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Dominican Republic

The Dominican Republic, better known by the name of its capital and island as San Domingo-formerly the Spanish portion of the island of Hayti-is the oldest settlement of European origin in America, having been founded in 1494 by Bartolomeo Columbus. The capital city contains the cathedral and Columbus's residence. It comprises an area of about 20,596 sq. m., with an estimated population of 350,000. The chief products are tobacco, coffee, sugar, cocoa, mahogany, and a great variety of other furniture woods, wax, honey, logwood, fustic, turtle-shell, hides, and dividivi. Sugar, the most recent industry, is now the most important. The minerals are gold, copper, and iron.

REPUBLIC OF HAΥΤΙ.

The Republic is the western or French portion of the island of San Domingo, which, next to Cuba, is the largest of the West India Islands. It contains 29,830 sq. m., of which 9242 sq. m. belong to Hayti. It lies in N. lat. between 17° 37′ and 20° and in W. long. between 68° 20′ and 74° 28'; and belongs to the group of the Greater Antilles. The portion belonging to Hayti contains a population of 550,000. The mountains are richly and heavily timbered, and susceptible of cultivation nearly to their summits; it is probably the most fertile spot in the West Indies, whilst its harbors, especially Port-au-Prince, offer considerable facilities to foreign trade. The principal productions are coffee, logwood, cocoa, cotton, hides, sugar, honey, gums, these being the chief exports.

JAMAICA.

This name aboriginally Xaymaca or Land of Wood and Water-is given to an island situate on the Caribbean Sea, about 90 m. to the S. of Cuba, within 17° 43′ and 18° 32′ N. lat., and 76° 11' and 78- 21′ W. long. It is the largest and the most valuable of the British West Indian Islands, being 144 m. in length and 49 in extreme breadth, contaning an area of 4193 sq. m., and a population, in April 1881, of 580,804. The climate is healthy; there are two rainy seasons and two dry. It was discovered in May 1494 by Columbus, who called it St. Jago. In 1670 it was formally ceded to England by the Treaty of Madrid. There are several excellent harbors, and the island is intersected by good roads. Most of the staple products of tropical climates are raised. Maize and Indian corn grow luxuriantly. The Guinea grass, from five to six feet in height, grows wild, and is superior to any other for pasturage, while the woods furnish an abundance of rich dye stuffs, drugs, and spices, and the forests abound in the rarest of cabinet woods. The Governor is assisted by a Privy Council of eight members and a Legislative Council consisting of nine elected members, two nominated by the government, and four ex-officio. The island is divided into three counties, Surrey in the E., Middlesex in the centre, and Cornwall in the W. The principal cities are Kingston, the seat of government, and the largest port and town, Spanish Town and Port Royal. The chief exports are sugar, rum, fruit, coffee, dyewoods, pimento.