Mountains.—Valleys and plains.—Rivers.—Lakes.—Temperature and rainfall.—Hurricanes.—Health conditions.
It is related that an English admiral, in endeavoring to illustrate to George III the topography of one of the West India Islands crumpled up a piece of paper in his hand and laid it on the table before the monarch, saying: "That, sir, is the island." The traveler touring the West Indies finds the story following him from place to place. Among the islands which claim to have given origin to the anecdote is Haiti, and however that may be, such description seems to apply admirably. Rugged irregular mountain ranges interspersed with valleys form the greater part of the surface, while in the southeast a great plain extends from the mountains to the coast.
The mountains of the Dominican Republic may be grouped in five principal ranges, two along the northern coast, one in the center of the island, and two in the southwest. They all extend from east to west and present numerous offshoots, especially the central range which is the most important one and comprises the highest peaks.
One of the northern ranges is the short Samana Range, beginning at Cape Samana, extending the length of the Samana Peninsula, over thirty miles, and ending near the Gran Estero. The greatest altitude is attained by Mt. Pilon de Azucar and Mt. Diablo which are 1900 and 1300 feet in height, respectively. This group at first sight appears to be an extension of the second chain, the Monte Cristi Range, but its geological formation proves it rather to belong to the great central range. It was probably at a remote period an island lying off from the mainland.
The other northern range has its beginning near Samana Bay and extends all the way to Monte Cristi. It is known as the Monte Cristi Range though the eastern portion is also called the Sierra de Macoris. It sends several branches to the coast, the most important one being that which terminates at Puerto Plata. The highest points of the range are Mt. Diego de Ocampo, with an altitude of 4000 feet, Nord Peak 3500 feet, and Mt. Murazo 3400 feet. A notable landmark is Mt. Isabel de Torres, 2300 feet in height, which overlooks Puerto Plata. Its head is usually shrouded in a cap of clouds, and small mists frequently hover about its surface. To Columbus, passing out at sea on his first voyage, the cloudcap appeared shining like burnished silver in the morning sun. He took it to be snow until closer investigation disclosed its true nature, whereupon he named the mountain Monte Plata, or Silver Mount, and the port at the base was afterwards called Puerto Plata. The mountain is said to have been given its present name, Isabel de Torres, in honor of the wife of a prominent settler, Diego de Ocampo, domiciled in Santiago in the early days, after whom the great mountain near that city was named. According to a local legend, this couple, although blessed with worldly goods, was also mutually possessed of such a nagging spirit and ungovernable temper that a separation became necessary, the husband remaining in Santiago, the wife removing to Puerto Plata. When leagues intervened between them their conduct was so charming that the inhabitants of the two cities gave their names to the high mountains near the respective towns. "If you doubt the story," the legend concludes, "there are the mountains to prove it."
The principal mountain range, the Cordillera Central, begins at the extreme eastern point of the island, traverses the center of the Republic, crosses into Haitian territory and sinks into the sea at Mole St. Nicolas to reappear in Cuba, on the other side of the Windward Passage. It constitutes a part of the great ridge which forms the backbone of all the islands bounding the Caribbean Sea on the north. In the eastern part of Santo Domingo the range consists merely of a chain of high hills which rarely reach an altitude of more than 900 feet, but in the center and west of the Republic it assumes much greater magnitude, sending out branches which are important mountain chains in themselves, and several of its peaks are over 6000 feet in height. The highest point in the island and in the West Indies is Mt. Tina, with an altitude of 10,300 feet, a magnificent outpost of that branch of the central range which traverses the south-central portion of the Republic. The next highest point, is Yaque Peak, 9700 feet high, nearly at the center of the island. The dense jungle covering the rugged slopes of these giants has so far baffled the few attempts at exploration of their summits. To the west of Yaque Peak is Mt. Cucurucho, 7400 feet high, and to the northwest Mt. Entre los Rios, 8000 feet and Mt. Gallo, 8200 feet in height. It must be remembered that in the absence of any careful measurements, the altitudes given are mere approximations.
The Cordillera Central is peculiar in its numerous branches which are often more intricate in their ramifications and comprise loftier peaks than the parent range. The most important of these branches are those which extend from Mt. Banilejo to the southern coast, and fill the district between San Cristobal and Azua with a jumble of mountains. Besides Mt. Tina, already mentioned, their principal peaks are Mt. Rio Grande, 6900 feet, overlooking the beautiful Constanza Valley, and Mt. Valdesia, 5900 feet high. One of the best defined ranges on the south is the Sierra del Agua, which runs south from the Central Cordillera to the San Juan River. The branches on the north are even more numerous and cover a greater area. Among them special reference may be made to the Sierra Zamba, which runs parallel to the Yaque del Norte River, the Sierra de San José de las Matas, the Santiago Range, the Jarabacoa Range and the Cotui Range.
The fourth principal mountain range of the Republic, the Neiba Range, is sometimes classed as a part of the Cordillera Central. It rises on the western bank of the Neiba River and runs west parallel with the central chain, into Haitian territory. Among its principal peaks is Mt. Panso, 6200 feet high. The fifth principal range, situated in the extreme southwest of the Republic, is known as the Baboruco Range, and sometimes as Maniel de los Negros. It begins at the Caribbean coast south of Barahona Bay and runs west into Haiti, forming an integral portion of the mountain chain that traverses the great peninsula in the south of the Republic of Haiti.
These several ranges and their offshoots divide the country into a number of distinct regions, which, owing to the difficulty of communication, have developed more or less independently of one another. The most important division is that effected by the broad central belt of mountains which, twelve miles wide in its narrowest part, and extending from the shores of the Mona Channel to and beyond the Haitian frontier, constitutes a rugged barrier between the north and the south of the Republic.
The district to the north of the Central Cordillera, comprising the richest portion of the country, still retains its old Indian name "Cibao"—a word which awoke fond hopes in the heart of Columbus who identified it with "Cipango," the Japan he was so eagerly seeking. The Cibao includes the northern slope of the central range with the fertile valleys enclosed by branches of that range, the Samana peninsula, the Monte Cristi Range with its valleys and coastal plains, and particularly the magnificent valley of the Cibao, which lying between the central chain and the Monte Cristi Range, extends all the way from Samana Bay to Manzanillo Bay. The length of this remarkable valley is about 150 miles, its average breadth is 10 miles in the northwestern and 15 miles in the southeastern part, and it comprises the most fertile lands and the most populous interior towns of the Republic. The highest part of the valley is about 600 feet above sea-level and is situated at its middle point, near the city of Santiago, where a line of low hills dividing the valley into two parts forms a watershed for its rivers. The northwestern of these two sections is known as the Santiago or Yaque valley and forms the greater portion of the basin of the Yaque del Norte, while the southeastern half, through which the Yuna River flows, is the superb Royal Valley or Royal Plain.
One of the most beautiful views in the Cibao Valley, and in the world, is obtained from the historic eminence of Santo Cerro, an outpost hill of the central range, situated about three miles from the city of La Vega. From the foot of this hill the great plain stretches into the distance, meeting the azure sky on the eastern horizon, and far in the north skirting the brown slopes of the lofty Monte Cristi mountains, the more remote peaks of which are but faintly perceptible in their envelope of blue haze. A rich carpet of dark green overspreads the plain, where lighter spots indicate patches of tilled land and silver threads betray the presence of streams. The cities of Moca and La Vega are easily distinguished and on clear days even San Francisco de Macoris can be discerned. Clouds or rainstorms moving over portions of the vast expanse, add animation to the landscape. Columbus, gazing out upon the enchanting scene, was so impressed by its magnificence that he gave the great vale the name it still bears—La Vega Real, The Royal Plain.
To the south of the central range the number of plains is greater. The largest expanse of level land on the island is the great plain which forms the southeastern part of the Dominican Republic. It includes almost the entire region east of the Jaina River and south of the central range, being about 115 miles long by 30 miles wide. This Eastern Valley or Seibo Plain, as it is sometimes called, is covered with forests and broad savannas, the most notable of which are comprised in the series of prairies known as Los Llanos, the Plains.
Two smaller and irregular plains are the arid Bani coastal plain, lying between the Nizao River and the Ocoa, with a length of 25 miles and a width ranging from 3 to 12 miles, and the Azua Valley, winding from Mt. Numero, near the Ocoa, to the Neiba River, a distance of 33 miles with a breadth of from 3 to 30 miles.
The Neiba Valley, situated in the southwestern portion of the Republic between the Neiba and the Baboruco Mountains is more regular. It is part of the valley which stretches from Neiba Bay, in Santo Domingo, to Port-au-Prince in Haiti. The Dominican portion is 65 miles long by 12 miles wide, and over one-half of its area is covered by the waters of Lake Enriquillo. The peninsula south of the Baboruco Mountains is an uneven plateau.
In the very center of the Republic, surrounded on all sides by lofty mountains of the central group, is Constanza Valley, rich but to-day almost inaccessible. No less rich, but many times larger, is the other interior plain, known as the Eastern or Central Valley, a succession of fertile valleys, extending from the Neiba River to St. Raphael, almost 115 miles, with a width of from nine to twenty miles. The entire plain is claimed by the Dominican Republic, but more than half is in possession of Haiti.
All these various valleys and plains enjoy the advantage of being watered by a comprehensive network of rivers of greater or less size. Many of the streams are navigable for miles in the lower part of their course by boats and canoes, affording means of communication to which the wretched condition of the land highways gives added importance.
The largest river of the Republic is the Yaque del Norte, some 240 miles in length, which rises on the slope of Yaque Peak, describes a circuitous northerly course, receiving numerous mountain affluents, until it reaches the vicinity of the city of Santiago de los Caballeros, whence, turning northwesterly it flows through the Santiago Valley, being reinforced by scores of tributaries. Its waters are finally discharged partially into Monte Cristi Bay and partly through its many mouthed delta into Manzanillo Bay. Detritus and driftwood brought down by the river, for many years entirely filled the Monte Cristi channel, and still constitute barriers which cause large lagoons to form in the delta and to inundate extensive tracts of rich farmland. Though the bars at its entrance render the river inaccessible for larger boats, it is navigable for canoes over its entire course in the Santiago Valley.
Another large river is the yellow Yuna, which waters the eastern part of the Cibao Valley. Rising in the mountains near the center of the Republic, it directs its course to the Royal Plain where it receives the waters of the rapid Camu, and thence flows eastwardly and enters Samana Bay through a marshy delta, its total length being over 200 miles. Part of its waters find their way through the great swamp, the Gran Estero, into the Atlantic Ocean. Up to its junction with the Camu, a distance of some 30 miles, the Yuna is navigable by boats and barges, and above the junction both the Yuna and the Camu are navigable by canoes for nearly 30 miles more though there are shallow stretches where the streams run rapidly and great care is necessary. In former days, the Yuna was one of the chief outlets of the Cibao; freight and passengers were transported over its course to Samana Bay and on the waters of the Bay to the town of Samana where transshipment to larger vessels took place. With the establishment of the railroad from La Vega to Sanchez, the river has lost much of its old-time importance.
The third largest river is the Neiba or Yaque del Sur, which rises near the sources of the Yaque del Norte and pursues a southerly direction for some 180 miles, emptying into Neiba Bay. The repetition of geographical means is one of the peculiarities of Santo Domingo. Thus there are two rivers and a mountain named Yaque, several mountains named Cucurucho, a mountain-range and two cities named Macoris while in a host of minor instances rivers, mountains and districts in different parts of the country have identical names. The repetition of names seems all the more curious as the Dominicans have not hesitated to change historic names of towns and streets. The Yaque del Sur, or Neiba River, receives several copious affluents, the largest one being the San Juan River. Much of the lumber exported at Barahona is floated down the Yaque and the river is navigable about 20 miles for flat-bottomed boats, though rapids and rocky ledges interpose obstacles.
The other rivers of the southern part of Santo Domingo are much smaller. The principal one is the Ozama, at the mouth of which the capital city is located. This river is about 60 miles in length and carries a surprising amount of water. Being navigable by barges for 9 miles from its mouth and by canoes for 15 miles, it forms an important avenue of supply for Santo Domingo City. In the three miles from its junction with the Isabela to the sea, its depth is about 24 feet, but over the sandbar at its mouth but 15 feet. Two rivers in the southeastern peninsula, the Macoris and the Soco furnish valuable outlets for the products of the sugar estates on their banks. A number of Dominican streams offer peculiarities. In the mountains there are brooks which gush out of the hillside, merrily ripple on for miles and vanish into the ground as mysteriously as they came. A number of coast streams sink into the sand of the beach, just before reaching the ocean. The Brujuelas River, which rises on the edge of the great plains, northwest of Bayaguana, flows south 25 miles through the plains and disappears in the ground a mile from the sea. Most streams ordinarily insignificant and innocent looking, are in a surprisingly short space of time converted by rains into raging torrents. The most formidable of these torrential rivers is the Nizao which flows into the Caribbean Sea near Point Palenque. In the lower part of this river's course its bed is about a mile wide, of which only a small portion is covered by the several branches of the river, the remainder 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:
Highest Lowest Mean AverageMean temperature temperature relative Average numbertemperature recorded recorded humidity rainfall of days°F °F °F per cl. inches with rain
January 74 86 61 85 2.01 11February 74 88 60 82 .96 8March 75 87 59 79 2.15 9April 76 91 59 80 6.86 14May 78 88 67 83 6.29 13June 78 90 67 86 7.42 18July 79 92 67 86 8.34 18August 80 95 68 84 6.77 17September 79 93 69 85 7.63 16October 79 92 67 86 9.63 15November 78 91 64 85 2.76 11December 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.
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.
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.
1913 1914 1915 1916Sugar (raw) kilos[1] 78,849,465 101,428,847 102,800,551 122,642,514value $3,650,556 $4,943,452 $7,676,383 $12,028,297Cacao kilos 19,470,827 20,744,517 20,223,023 21,053,305value $4,119,955 $3,896,489 $4,863,754 $5,958,669Tobacco leaf kilos 9,790,398 3,705,549 6,235,409 7,925,151value $1,121,775 $394,224 $972,896 $1,433,323Coffee kilos 1,048,922 1,831,938 2,468,435 1,731,718value $257,076 $345,579 $458,431 $316,827Hides and kilos 541,154 685,042 638,020 616,446skins value $241,072 $253,832 $270,356 $334,665Sugar cane value — $62,585 $195,782 $295,622Bananas bunches 592,804 114,142 327,169 348,560value $296,368 $57,044 $166,432 $172,615Beeswax andhoney value $206,749 $207,290 $144,579 $176,144Molasses kilos 12,064,038 17,962,441 15,484,205 18,752,440value $60,737 $93,787 $100,023 $120,738Forest value $167,037 $66,464 $64,368 $57,250productsCotton kilos 242,221 167,123 141,623 91,258value $85,398 $67,830 $60,600 $31,759All other value $263,224 $200,211 $240,457 $601,964exports————————————————————————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.