that of the more flourishing French colony, where
large plantations enriched their owners; and the
Catholic Church did more to soften and modify the
African character in the eastern part of the island.
T he consequence is the mixture of races and the
more tractable character of the people, who do not
cling to pagan superstitions and practices or retain
savage qualities to the same extent as those of
Haiti.
T he Dominican Republic is now divided into ten
provinces and districts, as follows, the figures indicating
the population according to the latest
official statements: Beginning at the western limit
on the south coast, Azu a de Compostela, 50,000,
Santo Domingo, 134,000, Santa Cruz del Seybo,
56,000; in the interior, Concepcion de la Vega,
132,000, Santiago de los Caballeros, 40,000, Bara-
hona, 20,000, San Pedro, 40,000; in the north-east,
Samana, 180,000; and on the north coast, Puerto
Plata, 40,000, and Monte Cristi, 40,000. T h e capital
town in each province and district has the same
name as the political division itself, except that the
port of Samana is sometimes called by the old name
of Santa Barbara, but the capital is not in every case
the largest town.
Of the five provinces into which the republic was
originally divided, that of Azu a de Compostela includes
a fine grazing region, the upper valley of the
Artibonite, and a district of mineral springs near the
borders of Haiti. A t San Juan de Maguana some
curious relics of the aboriginal cult have been found,
including a circle of stones roughly representing the
emblem of eternity, in the form of a serpent with
its tail in its mouth. Azu a on Ocoa Bay is the only
important port on the southern coast west of Santo
Domingo. The capital city itself is the oldest in
the western world, though not the original town of
Bartolomé Colon, which was on the other bank of the
Ozama River. There are still some vestiges of ruins
on the east bank which recall the memory of Columbus,
including those of the chapel where Bobadilla
proclaimed the deposition of the great Admiral and
his own assumption of command; and even traces
of the tower by the river’s mouth in which he was
imprisoned before being sent home in chains. T he
first settlement was destroyed by a hurricane in
1502, and the other bank of the river was chosen as
a more favourable site. T h e great tower of the
Homenage, built in 1509, still frowns dismally at
the entrance to the modern city, and farther up are
the ruins of the palace built by Diego Colon, and
known y e t as the Casa Colon.
Santo Domingo is a strange mixture of the enduring
relics of former splendour and the squalid domiciles
of the living generation. I t is partly inclosed
in the old Spanish walls over which appear the quaint
domes and belfries of churches and convents of the
sixteenth century. On the central plaza are the
government buildings and a cathedral more than
three hundred and fifty years old, with a statue of
Columbus in front of it; but crumbling ruins of
still earlier structures may be explored. Remains
of the convent church of San Nicolas, built in 1509»
are visible, and in that of San Francisco the dust of