The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-02-07

had been reared on Manhattan, before Plymouth or Jamestown was named. The dust of the discoverer rests today in the island.
 Then came the revolution and the sur- render of the island to the negroes: From that day to this Santo Domingo has been the scene of a progressive degeneration which has at last become utter, Upon it revolution has followed revolution gem eration after generation has been butch- cred by civil war. Sometimes the island has been republic. sometimes two Gov ernments have existed sometimes three and four; now the east and west were separated; now the north and the south. It has had Presidents. Dictators, Kings and Emperors. and all were petty des4 pots, ruling over disorderly and chaotic populations. The cities have been burned and left in ruins. The land has been sur rendered again to the jungle, while, in Isolation from the civilized world, the state of society has reverted fap toward the type of African slavery from which its people sprang. <.
 Importance of the Island.
 The island of Santo Domingo. or .Hayti, is one of the most richly endowed regions of the earth; land in which rdt is a sober statement) probably more elements of wealth are accumulated than~any other spot on the terrestrial globe; which, for three centuries. was the proudest pos session and the heaviest contributor to the treasuries, national and private, of Spain and France, and which today teens with wanton profusion of riches. wasting opulence. riot of unenjoyed wealth which. when 1t is recalled to mems recollection. will make Santo Domingo again the scene of civilized activity and fIa Of and innnTnara hla for tunes.
 The population of the island, according to the best calculations obtainable by re- cent explorers closely approximates 2,0O0,- 000. This is greater than that of Cuba. Three-fourths of the people are in the French speaking western part. in Hayti proper, much the more important sec ton.
 It is difficult to speak of Hispaniola- as the Spanish love to call it-without what must seem to those upon whose imagination the alluring loveliness of the place has not laid its spell an exuberance of language. Columbus described it in words besides which the rhetoric of the 'Lusiad" of Camcens is pale. Nowhere else. perhaps has nature contrived such | spectacles of uplifting grandeur.
 And what of the people who inhabit this paradise? And, apart from its native beauty, what sort of land have they | made of it?
 Civilization in Ruins. | They form, probably. the most degraded population that anywhere on earth pre- tends to nationality or civilization. The Haytiens are full-blooded negroes. On the Santo Domingo side mulattos predomi- nate; in the west there are only blacks. with strue African features, long-armcd and large boned The mass of them-fui- ly million-live in huts in the hills. They subsist on bananas. beans. rice and salt fish and rum. The national dwelling is a cabin of one or two rooms, built of sticks smeared with mud and thatcht I with palm branches In each resides the head of family, with as many wives as he has been able to persuade to live m his hut and work for his support The women outnumber the men two to one Polygamy. more correctly. plural coha5- itatlon. is universal. Marriage is known only in the more polite circles in the cities.
 With the exception of a few ancient stone buildings still standing in the city of San Domingo. the land lies in utter ruin Everywhere may be seen remnants of stone and brick roads, ruins of stone bridges. aqueducts, cisterns. fountains and great buildings of former days. The | Jungle covers lheh HOW The harho:s are filling up. the wharves are falling down, degeneration is everywhere. The rich plains once covered with cane, witt tobacco. dotted with droves of carte feeding on rich snvannahs. are hid Dc meath a scrub of prickly acacia. Mile ut ter mile you push across vast estates C ] another regime through chaparral anC l forest, over broken stones-and graves There are millions of graves in Hayti each marked with its little mound O stones.
 The characteristic of the cities is filth