Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1871-07-07
Letter from Santo Domingo.
IFRoM OUR REGULAR CORRESPONDENT

| good preservation. iney are monuments OF
the wealth and prosperity of those hardy adven-
turers, and also of their perseverance and in
dustry in overcoming manifold difficulties
The ancient architecture of Santo Domingo is
feudal and warlike, rather than graceful and
poetical in style. The old churches and con-
vents are built Of massive blocks of stone, and
look quite as much like fortresses as like tenn
| pies dedicated TO the service and worship of
God. The church of In MERGED is prominent
example of this kind 1t is built oflarge blocks
| of limestone, which are now backened and
stained by time. The edifce is massive and i'm
| posing. 1t is diff1cult to classify the style of
architecture; as far as my observation goes, it
seems peculiar to Domingo. The interior is
vast, and although one is impressed with its
baroness, one cannot but admire the graceful
| sweep of the arches. There are four chapels on
each side, each one is devoted to some special
| saint. The ornaments of the church are for the
most part cheap and tawdry, and sometimes
| even grotesque. The altar of 'fLa MERGED" is
| blue and silver and is very pretty. The steps
| leading to it are dark blue. The pulpit stands
apart from the altar, and is supported by
dark green sea monster with fiery red eyes.
| ne Ihli III liOHsAtt 10
into the air, and upon it rests the sounding
board. This certainly indicates very crude
taste in art. The other old churches are similar
in architecture to the one have described, of
course differing somewhat in their interior
decoration and adornments.
At present there is but one really fine picture
in Santo Domingo; it is an Immaculate COncep-
ton by Murillo. In bye-gone times there were
| in the convent and church Of San Domingo, pic
lures by MuriQo, and by Valasquez, but during
the occupation of Domingo by the Spanish and
then by the French, these protectors, upon leay-
ing the island robbed the Dominicans of what
ever valuable paintings they possessed. The
| Conception is Enthusiastically MurillO. In pose
and expression it is very similar to the Immacu-
| late Conception in the Louvre by the same mas
ter. In this Dominican picture there are no
| cherubims. The Blessed Virgin stands upon
crescent. She is clothed in white with full flow
| ing sleeves, and has also an outer robe of blue
| Her hair is uuconfined and ripples down her
back; her hands are clasped upon her breast
her head is inclined slightly to one SIDE and her
| eyes are fixed as if gazing upon some extatic
vision. The picture is exceedingly beautiful,
but it is unfortuna tely hung so high, that one
with difficulty studies its varied beauties. The
back ground approaches a deep amber in color.
This picture is in the cathedral, as are all the
pictures of any merit, in Domingo.
| Near the grand altar is large picture of the
| Madonna and Child. 1t is rather Byzantine in
| STYLE The Mother of Christ stands upon
golden pedestal. Her robe is OF cloth of gold
thickly studded with roses, her mantle is of the
same material and design. She bears the child
Jesus upon one arm; he is dressed like mother
and has a golden halo about his head. The vlr-
gins head is covered by her mantel. Two
cherubs hold a crown above her head, another
cherub above these holds scroll upon which
are the words Ave Maria. The color of the faces
is dark, the expression is sweet and mild. The
| virgin holds red rose in one hand. At the foot
ofthe pedestal King Ferdinand and Queen Isa-
bella are kneeling. Their hands are clasped upon
their breasts, and their eyes are looking up to
the blessed mother and child. The color is rich
and warm. This is evidently a very old picture
The people of Domingo have very little to lift
| them up into higher life. Their love of the
beautiful is generally lavished upon the cultiya.
| ton of flowers, and some of these are exquisite.
| If annexation to some great nation should ever
| take place, commerce would revive and wealth
flow in, and with this new prosperity, in which
the church would share, artwould revive for in
Domingo, as in all Catholic countries, the
churches are the repositories of art.
The present Domnicans are a crude, weakly
people. They are as low down in the physical
scale as they are in the moral and aesthetic. As
said in former letter, they are mostly
mixture of French, Spanish and African, and
by this process of amalgamation they have be-
come very much degenerated / suppose in the
interior to the mixture of these three races is an
additional ingredient of the old aboriginal
stock. The progress of races, both moral and
physical, has always possessed great deal of
interest for me; therefore never lost an OPP
portunty while in Domingo of observing the
development to which the people had attained
AS the children from earliest infancy up TO
six or eight years are almost always naked, one
has very little difficulty in studying their physi-
cal peeuliarites In Domingo the science of
obstetrics is in as unflourishing a condition
as are all the other sciences and arts. After the
birth of child, in cutting the umbiical cord,
it is never cut short enough; in addition to this
defect, the abdomen of the infant is either not
swathed at all, or only for very short time. In
consequence, the navel prOtrudes from half to
three-quarters of an inch, and is sometimes
nearly as large around as my thumb. The alb
domen, from want of proper bandaging, be-
comes large, and the child is what is
vulgarly, but expressively termed "pot-bellied"
Of course, this occurring through successive
generations, tends to great deterioration of the
race
The formation of the women also indicates a
very crude physical state. Their breasts are
long, habby and narrow. They are often long
enough to throw over the shoulder, and enable
a child, which is carried on the back, to suckle
from them. These latter instances l found
among the lower orders of people, but even
among the higher one never finds a really fine
physical woman.
l rode out one day with friend to Agna
Dulci, about four miles from San Domingo City
1t is on the west bank of the Ozama river, and
the land about there derives its name from
spring of cool sweet water, which bubbles up
from among the stones. We halted and dis
mounted from our horses on hill just above
the spring. Under large tree, close by the
spring, was a group of men, women and chill
dren. Most of them were seated upon the
ground, and were engaged in washing small
roots, which the natives use for starch. 1t was
a most savage looking group. The men wore
nothing but pantaloons; a petticoat and low
chemise served for the women, and nearly all
the children were naked. They were all as
black and polished as ebony, and spoke harsh
Spanish pdtois.
Within the city walls the authority of the
governor seems to be almost absolute, both in
regard to matters private as well as political
To illustrate this, will relate bit of my per-
sonal experience. One beautiful day | took a
volume of Emerson, and went to enjoy an hour
or SO sitting on the piazza of friend who lived
on the sea shore. AS | went out, told our
black boy, Louis, where | was going, so that
if it should rain he could bring me an UNI
brella and oyershoes. / soon became absorbed
in my book, and before was aware of gather
ing clouds the rain was descending in torrents,
l -