The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1905-09-06
A VISIT TO THE
NEGRO REPUBLIC.
WHERE EVERY PROSPECT PLEAS
Els BUT MAN rs VILE.
The Old Canine Real One Of the Rough
. est Of Forest and Wild Land Trails
Character of the Inland Towns and
Plantations Primitive Dwellings -
The Royal Meadow of Columbus.
New York Post.

The Royal Meadow OF Columbus.
+. New York Post.
There is tradition in the literature
Of the states concerning San Domingo
that in. the heyday OF early Spanish
rule the island had good roads and sub
stantial bridges and that negro domin,
alton allowed all these to decay and
roads which the spaniards built still
existent, but they were broad paths
cut a hundred feet wide thru the prim-
ever having been anything different
from this They were cut wide de that tha the the
est mud. There are no traces Of ditch
ing, drainage, macadam, or bridges.
What they were in the days Of the cav
alters they are today-broad openings
thru whose 5 mGrasses Of mud a;do w YIN nm IN
row footpath is dusty way Of safety
| among treacherous logoons., In the
rainy season all is a sea OF mud IN which
you may sink from sight, horse. foot
and dragons. |
The most famous Of these roads is
which stretches from Santo Domingo
city north to Catul, La Vega and Moca,
! $50 miles. The first mile or two out OF
the city finds you in the bush, on |
trail that only a horse or mule can ne,
gotiate successfully. A carriage would
you passed ten miles further before you
come to the Isabella river, fifty feet !
deep, several hundred feet wide, flow
ing swiftly to the sea. The only method
Of passage is by native dugouts, hol-
lowed from single log of ceiba wood,
load saddles and packs into these and
swim your horses and pack mules, pad
died by half-naked negro, whose
-bladed paddle is shaped like those
welded by his ancestors on the Congo.
For forty miles or so this road runs
thru a splendid red clay loan, Of un,
known depth. formed Of decomposed
coral. which is the foundation Of the
} whole island, tropical forests of the
}, spersed with prairie It is the savan-
ma country, which stretches eastward
along the southern shore Of the island,
a hundred miles or SO long, thirty. to
there is always water, and the tempera-
ture ranges between 60s and 80 degrees
F. the year round. A few cattle Craze
on these broad, fertile plains, which
might support herds Of thousands.
President Morales is said to claim
these as government lands. l am told,
however, by Americans who have made
a careful study Of the subject in the
interests of their own business that
there are no government lands. All
are held by original grants from the
! king of Spain. These grants have de-
scended undivided thru many genera
I tions, and a complete title to them is
4 not easy to get. It is sometimes neces-
4 sary to buy a percentage of title in
lands. &c.
An Inland Town.
The first inland town is Savanna
4 Grande. It consists of a row of huts
q about a broad, green central square,
4 where there is. a little church. The
4 huts are Of zone story, of palm wood,
4 thatched with palm leaves, and having
pie 90 barefooted. Most Of them keep
fire on the hearth. the year round.
q If it goes out, they borrow brand
81 OF a neighbor.r The women smoke pipes
a and the children go naked. The whole
3 outfit bears 9 striking resemblance to
3 towns of similar size in the. Philippines,
& and the balance Of civilization is hardly
8 in favor of San Domingo. - -
& This primitive quality of the country
4 and people was emphasized at our stop
B Of the next night, thirty miles farther
81 On into the interior. Here our poems
& told us we should find hospitable enter:
81 Emiliano Tehera. The don is man OF
n wealth, power in the Dominican pol
n itics-in fact, he has been dubbed the
b grand old man Of San Domingo. Hence
n we expected something of an estate
n perhaps one Of the ruined castles Of
IN the early Spaniards. It was dusk wher
n we arrived there, and we looked in. vair
Il found instead three good-sized native
ID houses, two of them of several rooms
b each, with thatched roof and dirt floor
B The freedom of these we had. Dor
n Emiliano greeted us kindly. But Their.
was no formal dinner-indeed, ther,
n cooked our picnic meal over the usua
III three-stone fireplace Of the country
81 That night occupied room which wa
81 absolutely bare, had dirt floor; slep
q in my hammock slung cornerwise:
"a Forty miles or 50 from the coast tn
d nand tFa no W sanges tn
n foothills. The broad Canine Rea
Il stretches up hill and down dale, bu
E the narrow footpath 1.-The horse mus
81 tread winds at it's own will, nov
d straight along 1t, now across and int
"A the bush to avoid q mudho1e tia
b Stumps,. fallen treetrunks three fee
b thru, twining vines and thorns, bloc.
81 the passage. Gullies cut the trail COZ
81 tinually, some Of them fifty to sevent
n feet deep, now with little brawlin
u stream at the bottom, now rushin
n river to ford or swim as best you may
IA But if the Canine Real Of the oil
- Spanish cavaliers is today as 1t mus
IN always have been, the worse trail in tn
n world, it is also the, most beautiful
\ Magniicentt; trees shade aa!6o the he sides-ms
\ ana coeoanut palms some with trunk
n four or five feet in diameter, hung wit
n orchids and festooned with flowerin
q vines. Mocking- birds, thrushes, and
n host Of other birds make the woods g
n vocal as those Of New England in Jun
q The air is rich with the spicy scent (
d blossoms, and the temperature range
between 70 degrees and 80 degrees
h all day, falling perhaps to 60 degre,
n at night, and always an exhilaratic
81 in the air such as one expects only
n a northern climate. Exertion is
n pleasure in such air, and you may slet
h in the bush at eight with no fear
Il fever or noxious reptile or insect
o