa, several rockers and chairs and a small table with a few knicknacks are arranged everywhere in the same way. The bedsteads are of iron and the bedroom furniture is reduced to the simplest articles. The floors are bare except for a few rugs. The climate is responsible for the simplicity of the furniture, as carpets would breed insects, and more furniture would mean endless cleaning and dusting, since everything must be open all day. The kitchens are not furnished with iron stoves, but cooking is done on brick hearths, as in Cuba and Porto Rico. The most serious drawback about Dominican houses is the want of proper bathing facilities and of sanitary closets, due to lack of running water in most cities. The most attractive feature of the houses is the patio, or yard, which is often gay with flowers, though not so assiduously cared for as in some other Spanish countries. In similarity to other tropical lands home life is not nearly so intense as in colder climates.
CHAPTER XII
RELIGION
Catholic religion.–Concordat.–Ownership of church buildings.–Clergy.–Religious sentiment.–Shrines.–Religious customs and holidays.–Religious toleration.–Protestant sects.
The Roman Catholic creed has been the dominant religion of Santo Domingo from the time of the conquest. When Columbus arrived on his second voyage he brought with him twelve friars, some of whom were as holy men as their leader, the vindictive Father Boil, was a nuisance. Others were not long in arriving and soon the country had as many priests in proportion as Spain herself. Large estates came into possession of the church, and in the city of Santo Domingo imposing churches and spacious cloisters were erected, which still stand, either in ruins or used for religious or secular purposes. There were three monasteries, two nunneries, and some ten churches and chapels in the capital.
As early as 1511 bishops were appointed for Santo Domingo and Concepcion de la Vega and in 1547 the first archbishopric in the new world was established in Santo Domingo City. From 1516 to 1519 the island was governed directly by three friars, and the licentiate Alonso de Fuenmayor, who governed thirty years later, was not only governor and captain-general of the island, and president of the royal audiencia, but archbishop of Santo Domingo as well. The Inquisition was established in Santo Domingo in 1564.
With the decline of the colony the number of churchmen declined also, and by the middle of the seventeenth century the majority of the church buildings were closed and falling to ruin and the church’s vast country estates were abandoned. The revival of the country during the eighteenth century affected the church as well, but the occupation by Haitians and French during the beginning of the nineteenth century caused its influence to wane, and restrictive legislation under Haitian dominion and the expulsion of the archbishop for political reasons in 1830, severed all connection with Rome for many years. The first archbishop appointed after the independence of the Republic was consecrated in 1848.
The Roman Catholic religion is now the recognized state religion. In 1884 the Dominican government entered into an agreement with the Holy See according to the terms of which the archbishop of Santo Domingo is to be appointed by the Pope from a list of three names, native Dominicans or residents of the Republic, submitted by the Dominican Congress, which in turn engaged to pay the salary of the archbishop and certain other officials. The agreement as to the payments incumbent upon the Dominican government had the same fate as other financial contracts: it was observed for a short time and then disregarded, so that for years only small appropriations have been made for church purposes.
In the year 1908 a controversy arose with reference to the ownership of the buildings and lands occupied by the church. The archbishop and church officials claimed that such buildings belong to the church absolutely; while the government officials alleged that they are the property of the state, possessed by the church with the state’s consent. Previously few persons had ever given a thought to the matter, the church having as many buildings as it could properly care for, and more, while other former religious edifices were used by the state. Contributions for the erection and repair of churches were frequently made by Dominican towns without exciting discussion. The controversy of 1908 was precipitated by the determination of the church authorities to erect a mausoleum in the cathedral of Santo Domingo City for the remains of the late Archbishop Meriño. The Executive of Santo Domingo demanded that the government’s permission be first obtained, but the church officials refused to ask for such permission, holding it unnecessary. Neither side lacked historical grounds for its contention. In the old colonial days church and state were united and the questions of ownership of the church buildings never arose. When the Haitians assumed control in 1822 they considered the church edifices as the property of the state alone and religious services continued only by sufferance of the government. Upon the establishment of the independence of Santo Domingo, the new government, although friendly towards the Catholic Church, took a similar view of the ownership of church edifices and property. By law of June 7, 1845, of the Dominican Congress, all “censos” and other perpetual rents established in favor of the church were declared extinguished and by law of July 2, 1845, all property, real and personal, formerly belonging to convents and orders no longer in being in the country was formally proclaimed to pertain to the state. In 1853 burials in churches were prohibited by law of Congress as being dangerous to the public health, but in exceptional cases the Executive granted permission therefor on the payment of a fee which of late years has been $300. On the other hand, it was argued that the church has been in uninterrupted possession of its present buildings for centuries; that these buildings are not comprised in the laws of 1845; that a law of 1867 granting the gardens of the archbishop’s residence to the municipality of Santo Domingo for the establishment of a market and cockpit was repealed in 1871 as being a despoilment of the church and unconstitutional; and that when the mausoleum of Columbus was erected in the cathedral the committee in charge, presided over by the vice-president of the Republic, applied for permission to the authorities of the church. The dispute regarding the mausoleum of Archbishop Meriño came to an end when the government receded from its demand, but the main question is not regarded as settled.
At the present time the Republic is divided into fifty-seven parishes. The episcopal head is the Archbishop of Santo Domingo. In 1903, when old age had enfeebled Archbishop Meriño, one of his assistants, Monsignor Adolfo Nouel, was made titular Archbishop of Metymne, and on the death of the venerable churchman in 1906 succeeded him as Archbishop of Santo Domingo.
In the olden days many religious orders were represented in the island, but to-day the clergy is secular, with the exception of a few friars brought over in recent years from Spain and France. The majority of the priests are native Dominicans, graduated from the seminary in the capital. There are in the clerical body a number of black sheep, far too fond of the pleasures of the flesh. Of this stamp was a noted prelate, of whom I was told when I asked whether he was old: “Yes, quite old, his oldest son is over forty.” As a general rule, however, the priests of Santo Domingo are earnest, hardworking, honorable men. The standard is being raised through the efforts of the present Archbishop Nouel.
The unfortunate political history of the country has not been conducive to the establishment of eleemosynary institutions or to other philanthropic activity, and such work has devolved almost exclusively upon the priests. The names of many of these are held in grateful remembrance for their efforts in behalf of charity. Perhaps the most celebrated was Father Billini, who, a member of one of the foremost families of Santo Domingo, consecrated his life to helping his fellowmen. He was a father to the poor and through his efforts the insane asylum of Santo Domingo, an orphan asylum and a college were established. His name became notable in other directions also, for he was instrumental in the discovery of the remains of Columbus in the Santo Domingo cathedral in 1877. At times the methods of the good father were a little spectacular: thus on one occasion when supplicating Heureaux in behalf of several prisoners sentenced to death, he took off his hat and vowed he would not put it on again until the prisoners were pardoned, but the order of execution was carried out and ever afterwards Father Billini went hatless. In so great esteem is his name held that the only statue in Santo Domingo City, besides that of Columbus on the plaza, is erected to his memory.
Practically the entire population of the country is at least nominally Roman Catholic. Among the educated classes in the cities the women, as a rule, are devout; the men either openly acknowledge themselves free thinkers or their religion is very superficial indeed. On one occasion a Dominican earnestly assured me he was a Catholic and would always remain one, “but,” he added, “I cannot accept all the doctrines of the church: thus I do not believe in the Virgin Mary, nor the saints, nor the power of the priests to forgive sins, nor in the divinity of Christ, but I feel almost certain of the existence of a God.” The fondness for display makes the ornate ceremonies of the Catholic Church popular with all, however, and they are observed by officers of the state whenever possible. The president always goes to mass after taking the oath of office, and the army flags are solemnly blessed.
The less educated people of the cities and most of the country people not only hold their priests in great respect, but are blindly superstitious. It is common to find crosses in the courtyards of country houses, placed there to keep evil spirits away. Frequently also, three crosses are seen in conspicuous places near the roadside or even in the middle of the road. They are supposed to propitiate the Almighty, and pious persons mumble prayers as they pass them. When the destruction wrought by the Martinique volcano became known here, the dismay of the countrymen was responsible for more than one “calvario” (calvary), as these collections of crosses are called. It is especially desired by the country people to receive the last sacraments from the priests before death. On one occasion far out in the country I met a crowd of people engaged in transporting a dying man many miles to the priest in the nearest town. When asked why the priest was not called to the sick man, they explained innocently: “He couldn’t come. The priest is too fat.”
There are in the territory of the Republic several shrines of more than usual renown, which at certain seasons of the year attract crowds of worshipers, some coming all the way from Porto Rico. Wonderful cures of invalids are registered which recall the miracles of Lourdes. The most celebrated of these churches is the one on the Santo Cerro, the Holy Hill, built on the exact spot where forces of Columbus planted their cross when defending the hill against the Indians. After the Indians had stormed the place all their efforts to destroy the cross were unavailing, so the story goes, and they were finally driven to precipitate flight by the apparition of the Virgin, sitting on the cross. A church was founded on the spot and a convent near by. During the dark years of the colony the convent was abandoned and fell to ruin but at no time was a priest lacking to look after the site of the miracle. In the time of Heureaux the humble wooden chapel then crowning the hill was replaced by a larger but modest brick church, the greater part of the bricks being carried up from the ruins of the old city of La Vega which lie at the foot of the hill. The church occupies an eminence overlooking the great Royal Plain. Its most prized treasure, which is reverently kissed by the priest before he shows it to the stranger, consists of two splinters about an inch long, of black wood, parts of the original cross of Columbus, enclosed in another small cross of gold filigree work. A larger piece of the original cross is kept in the cathedral at Santo Domingo City, to be exhibited on special occasions. The pieces of the original cross carried away by the Spaniards were enough to make a score of crosses, yet nevertheless there was always some wood left, which circumstance was heralded as an additional miracle.
Within the church on the Holy Hill, in one of the chapels, there is a hole in the stone floor a little over two feet square and deep, which is pointed out as the exact place where the cross of Columbus stood. There is nothing so coveted by pilgrims as to be able to kneel in this hole and offer up their prayers. The soil from this spot is credited with strange powers, such as that of healing wounds on which it is laid, and that of causing floods to subside, when sprinkled on the troubled waters. The late Archbishop Meriño assured me that the miraculous nature of the spot is evidenced by the fact that however much soil is taken out of the hole, the bottom thereof always retains the same level, but my later inspection of the dry yellow earth at the bottom disclosed nothing unusual. Near the Santo Cerro church is the trunk of the nispero tree, gnarled with age, from which Columbus is said to have cut the wood for his cross. All around are miserable shacks, inhabited, so the pure-minded priest of the church sorrowfully told me, by people the conduct of many of whom is quite at variance with the holiness supposed to pervade the place.
The town of Bayaguana, to the northeast of Santo Domingo City, also attracts the faithful, especially about the first of the year, by reason of the fame of the “Cristo de Bayaguana,” a very ancient figure of Christ in the church of that town. In the same way Higuey in the eastern part of the island is specially noted for its shrine of the “Altagracia,” a picture of the Virgin, of which tradition says that in the early days of the colony it was given by an aged mysterious stranger to the father of a devout maiden who had pined therefor. The church is built on the site of an orange tree under which, it is said, the picture was first admired by the girl and her relatives; the trunk of this tree is shown behind the altar of the church. Pilgrimages to this place take place preferably about the twenty-first of January and the miracles ascribed to the Virgin are astounding. Miracles of quite a different nature are attributed to an image of Saint Andrew, in the capital. The populace confidently believe that as sure as this figure is carried to the street an earthquake will follow.
There are always several altars in the churches, surmounted by figures of the saints to whom they are dedicated. Some of these statues are quite beautiful, others, in some of the poorer churches, are hideous. As in other Spanish countries the churches are bare of seats, and people who attend either send small chairs before the service, or stand. It is not unusual to see well dressed ladies carrying their