DOM 



41 



DOM 



St D*ia- neighbourhood ; those which are less ancient are built 



._ S; en pite, and such as have been erected within these 20 



years are of wood, covered with the leaves of the palm 

 trees. The walls of such houses as are built en pise- are 

 much more firm and durable than such kind of build- 

 ings in Europe, being composed of a glutinous red 

 earth mixed with lime, which, after being exposed to 

 the air for some time, becomes nearly as hard as stone. 

 The mode of constructing these walls en pise is exact- 

 ly similar to that followed in Europe. The roofs of all 

 the houses are flat ; in the middle there is a yard or patio, 

 with surrounding galleries and balconies to the street. 

 On the roofs there are cisterns for the purpose of col- 

 lecting the water. In the cathedral church, which 

 though small, is a fine piece of architecture, the bones 

 of Columbus were deposited till the year 1795, when, 

 upon the cession of this part of the island to the French, 

 they were removed to the Havannah. Besides the ca- 

 thedral, the other public buildings are the barracks, ca- 

 pable of holding 2000 men, the watch tower, original- 

 ly erected by Bartholomew Columbus, and the arsenal ; 

 all these are shut in from the streets. The ruins of a 

 house begun by Diego, son of Columbus, are yet visi- 

 ble ; it belongs to his lineal descendant. In 1737 a 

 census was taken, by which it appeared that the total 

 population did not exceed 6000. By the last census it 

 amounted to 20,000 ; but as that was several years ago, 

 prior to the political convulsions in the island, the pre- 

 sent population is supposed not to exceed 12,000. The 

 census, however, never gave the real amount of the po- 

 pulation, since it did not comprehend children under 

 7 years of age, absentees, nor those who lived on the 

 outside of the walls, though half of the parochial terri- 

 tory of the city lies on the outside of the walls. See 

 Rnlnsford's History of St Domingo ; Edward's History 

 of the West Indies, vol. iii. ; Walton's Present Slate of 

 the Spanish Coloniet ; Alcedo's Geographical and His- 

 torical Dictionary of Amerita and the West Indict. 

 (W.8.) 



DOMINICA, an island of the West Indies, was dis- Dominica, 

 covered by Christopher Columbus, on November 3. ""Y"" * 

 1493, and received from him its name, from the circum- 

 stance of its having been discovered on a Sunday. 



This island is about 29 miles long, and 16 broad. 

 It is divided into 10 parishes, and contains 1 86,436 acres 

 of land. It contains many lofty and rugged mountains, 

 separated by tolerably fertile vallies, which are water- 

 ed by about 30 rivers, and a great number of rivulet*. 

 Hot springs are found in various parts of the moun- 

 tainous country, and there are several unextinguished 

 volcanoes, which often throw out quantities of burning 

 sulphur. In the interior of the island, the soil, which 

 resembles that of Martinique and Guadaloupe, is a light 

 brown mould, formed by the detritus of the mountains; 

 but in the vallies, and towards the coasts, it is a black 

 rich earth, well fitted for raising every article of colo- 

 nial produce. The principal productions of the island 

 are sugar, coffee, cacao, indigo, and ginger. The num- 

 ber of sugar plantations does not greatly exceed 50, 

 and the annual produce is about 3000 hogsheads. The 

 coffee plantations are about 200 in number, and in 

 favourable years raise about three millions of pounds 

 weight of coffee. The cacao, indigo, and ginger, are 

 cultivated only in small quantities. 



The following is a statement of the exports from 

 the island, during the year between January 5th 1787, 

 and January 5th 1788 : 



Sugar 71,302 cwt. 



Rum 63,392 galls. 



Molasses 16,803 galls. 



Cacao 1,194 cwt. 



Coffee 18,149 cwt. 



Indigo 11,250 Ib. 



Cotton 970,816 Ib. 



Ginger . . 161 cwt. 



Hides, dyewoods, &c. &c. . L.I 1,9 12 10 9 

 The value of the whole of these articles, according 

 to the current prices in London, was L. 302,987,15. 



The following Table contains the Articles imported into Dominica in the years 1804, 1805, and 1806. 



OI VJII. PART I. 



Thirty-seven cows were imported from other countries in 1804, and 127 in 1806. 



