Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1871-03-01
The San Domingo Commission.
PARTIAL RESULTS OF THE EXPEDITION.

Santa Barbara on the 9th Here several
days were spent while the steamer was coal.
ing. Then the voyage was made to San Do.
mingo City, which was reached, after expert.
oncing deal Of rough weather, on the lst Of
February
Most of the correspondents speaks in terms
Of admiration Of the natural features of Sa-
mana, and Of its advantages as harbor.
The town numbers about scventy-fve roofs,
: more or less Of thatch. and il contains about
two hundred aud seventy inhabitants OF
] these sixty.ive are colored persons Of Ameri-
can origin, the descendants Of one of the colo
MES brought out by Boyer in 1894 from
Baltimore and Philadelphia The children
under eight years of age are left naked
! The head Of every family is a landholder
and the colony progresses with little labor
: There are no signs OF thrift or energy any
, where. The little heavy work that is done
is left chiefly to the women and children
after the fashion Of barbarous nations Cloth
inc is scarce, since it is hardly necessary as q
protection from the weather
, There is a great scarcity Of furniture; a
few utensils serve for all the cooking. and
everything in and about the houses Indicate a
people Of little work, and few wants to be
supplied. The inhabitants here are English
blacks Indians, Spanish and French; and tho
language is mixture Of ALL In religion
most are Catholics though there is quite a
nourishug Methodist church. under English
protection.
The people in the back country live in
stil rudcr houses than those in town. Two
or three acres under cultivation furnish all
the fruits and vegetables that a family needs,
and the forests around add an abundance at
all times to the yield Of the gardens
Another writer, remarking on the luxuri-
auce of the primitive growth, says
d" Two minutes walk from the centre Of
SANTANA, and you are in the dense foliage and
underground Of the woods apparently never
before proanod by human footsteps The
very soil is invisible with thousand varieties
Of plant and shrub and flower, while the sun
light is almost shut out by the thick tree shade
extending for miles and miles, and scarcely
ever permitting the entrance Of a solitary sun
CLINT. The scenery a few miles behind Sa-
mana surpasses description. This portion,
and indeed every other portion of the island,
consists Of hill and valley, rolling on and on
in seemingly endless succession. The hills
sometimes grow to be mountains. thousands
Of feet in height, with sides straight and steep
as the forest trees which clothe them. The
country looks as if it had been plowed up by
mighty giants, hill torn from hill, and leap.
ing, dashiug water flung between to divide
and separate them forever
Standing on the summit Of a mountain
three miles from Santa Barbara, at an eleya-
| tion Of more than one thousand feet count.
ed the tops Of ten lesser mountains within a
circumference of nine miles. Their sides
were clothed with the mahogany, lignumyit.c,
the cocoa troc, the date-palm, the cotton tree,
the banana and the plantan. There was the
wild orange, with bark and leaf something
/ like the holly the bamboo, the mango, the
most beautiful shade tree in the world, beneath
which even tropical vegetation withers. But
the glory OF them all was the royal palm, run.
ming straight and bare as a ship-mast to a hight
Of often one hundred feet, and then throwing
out from its top its magnificent arms Of long,
sweeping boughs with leaves like so much
velvet, so soft and rich and glossy"
There are Catholic and Methodist
church at SANTANA The Catholic church is
a rude structure, much larger than the in-
SUI" " i'Iu'ci anu iuli OF tue
ouuest im'ses, dressed IN quaint. not to
say grotesque' haolilments' The Methodist
oiu,o" Is pul'u,ns u mas congregation ~
oluuing ABOUT 'nree hundred COMMITMENTS
os''y ueso1uiIn's Oh 'ne coiored colony sent
''OT, : n'll''''pn'n III 81 u
abundant are the orange, lemon, lime, cocoa
nut cacao, banana, pine, alligator-pear, guaya,
anna ~ ue-~pP'cS arc immensely
~ "u- i'0u' souio.',leS weighing as uluch
= su1uy Pounus .Ali 'noso iru.'s are 'ouna
~ PtA'','l'y un'I'n,'eu quahtities' the pro-
ue'.lou polus cn'cAeu oniy oy the dlhculty
I transportation. Apples peaches, black
o1i''''' s'ra"oeilles ana Watermelons uSur-
=" On 'uo mountains ny, lhulan corn grows
N. s"'l1sI'ly; lnrco crops are raised on
suo oa''i' llnu every year ; TWO oil these crops
So g. e'l'" ''!goI .uau oe average crop IN the
81 Oo,ug u tno ues' quality'-
~ - H0unNau'' o'a'oes' yahs'
'an'''n'' oapDases' peots' turn'ps, cueumoers
lo''u1o' 'o'i1.O's' egg Piah's' peas Deans Nc''
4'1 ~ Guuoeu "a peilecllon' m
~ '''lo0l u's'e Is also au abundance. Inc
n,.,s MS ua'u lo' ovil'uiercial purposes arc
o ,,',5.HJ, lo5"ooI' i'guun'iuo' l1on-wooa
hotaa;.., ~ ~, ""u us are sa'u oy 'he
oSTndanco and "I I. "a P0r,s,ou 10 pe OIL great
saw.miiis TIL s,o"'u' mere are no
dam, md avn ,i,,S ,nS "a'e,,P '',, Is aDun
eJ $50 ona 't,D1' 20 oora9 nenliy import
Anon "1a 'yo''1oG wv ''sD prouuccu'
fund an eyIrnn ,o, sa, II,1on, 'uo Ool'''s,on
Of M,ine who ME- Io''', . 49," III purr
bnnJroJ aorn1 49, u" est',.o 81 aDou' Que
rato r.onr 80, "l''" "0 '"''''''es a. pH-
VIII reasrd 20 ,ho o,;n,o
diversity ~ oni,ioD one noO,S S"u'u i; sumo
vinced hat Santo Domingo I. hoa,.s oOn,
any of our Southern states Dr. NswoSmh
one Of the attaches of tbe comn;s ao"'o "n
s;dars that Sonoono +; o,'l'osol, oou,
that with corc and nrecant;on W.; ia'',y, auu
can live in the ,ron;cs and he w. ".o yI sOus
in anv other nortiop IF tbo In IT., -
that the population of the nen;nsuIor IL abon,
1000 and that duri,s tbe veor ond;oa ay Is..
month the deaths were aboni seventaos s o .ra