Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1871-02-22

| The better classes have meat about twice week,
cattle being raised in small numbers on the high
lands, but beef sells for eight or ten cents
| pound-which is far beyond the means OF the
poor-and besides it is hard to keep in this eli
mate Everybody keeps poultry, and when there
are ships in port chickens are worth fifty
cents piece and eggs thirty cents dozen.
But as soon as the last VI sse shows her stern to
the rickety little fort at the east end OF the viii
lage, down tumbles all commerce, and TIC Peg
pie become frightfully lavish IN the use OF thelr
remaining stock of beef and eggs.
OF the products of the soil this account is
| given;
The fruits most abundant are the orange,
lemon, lime, cocoauut, cacao, banana, pine,
alligator-pear, guaya, and tamarind. Pine
apples are immensely large and rich. Some
measure ten inches in diameter, and one of the
naval officers was recently presented with pine
weighing twenty-seyen pounds. All these fruits
are found in practically unlimited quantities,
the production being checked only by the diff
Guilty of transportation. Apples, peaches, black
berries, strawberries, and watermelons flourish
| on the mountains. Indian corn grows magniti-
| Gently. Three crops are raised on the same land
| every year; two OF these crops are each larger
than an average crop in the states besides being
| of the best quality. Mountain rice is abundant.
| Potatoes, yams, plantans, cabOages, beets tur-
/ nps, cucumbers, lettuce, tomatoes, egg-plants,
| peas, beans, and | know not how many other
culinary vegetables are produced in perfection
| OU SUBJECT VI Suudol6S OuI llidiy hls
! Burr, is enthusiastic. The Santo DOMINGO
squashes are the best squashes in the world
| Last March Mr.. Burr sent 1900 pounds of this
| noble vegetable to the New York market and
| got fifteen cents pound for his cargo, and the
| labor of cultivation was almost nothing. IneY
| say there is always market for squaShes il the
| United States Still, lnten1 ding immis grants will
| do well to remember that even squash can be
| over done.
The reports of the value and variety of timber
| m ha island nrOb4blV pNnJUpF1ftl-
| The kinds most used for commercial purposes
| are mahogany, logwood, Ii 5numvit@, iron-wood
| and satin-woOd, and these are aid by the pota-
| nists of the expedition, as well as intelligent
| inhabitants with whom | have talked, to be
OF great abundance and large growth. NJ.
| Burr who was Il union soldier, and has lived
here three years, says that the mIho Gany tree
IN this paIt of the island is from foot to feet
in diameter; lignumvllae sc, 4 to inches; SATIN
wood, 6 to Is inches; loswood, 8 to is inches;
ron-wood, II to 80 inches. So far as have
learned, there are no saw-mills-thou5 I'll the
water-power is abundant-anG sawn timber is
consequently imported. Indeed no use at all is
made of any of the mill-streams. The climate
and SOL seem to be admirably suited 10 the
sugar cane, but the processes of extracting the
juice are so bad that the crop is not 50 valuable
rs it ought to be. The cane grows very rich
and hardy, and hear of plantation WHICH has
been running 40 years without Teplanting, yet 1t
| il still strong and healthy. Once in five years
the stubble was cut and the land burnt over, but
| the soil has ueveI been stirred. PiOws are
| uuheard Of. The tobacco raised near SANTANA is
| very gOod-much better than our own-Out it is
esteemed inferior to that of the southern side of
| the island. I am an cid and fastidious SMOKER
| but have no hesitation in pronouncing the one
| cent cigar of SANTANA better than you can get
| for 10 OF IS cents ia New York, and the cent
| cigar of Santo Domingo equal to the % cent Re
| galias or Patagas. The smoking tobacco
| would sell in the states for $50 or 81 pound;
here it brings 20 c nts. 1t is too stron1 for the
| ordinary smoker, but Its favor is very fine. The
| inhabitants, of both sexes, chew tobacco great
| deal, but do not manufacture the leaf for chew
| ing purposes as we do. They have highly
| Sociabe way Of smoking, passing about cigar
| froB one to another, as the calumet is passed
| around at an Indian council. Indeed, it is
considered grossly eXtravagant and profigate to
/ smoke the whole of a cigar. While there are
any ships IN port, the population keeps itself
in tobacco by picking up "stumps."
The climate at this season is of course not in
salubnous, and Professor Newcomb, who is
charged with reporting on the health of the ISL
and, is understood to be of opinion that white
men and women may go to SANTANA, at least,
with entire safety at proper seasons of the year,
and safely remain there as residents of that part
of the island.
On the question of jobs, the Tribune corre-
| spondent says:
The most important witness was Victor DeS-
| ruisseauX, the president Of the municipal Coun-
ell, and custodian of ali the records of land and
other official documents. He stated that he was
in charge of all the government documents and
records that were saved at the time LuperOn in
command of the TELEGRAPH, shelled the town
and destroyed it by tire, two or three years ago,
as well as all the records OF an official character
of transactions since that time. The commits
sion examined the records of the de eds, mort
cages, transfers, leases, &C.. in the hands OF the
gentleman named, and all transactions relating
TO citizens of the United States were translated
into English by persons officially attached to
The commission, and properly certified These
will be incorporated in the report, and the doc
umentS will be presented in their official torn,
entire. And here is the important fact. The
only Americans owning land in the vicinity
of SANTANA bay are Mr.. Joseph w. Fabens
and his grantees, SpofOrd Brothers of
New York, the owners of the Tybee steamer
which plies between here and New York, who
nave about thirty acres west Of the village and
back OF their wharf and warehouse; and Jud re
O'Sullivan of New York, who has grant of a
tract of about thirty acres lying between that Of
Spofford Brothers and the villa! e. Both are
leased for low rent, in one case SIP per aunum,
and renewable at will in perpetuity, with the
| clause added "if there be no law to prevent the
| same" The alcalde thought the title a very
| doubtful one. All the other grants to Ameri-
| cans are of small lots by the municipality to
resident traders, or for short terms, as Mr.. Burr,
MuOSG l6dSc VI his Is IOI I0Eee years.
His, however, is leased from private individual,
| who holds under an ancient Spanish title. No
| Transfers of government or municipal land about
| the bay or vicinity have been made since the
| treaty, and none TO Americans at any time, eX-
| cept those mentioned above. This sets at rest
all the scandal about American officers specu-
| lating in SANTANA lots and lands while they were
| negotiating treaty.
There seems TO be no doubt that the people are
now nearly unanimous in favor of annexation.
As an indication of the future, however, their
present opinion is of very little value. They
were equally united some years ago in favor of
Spanish rule, but in very short time the
Spaniards were repealed with even more
unanimily and warmth than had marked their
reception. The reasons for the rapid change OF
feeling toward the SpaDiards, as given to the
correspondent of the New York World, have
some pertinence:
Santo Domingo is a land of Free Masons.
| Lodges abound in this vast wilderness, and the
| Masonic order rs power IN the land The new
archbishop celebrated his first Sunday IN his di.
ocese by preaching in the cathedral OF Santo Do
| mingo hot ana terrible sermon against Ma
sonry. He refused Christian burial to a certain
popular Mason who died; and the populace
sorely angered, picked up priest carried hun
with them, and had the service performed. At
| this stage of the conversation, IN which Colonel
| Abren set forth these views, another eminent
parsonage of the island who was present inter-
vened TO insist that neither the officiasm of the
SpanaTds nor yet the indiscreet zeal OF their
| berated archbishop must be considered the main
cause OF the speedy downfall of their
popularity. Ghis he found in their indecent
interference with popular rights. They had actu-
ally undertaken to enforce sanitary regulations
(ne sad, with an unaffected warmth Of indi gna.
tion), visiting peoples houses, and asking
questions as to their cleanliness and their diet,
questions not TO be endured" Nor must it be
forgotten that they had inflicted "new taxes on
the people," When | asked what taxes the peo-
pie now pay, the Spaniards having gone, found
them 10 consist only Of a license, ranging from
50 so 70 SIS, payable s mi-annually, by such as
transact business, and Of stamps ranging from
IS cents upward to 81, which stamps are affixed
only to licenses and to documents transferring
property. There are no stamps on receipts, there
is no poll-tax, no tax on real estate, no income
tax, and no legacy duty. My interlocutors
seemed to think the notion of imposing any one
OF such taxes as these an abOminatiOn not TO be
endured.