Dominica
the largest and extreme S. British island in the Leeward group of the Lesser Antilles; midway between the French islands of Martinique and ; area, 291 square miles; pop. about 37,000, mostly negro. The Caribs have become so intermixed with the negroes that the pure Carib, the "Franc Caribs," will soon be non-existent. They are very peaceable and retiring, and live on fish, and vegetables and fruits which they cultivate. Dominica is of volcanic origin, with many hot and sulphurous springs. The temperature is cool and even chilly in the mountains, but sultry on the coast. Rain falls nearly every month, and the annual rainfall is 83 inches. Nearly one-half of the surface consists of wooded mountains and deep at one point the surface attains an elevation of 6,234 feet.
The rugged, broken, and precipitous character of Dominica is very disadvanof Dominica is very disadvantageous to the settler, and has confined coast. The principal product is sugar, but fruit, cocoa , and timber also are exported, and the fisheries are valuable.
The port on the W. coast, with a population The capital of the island is Roseau, a of about 5,000.
Dominica is a member of the Leeward Islands colony, and sends representatives to the general legislative council; but it has its own president, treasury, and local legislature. majority of the inhabitants are Roman Catholics; Catholics; religious equality now pre- Dominica was discovered by Co- (whence its name Dominica-i. e., "the lumbus, on his second voyage, on Sunday Lord's Day"), Nov.
Lord's Day"), Nov. 3, 1493. It was a English till 1648, when it was formally declared tral island; by the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle a neuby England, and in 1763 ceded by France, nd; but in 1759 it was captured who, however, held it again in 1778-1783, stored to England. and in 1802-1814, when it was finally reorder called in some places Prædicantes DOMINICAN. (1) One of a religious or Preaching Friars, and in France Jacobins, from their first convent in Paris being in the Rue St. Jacobin. They took their ordinary name from their founder, (afterward canonized under the name of St. Dominic).
The new order was approved of in 1215 by Pope Innocent III., and confirmed in 1216 by a bull of Pope Honorius III., under the rule of St. Augustine , a rule to which they have adhered, though they subsequently adopted a white habit re- C of their original black dress. They were Carthusians, in place England they were called Black Friars, under a vow of absolute poverty. In 1276 the Corporation of London gave them two streets near the Thames, where they erected a large convent, whence that part is still called Blackfriars. The Dominicans always took a principal part in the Inquisition. The Dominicans were the chief supporters of the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception. by St. Dominic under the same rules as (2) One of an order of nuns founded the friars, but devoted to industry. by St. Dominic, for the purpose of put- (3) One of an order of knights founded ting down heresy by force of arms. friars, nuns, and knights mentioned Tertiaries of St. Dominic. - To the . To the above, St. above, St. Dominic added, in 1221, the -persons who, without forsaktie, connected themselves with the order ing secular life or even the marriage by undertaking certain obligations, such as to dress plainly, to live soberly, to DOMINION OF CANADA carry no weapon of offense, and to perform stated devotions. Similar orders existed in connection with the Franciscans and the Præmonstratensians. The members were entitled to be buried in the habit of the order.
DOMINION OF CANADA. See CAN- ADA.
DOMINIS (dom'ē-nēs), MARCO AN- TONIO, DE, a Dalmatian priest and scientist; born in the island of Arbe in 1566. He became in turn a physician, a Jesuit and Archbishop of Spalatro. He was the first to explain the rainbow. He denied the Pope's supremacy and later accepted it. He died in prison pr in Rome in 1624.