SAN SALVADOR. 



SANTO DOMINGO. 



703 



and HONDUBAS in the present volume, and ex- 

 tending over the most of the year), tend rather 

 to strengthen tLan to dispel the suspicions al- 

 luded to. 



In October a treaty of alliance, offensive and 

 defensive, was made with Guatemala and Nic- 

 aragua, and approved of by the Constituent 

 Assembly then in session. A member of that 

 body, speaking on the subject of the treaty, 

 said it was by no means significant of a con- 

 templated rupture of friendly relations with 

 Costa Rica, but merely to lend moral force to 

 the then present situation of the three con- 

 tracting powers. 



In December, 1872, a lake was dried up 

 near a volcano that was some eighteen miles 

 distant from the town of Santana. The lake 

 had existed at its base for a period of 500 

 years. It was also observed at the same tune 

 that the volcano of Izalco, which had been 

 in eruption until then, suddenly ceased to 

 show signs of activity; and the supposition 

 was that some stratu which had previously 

 intercepted communication between the two, 

 had undergone a change of position, and so 

 altered the channel of the subterraneous fire. 

 Shortly afterward a violent earthquake was 

 feltat Chinameca, department of San Salvador; 

 a number of lives were lost, and many build- 

 ings destroyed ; and that catastrophe was 

 ijuii-kly followed by another still more awful, 

 at San Vicente, a town of 10,000 inhabitants, 

 the greater part of which was razed to the 

 earth. The consternation of the people, who 

 fled in every direction, and the groans of the 

 wounded stifled by the noise of the falling 

 houses, have been described as painful in the 

 extreme. The buildings were mostly of adobes 

 (a mixture of mud and straw, dried in the sun), 

 and so enfeebled by previous earthquakes that 

 the work of destruction was soon completed. 



On the 4th of March several severe shocks 

 of earthquake were felt in rapid succession at 

 San Salvador City, and the people were so 

 much alarmed that they betook themselves to 

 the public squares, under shelter of temporary 

 huts. On the night, of the 19th of the same 

 month, three shocks of unusual violence were 

 observed, especially the third, which lasted 

 so long that no house or public edifice was 

 left standing in the city, save a few wooden 

 cabins. Fortunately enough, the first two 

 shocks were of sufficient severity to awake the 

 inhabitants in time to quit their dwellings, 

 and thereby the loss of life was very much 

 less than it would otherwise have been. It is 

 reported that about fifty persons were killed, 

 and 500 wounded. To add to the horrors of 

 the scene, two fires broke out in the course of 

 the night; but, under the personal direction 

 of President Gonzalez, efficient measures were 

 promptly taken to extinguish the flames, and 

 so prevent a general conflagration, preserve 

 the public order, and rescue such persons as 

 had escaped death, but were still confined 

 among the ruins. 



The day after the disaster the President is- 

 sued a decree that the city should be rebuilt on 

 the old site, a determination all the more sur- 

 prising, as this is the eighth time the town has, 

 since 1528, been completely destroyed by earth- 

 quakes, while partial destruction has recurred 

 at intervals of nine years during that period. 

 The ground on which San Salvador stood is 

 described as being a mere shell; to a person 

 placing his ear close to it, the noise of running 

 water is distinctly audible; and any heavy 

 body falling upon the surface produces a hollow 

 sound. There is a tradition that the aboriginal 

 inhabitants would never build in this locality. 



A number of the more wealthy citizens have 

 removed permanently to Santa Tecla and other 

 adjacent towns. 



In the following months the attention of the 

 Government was devoted with unremitting 

 zeal to the reconstruction of the capital, and 

 the organization of the public-school system, 

 and of the University of San Salvador. The 

 last two months of the year were marked by 

 signs of increasing prosperity in agriculture 

 and commerce ; the fairs in the several towns 

 were held as usual ; and any reactionary 

 movements, now in one department, and now 

 in another, were regarded with indifference by 

 the Government. 



A national exhibition was to be inaugurated 

 in San Salvador on January 1, 1874, the main 

 objects of which were 1. To collect together 

 plants, seeds, and animals, of the best kinds 

 from abroad, especially those applicable to 

 the arts and agriculture of the country, and to 

 improve them ; 2. To bring together speci- 

 mens of all the native manufactures and 

 natural products of the republic. 



Dr. Gregorio Arbizu, late Minister of Foreign 

 Affairs, died at San Salvador City, on De- 

 cember 10, 1872, after a protracted illness. 



SANTO DOMINGO, OH HAYTI, one of the 

 Greater Antilles, and, after Cuba, the largest 

 and most beautiful of the West India Islands. 

 It is occupied by two separate states : HAYTI, 

 and the DOMINICAN REPUBLIC. 



HAYTI, an independent republic, occupying 

 the western portion, and divided from the 

 Dominican Republic by an irregular line ex- 

 tending from the month of the river Massacre, 

 which empties into the bay of Manzanillo on 

 the north coast, to that of Pedernales or Ause- 

 d-Pitre on the southern coast; and lying be- 

 tween latitude 17 55' and 19 55' north, and 

 longitude 71 52' and 74 38' west; comprises 

 an area of 10,204 square miles, inclusive of the 

 smaller islands of La Tortue, La Gonave, and 

 others adjacent to its shores. 



The territory of the republic is divided into 

 six departments, each of which is subdivided 

 into arrondissements and communes. Its pop- 

 ulation is computed at 572,000, the great major- 

 ity of whom are negroes or mulattoes. 



Port-au-Prince, the capital, and principal 

 seaport, has a population of about 21,000. 



The Government is based upon the Consti- 



