THE PEOPLE
Population.--Distribution.--Race.--Descendants of American
negroes.--Language.--Physical traits.--Mental traits.--Amusements.
--Dances, theaters, clubs, carnivals.--Gaming.--Morality.--Homes.
The estimates of the early Spanish writers as to the Indian population
of Hispaniola at the time of its first settlement in 1493 range all
the way from one million to three million inhabitants. While it is
probable that the former number was nearer to the truth, it is evident
that the island was well inhabited, for Columbus found every valley
swarming with natives. The severe labor imposed by the Spaniards made
such frightful inroads on the native population that within a decade
labor for the plantations and mines began to grow scarce and forty
thousand inhabitants of the Bahama Islands were imported to increase
the supply. They were lured on board the Spanish transports by the
promise that they were to be conveyed to the beautiful home of their
departed ancestors and though they did indeed quickly join their
deceased relatives, it was not until after a taste of purgatory in the
mines of Santo Domingo. In 1507 the entire Indian population was
estimated at only 70,000, in 1508 it had fallen to 40,000, and in 1514
to 14,000. Six years later the remnant of the aborigines united in the
mountains to resist the Spaniards to the end, but in 1533 a treaty was
concluded by which the Indians were assigned certain lands near Boya,
thirty miles northeast of Santo Domingo City. According to some
authorities 4000 and according to others only 600 natives remained to
take advantage of this provision. Thereafter all mention of the
Indians disappears from Dominican annals. Types recalling Indian
characteristics are sometimes seen, however, and it is probable that
some Indian blood is still represented in the country.
Father Las Casas, the friend of the Indians, is credited with the
suggestion that in place of the frail natives negroes be imported for
labor in the mines and on the plantations. The earliest importations
seem to have taken place in the opening years of the sixteenth
century, for as early as 1505 King Ferdinand authorized the shipment
of more negroes in lots of 100. Later, licenses were issued for the
importation of negro slaves by the thousands and many more were
probably smuggled in. The Spanish population also grew rapidly until
about 1530 when the colony reached the zenith of its wealth and
prosperity. Twelve years later, when the decline had become marked, it
was estimated that besides a substantial white population there were
30,000 negro slaves on the island. The superior attractions of other
newly discovered countries and the fear of piratical invasions had by
1591 decreased the total population of the colony to 15,000. This
number remained almost stationary until about 1663 when it began to
dwindle further until the low water mark was reached, about 1737, and
the entire population of the Spanish portion of the island was
estimated at but 6,000. Timely tariff concessions revived trade and
encouraged immigration and new importations of slaves the number of
inhabitants increased rapidly and in 1785 was reckoned at 150,000,
including 30,000 slaves and a considerable proportion of free colored
persons. A decade later saw the beginning of the negro insurrection
in the French section of Santo Domingo; the horrors attending this
war, the invasion of the Spanish colony by the Haitians, the menace of
further invasions, the frequent changes of sovereignty, and adverse
economic conditions, produced an exodus in the course of which the
great majority of the white population abandoned the island, many with
all their slaves and dependents. A few returned, but in 1809 it was
calculated that the inhabitants of Spanish Santo Domingo numbered
104,000 and in 1819 but 63,000, of whom the greater number were
colored. During Haitian rule, from 1822 to 1844, white emigration
again took place and white immigration was discouraged, while
settlements of negroes from Haiti and the United States were made in
different parts of the country. The increase of the population since
that time has been subject to little outside influence; there has been
practically no emigration, and immigration has been insignificant, the
few new settlers being chiefly negroes from the British colonies,
Haitians, Porto Ricans, Syrians and European merchants. In 1863 an
ecclesiastical census, based on the returns of the various parish
priests, placed the population at 207,700. This number may be
described as little more than a compilation of guesses and was
probably exaggerated. A similar ecclesiastical census taken in 1888
gave a total of 382,312 inhabitants.
These ecclesiastical computations were founded to some extent on
parish records of baptisms and burials, but this basis became more and
more precarious as the population increased. Probably the records most
nearly accurate are the baptismal records of the Church, for almost
every Dominican is baptized at some time in his life. The death
records are the least complete on account of the obstacles presented
during the civil disorders and the distance at which many country
people live from the place of registry. A law of civil registry,
requiring the inscription of all births, marriages and deaths has been
only indifferently carried out and during times of insurrection
entirely suspended. A government census was begun in 1908 but not
concluded. Any accurate computation is thus out of the question.
Unofficial estimates of the population to-day range all the way from
400,000 to 920,000. In 1908 an official estimate based on birth
statistics, placed it at 605,000. An unofficial estimate in 1917, made
on the assumption that there are 1000 inhabitants for every 37 births
reported, calculated the total population at 795,432, thus distributed
among the several provinces:
Santo Domingo ... 127,976
Santiago ........ 123,972
La Vega.......... 105,000
Pacificador...... 90,569
Seibo............ 68,135
Espaillat........ 64,108
Azua ............ 59,783
Puerto Plata ... 55,864
Monte Cristi ... 41,459
Macoris.......... 28,000
Barahona ........ 17,891
Samana .......... 12,675
The estimate of 37 births per 1000 inhabitants is probably too large
as the birth-rate in Jamaica is but 34.6, in the Leeward Islands 33,
and in the birth-registration area of the United States only 24.9. A
reduction of ten per cent in the above figures would probably make
them more nearly correct. That would give a total population of about
715,000. Accepting the number of inhabitants as 715,000 the
population per square mile is about 39.6. A comparison with the
surrounding West Indian countries reveals considerable disproportion.
The Dominican Republic is not quite one-half the size of Cuba but has
only one-fourth the number of inhabitants; it is almost double the
size of the Republic of Haiti but has less than one-half the
inhabitants; it is five times the size of Porto Rico and has but
one-half the population; it is one hundred and seven times as large as
Barbados but has only four times the population. If the Dominican
Republic were as densely populated as the neighboring Republic of
Haiti, it would have 3,000,000 inhabitants; if the population were as
dense as that of Porto Rico, it would be 7,000,000; if the Republic
were as densely inhabited as Barbados it would have over 21,000,000
people. Though the climatic and topographical conditions of the
country would not permit it to become as thickly populated as
Barbados, there is no reason why it should not support a population
proportional to that of Porto Rico.
As in the other West India Islands the population is principally
rural. There are probably not more than a dozen towns in the Republic
with more than 1500 inhabitants. A government census of Santo Domingo
City, the capital and largest urban center, taken in November, 1908,
showed a population of 18,626, and the number is now estimated
as 21,000.
A census of Santiago de los Caballeros, taken by the municipal
authorities in 1903, showed an urban population of 10,921, the present
estimate being 14,000. The estimated population of Puerto Plata is
about 7000; La Vega and San Pedro de Macoris are believed to have
about 5000 inhabitants each, but in every other case the urban
population falls below 3000. The population of the Dominican
Republic is not scattered uniformly over the country, but is to be
found chiefly in a fringe along the shore all the way from Monte
Cristi to Barahona, and in the Cibao Valley. The most densely
populated region is that part of the Cibao Valley known as the Royal
Plain. In the mountainous interior there are vast stretches almost or
entirely uninhabited; and remote valleys which have not been visited
since the days of the conquest.
The vicissitudes through which Santo Domingo has passed, the departure
of so large a proportion of whites in the beginning of the nineteenth
century and the intermingling of blood before and since that time have
determined the character of the population. At the present time the
pure negroes are in a minority, constituting probably less than
one-fourth the entire population. The great majority of the
inhabitants are of mixed Spanish and African blood, their color
ranging from black to white. The lighter shades predominate,
especially in the Cibao. There is also a sprinkling of pure whites,
the majority of whom are to be found in the Cibao region or are
foreigners residing in the larger cities. Many families would pass for
white anywhere, showing absolutely no trace of colored blood, and it
is difficult to believe confidential assurances of their intimate
friends, indicating a different condition. A few families trace their
ancestry back to the first Spanish colonists. As most of the blacks
live south of the central mountain range the population of this region
is a good deal darker than that of the northern part of the island.
The census of Santo Domingo City in 1908 reported 7016 whites, 6934
colored persons and 4676 blacks, but apart from the circumstance that
numerous white foreigners reside in the capital, it is probable that
many persons were classified as white who would have been considered
colored in the United States under the stricter rules there
prevailing.
A comparison with Haiti discloses marked racial differences. In the
French-speaking republic about ninety per cent of the inhabitants are
pure blacks, the remainder being mulattoes. The distinction between
the two countries is due to several circumstances: in Santo Domingo
the pure blacks have never been in a majority; the whites have never
all left the country; massacres of mulattoes and whites have never
taken place; there have never been political parties based on color;
and the relations between the races have always been cordial. In
company, side by side, mulattoes, blacks and whites have lived,
worked, enjoyed themselves and fought their revolutions. There is
absolutely no color line. A friend of mine from Virginia received
quite a shock the first time he attended a state ball in Santo Domingo
and saw an immense negro, as black as coal, a member of Congress,
dancing with a girl as white as any of the foreign ladies present. He
rushed to the refreshment room and beckoned to a tall mulatto in a
dress suit: "I'll have something to cool off, here waiter--" He was
stopped just in time for he was mistaking the secretary of foreign
affairs for a waiter; but after this experience he was afraid of
giving his order to anyone else for fear he might be offending some
other high official. The blacks are commonly the lower laborers, but
negroes are to be found in all grades of society and are not
infrequently represented in the cabinet itself. Of the presidents the
majority have been of mixed blood, but several, like Luperon and
Heureaux, were full-blood negroes. It appears that the strong strain
of white blood in the country has elevated all, mulattoes and negroes.
The negroes have produced men of high ability: Heureaux, for
instance, though unscrupulous and cruel, was a man of remarkable
sagacity and energy.
It must not be supposed for a moment that the Dominicans are inimical
to whites or, like their neighbors, the Haitians, prefer to see their
country peopled by negroes only. On the contrary they are anxious to
be considered as belonging to the white race and are not pleased by
reference to their mixed blood. For this reason the former policy of
the United States of sending colored men as ministers and consuls to
Santo Domingo was resented by the Dominicans who saw therein an
evidence of contempt. I have often heard Dominican statesmen express
an eager desire for immigration, but only white immigration. This
sentiment is reflected in immigration laws and in several concessions
granted in late years in which the concessionnaire was prohibited from
importing laborers of African or Asiatic descent. The Congress has
even made appropriations for the introduction of white families and
their settlement along the Haitian frontier, but the isolation of this
region and other circumstances made such laws impracticable of
execution.
During Haitian rule, from 1822 to 1844, a different policy prevailed.
President Boyer was desirous of seeing every part of the island
populated by blacks and accordingly settled Haitian negroes in various
parts of Santo Domingo and encouraged negro immigration from the
United States by premiums to ship captains bringing such immigrants.
The American negroes were distributed in Haiti and in Santo Domingo,
particularly near Puerto Plata and in the Samana peninsula. The Puerto
Plata settlers have mingled with the rest of the population, but
around the town of Samana, where the largest settlement, consisting of
some sixty families, was made, the descendants of the American
immigrants still form a distinct class. Large portions of the
peninsula are taken up by their well kept farms, and one of the
sections or districts into which the commune of Samana is divided, is
officially named "Sección de los Americanos." The people still
preserve the English language and proudly proclaim that they are "of
American abstraction."
They have kept considerably aloof and only in recent years have there
been marriages between them and their Spanish-speaking neighbors.
Their exclusiveness has more than once been criticised by Dominicans.
Of the original settlers all have passed away, their surviving
children are advanced in age and the third generation is in its prime.
The Methodist preacher of the district, a kindly black man, presented
me to the oldest person of the American colony, a woman of about
eighty years of age who was born only a few years after her parents
arrived from Virginia. As the old woman stood smiling in the door of
her little cabin, the walls of which were covered with leafy creepers,
she looked the picture of an old Southern mammy. Her dialect was
typical; when I said: "I am glad to meet you, Mrs. Sheppard," she
answered, beaming, "Me likewise, I'se always glad to meet Americans, I
is." Several of the American negroes have distinguished themselves in
military matters, one of the most noted being General Anderson who
grew gray in many revolutions.
Between the coast towns and the ports of the surrounding countries,
particularly Porto Rico, there is considerable coming and going. This
was called to my attention the first time I set foot on Dominican
soil, when a large negro darted out from a group of loungers on the
wharf and seized my suit-case, crying: "Let me carry your baggage,
Judge." Surprised, I inquired how he knew me, whereupon he asked
reproachfully: "Don't you remember you sent me to jail in Mayaguez
for shampooing a saucy stevedore's head with a brick?"
Whether as a settler or transient visitor the foreigner may be sure of
courteous and respectful treatment so long as he himself observes the
proprieties. The laws grant the foreigner rights as ample as in the
most advanced countries of the world.
The language of Santo Domingo is Spanish, and the comparative purity
with which it is spoken is remarkable when the long period of
isolation of the country and the extended duration of Haitian rule are
considered. In this particular Haiti offers a contrast, for though
French is the official language the mass of the people speak Creole
French, a patois unintelligible to anyone who has not lived in Haiti.
The Dominicans do not lisp the "c" as do the Spaniards, and other
peculiarities of Spanish as spoken in America are manifest, but on the
whole the difference between the Dominican's Spanish and the
Spaniard's Spanish may be compared to the difference between English
as spoken in the United States and as spoken in England. Like several
other Spanish-American nations the Dominicans are to be distinguished
by their preference for certain words and endings, and by their accent
and inflection. As everywhere else the unlettered classes are given to
grammatical faults and provincialisms, but on the whole the vocabulary
of the Dominican peasant contains fewer archaic expressions and Indian
roots than that of the Porto Rican "jibaro" and is more easily
understood by the outsider. Slight differences of pronunciation are
noticeable in different parts of the country: the people of Seibo are
inclined to use the vowel "i" instead of the consonant "r" and say
"poique" instead of "porque," somewhat as the New York street urchin
says "boid" for "bird"; the people of Santiago sometimes drop the "r"
entirely and say "poque," as the Southern negro in the United States
says "fo" for "four"; the peasants of Puerto Plata show a tendency to
use the "u" instead of "o" and say "tudu" instead of "todo," like some
of the inhabitants of Catalonia in Spain. The Azuans claim to speak
the best Spanish of the Republic, but their claim is disputed by other
provinces.
Besides Spanish, the English and French languages are heard to a
limited extent. On the Samana peninsula, where the descendants of
American negroes are in a majority, as much English is spoken as
Spanish, and in the coast towns, San Pedro de Macoris, Puerto Plata,
Monte Cristi and Santo Domingo, it is also often heard. In these
cities it is usually the singsong English of negroes from the British
colonies. Along the Haitian border and at the extremity of the Samana
peninsula, where a Haitian colony was planted by President Boyer, the
French language is spoken. On the wharf at Monte Cristi I have
encountered fruit-vendors from the interior who spoke no language
except Creole French. Some persons who have been born and bred on the
Samana peninsula know not a word of Spanish but only English. Many
members of the wealthier class of the Republic have studied or
traveled in Europe or the United States and speak one or more foreign
languages. In Puerto Plata I was surprised to hear a jet-black negro
speak German fluently; he had been educated in a commercial school in
Hamburg. The larger cities have their foreign colonies, consisting
principally of merchants, and most of the languages of Europe are
represented.
As a race the Dominicans are robust and sturdy. All the Dominican
presidents of late years have been men of commanding physique, fitting
representatives of their people. As far as industry is concerned the
average Dominican is little more laborious than absolutely necessary
to support himself and his family. Why should he do more when nature
has been so bountiful and when in the past any accumulated fruits of
his toil might have been swept away by the next revolution? The spirit
of the tropics pervades the country and the tendency not to do to-day
what can be conveniently left for "mañana" is constantly observed.
The Dominican women are as a rule graceful of body and fair of face,
with large and beautiful eyes. They make devoted wives and loving
mothers. The ladies of the better class are quite as susceptible to
the allurements of Parisian fashions as their American and European
cousins, and the scenes at balls and at evening promenades on the
plaza are very attractive. The heat of the climate makes a liberal use
of powder necessary, and it almost seems as if the darker the color of
the woman the greater is her fondness for powder, so that some of the
negresses assume an almost grayish hue. The Dominican woman is very
domestic, she rarely goes out except to church, to an occasional dance
or to the band concerts on the plaza. Before her marriage she is
carefully chaperoned and guarded; all courting takes place in the
presence of her mother or some other near relative.
Notwithstanding the large mixture of African blood and long isolation
of the Dominican race, the strong personality of the Spaniard has
survived unmodified and the population is to-day as thoroughly Spanish
in character, customs and mode of thinking as the people of Cuba and
Porto Rico. How completely the Spanish consciousness pervades the
country was illustrated by a remark made to an American naval officer
by the mayor of an inland town of Santo Domingo; he was a very black
negro, but in the course of a discussion observed: "Your arguments
will fit Anglo-Saxons, but _we Latins_ are a different people." The
first trait noticeable is the politeness of Dominicans of every
degree. Only once have I met a rude official and that by a curious
coincidence was the very first one with whom I had dealings, but after
this beginning there were no further exceptions to the rule. A
charming characteristic is the open-hearted hospitality everywhere
encountered. The stranger who is introduced in any home is immediately
assured in the customary Spanish way: "This is your house." The words,
though figuratively spoken, are sincere, and the hosts are glad to
have their new friend visit their house as though it were his own. As
companions the Dominicans are delightful, being generally jovial and
amiable. Some there are, especially among the country people, whose
natural reticence makes them seem sullen, but once the ice is broken
they are quite as light-hearted as the others.
In the idealistic tendency of their mind the Dominicans strongly show
their brotherhood with the other Spanish peoples. In this connection
the spirit of their renowned kinsman, Don Quixote de la Mancha, is
often in evidence. When one of them mounts his Rocinante in defense of
some particularly attractive abstract proposition, nothing less than a
blow from a windmill will bring him back to reality. And so when any
person or group of persons become enamored of an idea they are
unwilling to brook contradiction or compromise. The inclination of the
majority to do their will irrespective of the wishes of the minority
and the unwillingness of the minority to bow to the resolutions of the
majority have been and will continue to be grave problems in the
government of the country. Even in personal relations a spirit of
intolerance can frequently be noticed and while almost anything is
forgiven a friend, not a single redeeming feature is recognized in an
enemy. To their idealistic tendency may be ascribed the worship of the
words "patriotism" and "liberty." Unnumbered sins have been committed
under the cloak of patriotism, and true personal liberty, such as it
is understood in the United States, has never prevailed in Santo
Domingo; but the adoration of these conceptions continues and it is to
be hoped that now, with American assistance, it will bring real and
lasting liberty to the country. Perhaps it is their idealism, as much
as their isolation, which causes the Dominicans to take themselves so
very seriously and renders them so extremely sensitive to criticism or
jokes on the subject of their country, customs or revolutions.
Foreigners sometimes complain that the affirmations of Dominicans
cannot be trusted. In many cases investigation has shown that these
foreigners were misled with regard to some mine, woodland or other
property they had come to buy. Persons anxious to sell mines and other
undeveloped properties have not distinguished themselves for veracity
in any country, and with regard to sincerity in general the Dominicans
may be regarded as no better but certainly no worse than the general
run of humanity. With their personal friends they are generally loyal
and true, but in their political relations the picture is not so
attractive; for while there have been many cases where subordinates
have followed their fallen chief into exile rather than submit to the
victor, it is saddening to note the frequency with which governors of
provinces and other local authorities have betrayed the confidence
reposed in them by the chief executive, and have initiated or joined
revolutionary uprisings. I have heard both ex-President Jimenez and
ex-President Morales sorrowfully complain that their fall was due to
the treachery of trusted subordinates. A particularly repulsive case
of perfidiousness was that of General Luis Felipe Vidal, a prominent
politician, who participated in the murder of President Caceres,
though he had only a few hours before visited the President, played
billiards with him and fondled his infant daughter.
Of all amusements there is none which appeals so strongly to every
class of the population as dancing. Every public holiday is an excuse
for the giving of a "baile" or dance, and when holidays are scarce the
"baile" is arranged anyhow. So, while elsewhere special occasions are
celebrated by banquets, here the rule is to give a dance. Historical
anniversaries, political triumphs, religious holidays, weddings,
birthdays, christenings: all are celebrated by dances. Waltz music is
popular but the favorite dance music is the pretty Porto Rican
"danza," which is kin to Mexican airs and to the Cuban "guaracha" and
may be compared to a flowing brook, now gliding along serenely, now
rushing in cascades. The dances are often interrupted by the serving
of sweets and ices.
In the country the dance music is quite different. A rhythmic beating
is kept up on a drum made of a barrel or hollow log and rude fiddles
or guitars or an accordion play an accompaniment. To the traveler,
riding along his road at night, the deep regular rumbling of the drums
of distant "bailes" comes with indescribable weirdness. In some dances
the participants engage in a monotonous chant, in others there are
pauses in which the young men must quickly improvise verses on some
subject suggested by one of the lassies. In the cities the dances
begin at ten o'clock at night and last until the wee hours of morning,
but in the country they begin at almost any time and occasionally last
two or three days--especially during the Christmas holidays.
These country dances with drum accompaniment are similar to those
popular among the negroes in Porto Rico and are probably an African
legacy. But, like Porto Rico, the Dominican Republic is absolutely
free from the practise of those barbarous negro rites, of which dances
like these often form part, and which are known in Haiti under the
name of "voudou," in Cuba under that of "witchcraft" and in the
British West Indies under that of "obeah," and which sometimes lead
even to human sacrifices. This is all the more remarkable in Santo
Domingo as the adjoining Republic of Haiti has been the worst sufferer
from such practices.
The country dances are occasionally the scenes of violent personal
altercations. While drunkenness is very rare and a drunkard is
regarded almost as a social outcast, the countrymen are fond of
regaling themselves with rum made of cane juice, and at dances where
such rum is served it is not infrequent for some one to become unduly
excited. If he happened to meet another in the same condition and a
controversy arose with reference to some dusky damsel, a frequent
unfortunate outcome was, until lately, for both to draw revolvers and
blaze away at each other and if ejected from the house to stand nearby
and fire through the wooden walls. In Porto Rico such affairs are
decided with the machete and only the immediate combatants are hurt,
but revolver bullets are more dangerous to the innocent bystander than
to those doing the shooting. In Macoris I was told of a dance where
the casualties were fifteen killed--more than in the average
revolution. Yet so deep-seated is the fondness for dancing that after
the smoke has cleared away and the dead or wounded victim been
removed, it has often happened that the ladies dried their tears and
men and women continued with the "baile."
Up to the time of American intervention in 1916, the practise of
carrying weapons was general. In the country a man strapped on his
pistol or carried his gun as he would in other countries put on his
necktie or take up his cane. At the railroad stations in the Cibao I
have sometimes observed everyone congregated about the station wearing
a revolver more or less visible, except two or three, evidently the
poorest farm-laborers, who could not afford anything more than a dirk
and who gazed at the others with envious eyes. Beautiful pearl-handled
revolvers were proudly exhibited to the public eye, and on one
occasion I saw a little boy not over ten years old with a revolver
that reached to his knee. The habit was all the more indefensible as
it was absolutely unnecessary, Santo Domingo being as safe a country
to travel in as any other. Governors of provinces sometimes forbade
the carrying of arms, but the prohibition was rarely enforced with
reference to their friends and adherents. The American authorities
have put a stop to the habit, however, and confiscated all the arms
they could find; some 15,000 rifles and revolvers have thus been
taken up.
After all, the average Dominican will resent a shot less than a blow.
A story is told of a prominent youth in the capital who received a
slap during a quarrel; the aggressor fled, but the young man kept
holding his handkerchief to his cheek for days until he met his
assailant and was able to wipe out the insult in blood.
Only in the larger towns are there facilities for the gratification of
the popular fondness for theatrical performances. Puerto Plata has a
pretty theatre. In Santo Domingo City the ancient Jesuit church, long
abandoned, was converted into a theater, the stage being located
where the altar formerly stood, the boxes occupying the aisles, and
the chairs of the audience being arranged in the nave; but a new
open-air theatre, the "Teatro Independencia," is more commodious. The
Spanish drama is popular, as well as the delightful Spanish "zarzuela"
or musical comedy. Owing to the isolation of the country it is not
often visited by good professional troupes, and the interior is
entirely dependent upon amateur talent.
In social life the clubs are prominent features. A town must be
unimportant indeed if it has not at least one club where the men can
meet, read the papers and play cards or billiards. The first attention
shown the stranger within the gates is to take him to the club and
enroll him as a visitor, this action being equivalent to a general
local introduction. The clubs give pleasant musical and literary
entertainments and dances attended by the best local society. In Santo
Domingo, Puerto Plata and Santiago the ladies have a club of their own
where they can meet and chat to their hearts' content. Needless to say
the most popular entertainments and dances are those given by the
"Club de Damas." All these clubs have been of great value in the
social development of the country and many of them have given
important impulses to education.
Another valuable contribution to civic development is rendered by the
municipal bands existing in many towns. They are voluntary
associations and tend to awaken in the inhabitants an interest and
pride in their city. On Sunday night and sometimes on other nights
during the week they play on the plaza, while the people, following
the usual custom in the Spanish cities, promenade up and down. Such
scenes are very attractive, the ladies, dressed in their best, with
their light gowns brilliant in the moonlight; the men walking with
them or watching the promenaders. It is on the plaza and in the
ball-room where Cupid's arrows do most execution.
Of late years some interest has been shown in athletics, and baseball
has invaded the island. Bicycle races occasionally form part of public
celebrations, and horse-races and tournaments have long been popular.
Santo Domingo may be said to have two carnivals, one on St. Andrew's
day, November 30, the other during the three days preceding Lent. The
former is the more exciting. Until recent years there was not a person
in the capital and Santiago, where the populace was most given to the
typical diversion of the day, who did not voluntarily or involuntarily
participate therein. The diversion consisted in throwing water or
flour or both on everyone within reach. The poorer people would arm
themselves with great syringes and discharge them at every passerby or
through the keyholes of house-doors. Others would station themselves
at points of vantage with barrels and tubs of water and duck the
unwary they were able to entrap. People of the better class would
place great tubs of water on their balconies or roofs, which the
servants would assiduously keep filled while their masters emptied
buckets-full on friends in the street. The young men rode through the
streets in open carriages, bombarding the ladies on balconies and
housetops with eggs filled with perfumed water, and receiving
drenchings in return. Within the last few years the authorities have
restricted or prohibited the throwing of water, and the principal
celebration of the day is now what is called a "white dance" given by
the better society, at which the participants are supposed to come
dressed in white in order that the many-colored confetti, serpentines
and gilt powders which those present throw at each other between
dances, may appear to better effect. During the carnival proper,
before Lent, the streets are filled with masked persons in groups or
alone, who dance, make impudent remarks or otherwise indulge in
nonsense, to the special delight of the ubiquitous small boy. The
better class celebrate with masquerade balls, where the merry spirit
of the Dominican is given free rein.
The principal vice of the country is gaming. Men of the better class
play cards, dominoes, chess, checkers and billiards, for money, but
they do so rather for pastime than for gain. Among the poorer classes,
however, the predominant idea is that of making money quickly. Cards
and dice are often used, but the typical form of gambling, the one at
which the poor countryman is fondest of staking his hard-earned wages,
is the cockfight. Every town has its cockpit where on Sundays and
holidays the barbarous sport is carried on in the presence of crowds
of whooping, screaming spectators who often ride miles to attend. The
authorities claim that efforts have been made to stop this sport, but
that they have all been unavailing. It constitutes a source of
municipal income, the right to open cockpits being annually conceded
to the highest bidder by the various municipalities. Raffles and
lotteries are also permitted by law, being subject to taxation by the
municipalities, and in one or two cities there are municipal
lotteries.
With respect to morality the same conditions may be said to prevail in
Santo Domingo as in other southern countries, the women being in
general virtuous and pure and the men inclined to amorous intrigues.
The official statistics relating to marriages and births show that of
the children born in the Republic almost sixty per cent are
illegitimate. These figures, while serious, are rendered less alarming
than would appear at first sight by the large number of what the
census-takers term "consensual unions" among the humbler classes, or
cases where a man and woman, though not united by marriage ceremony,
live together publicly as man and wife, rear a family and are as
faithful to each other as if they were legitimately married. "Married
but not parsoned" is the way in which such unions are referred to in
some of the British West Indies. The considerable number of these
unions may be explained by the high cost of the marriage
ceremony,--for while there are some priests ready to waive their fees
for a religious wedding and some alcaldes who are satisfied with what
the law allows for the civil ceremony, others are not so
complaisant--also by the fact that such unions have become so common
that the parties see nothing wrong in them, and further by the
circumstance that the parties often believe it more to their advantage
to remain single rather than to be married. A friend of mine had a
respectable colored man working on his plantation, the head of a large
family, but not married to the woman with whom he had been living for
over a score of years and to whom he was devotedly attached. My friend
endeavored to persuade him to marry the woman, but the answer was a
determined negative. "If I marry her she will know I have to support
her and she may get careless and lazy. Knowing that I can leave her
when I like she will continue to behave herself." Persuasion was then
tried with his wife and her refusal was almost identical: "If I marry
him he will know that I am bound to him and then he may go and fall in
love with some other woman. Knowing that I can leave him when I like
he will continue to behave himself."
The homes of the poorer people are mere huts generally built of
palmwood and covered with palm-thatch. The houses of the country
people are exactly like the "bohios" used by the Indians at the time
of the conquest, as pictured and described by the early writers. In
the towns outside of the capital wooden houses are the rule and some
of the wealthier people have pretty chalets. In the large cities there
is a good deal of "mampostería" construction: brick or stone work,
covered with cement. In the capital the walls of a majority of the
houses have come down from the early days and are of great
solidity--here a man's house is literally his fortress. The barred
windows of the olden days are here still to be seen. One-story
structures are the rule, and there are few if any of more than two
stories. The heat of the climate makes window-glass impracticable and
the windows and doors are fitted with shutters which permit the air to
pass through. Except in the houses of the wealthiest persons the
furniture is very simple and of small amount. In the parlors a
caneseat sofa, several rockers and chairs and a small table with a few
knicknacks are arranged everywhere in the same way. The bedsteads are
of iron and the bedroom furniture is reduced to the simplest articles.
The floors are bare except for a few rugs. The climate is responsible
for the simplicity of the furniture, as carpets would breed insects,
and more furniture would mean endless cleaning and dusting, since
everything must be open all day. The kitchens are not furnished with
iron stoves, but cooking is done on brick hearths, as in Cuba and
Porto Rico. The most serious drawback about Dominican houses is the
want of proper bathing facilities and of sanitary closets, due to lack
of running water in most cities. The most attractive feature of the
houses is the patio, or yard, which is often gay with flowers, though
not so assiduously cared for as in some other Spanish countries. In
similarity to other tropical lands home life is not nearly so intense
as in colder climates.