The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1902-10-27
LAND COLUMBUS
CHOSE FOR A HOME
REMAINS REST IN THE OLD
CATHEDRAL IN sANTO DOMINGO
RUINS OF HIS CASTLE.

There has always been more or less
confusion in the public mind as to the
difference between the two republics of
Santo Domingo and Haiti. AS a matter
of fact they might as well be a thou~
sand miles apart as far as resemblance
is concerned. Haiti is French speaks
a French patois and has almost entire
| ly driven out the whites, so that the
population is almost entirely made up
of the descendants of the slaves brought
from Africa. Santo Domingo has been
ruled by them and most of the business
of the republic is conducted by them.
The language is a good Spanish and an
| almost insuperable mountain range Sc
| parates the two republics. Haiti is the
| black republic" The other republic Is
no more than Cuba, for the whites rule.
| 1t is therefore at the present time a
safe place to visit, even though under
provisional government, one white pre-
! sident having driven out another in the
| recent revolution. And there Is no
more interesting place than the capital
! city, the oldest city on this side of the
! Atlantic.
There it was that Columbus was inn
| prisoned, and there the Columbus fam
! lily sought to make a home, selecting 1t
| as the fairest spot in all the newly dis
covered lands. The castle of Colon
still stands, a massive and imposing
ruin. But it was never completed and
never occupied. It's massive walls at
the city gate and overlooking the river
were too formidable in the early days,
and it was whispered about that
| Columbus was to be king, and this was
to be his impregnable stronghold 1t
was this story sent back to Spain that
made the tower his home instead, and
the castle built by Diego Columbus was
never completed by order of the king.
Just below it, on the river bank
stands the brOad-spreading cibo tree
which history says Columbus fastened
his boats to on his first arrival. II is
five hundred years old it is said, and
many grow to that age. Many hum
dreds of it's leaves find their way to all
parts of the world for the casual visitor
from the ship in port for the day must
tell the story and inclOse a leaf from
the famous tree in a letter back to
friends at home. The Spanish govern
ment sanctioned the story. during the
Columbian exposition in this country
at Chicago by sending cruiser to take
away to Spain two immense boughs of
the tree. What was done with them af-
terward no one in SantO Domingo
. knows, but they probably found a place
in the exhibit of Spain. The well OF
Columbus stands near the tree, a pool
, covered and surrounded by solid ma
y
. The water is fresh, that in the river is
, brackish for many miles farther up
and the mystery of its freshness no one
is able to explain. There are various
stores but the most probable is that II
is simply a spring protected by the
masonry from the old inclination to
! poison the water which an enemy was
in the habit of doing. The general be-
) lief is that it was piped in some mys-
| teriOuS manner from some distant river
1t was here the water supply for all the
: ancient vessels was obtained. and nc
: doubt many casks of it found their way
to Spain. 1t is open now, and little
; used except by the younger generation
who find it a safe swimming pool. II
is outside of the city wall and entirely
too far from the gate to justify a lazy
populace in seeking it for a city supply
Most of the water in daily use comes
from the cisterns, which are not always
J clean and contain animal life visible to
the naked eye. In fact, SO large are
the wrigglng animalculae that Ameri-
cans refer to them as "alligatOrs.'
When there is a drought and the els
terms are dry boys peddle cans of water
: about the streets, the supply generally
coming from a large cistern constructed
, by an American company which erected
= a brewery and operated it few months
Just below the castle, on the point al
, the mouth of the OZama river, is the
f tower unimpaired by age where Column
, bus spent so many weary hours. 1t is
tall and dTeary looking, the windows
are barely large enough to permit ray
of light to enter and the inner walls
are damp and dirty. a long wall runs
around it, and this contains the bar
racks of the army of today.-Washing-
. ton Star.