PHYSICAL FEATUEES OF SAN DOMINGO. 397 



acquiring a prominent position amongst civilised nations ; but in the midst of so 

 many perils and difficulties, it is something to have survived at all. 



The very term Haiti (Hayti), often extended to the whole island, is an indication 

 of the changes that have taken place since the plantation days. This appellation, 

 which is said to mean " Highlands," in the language of the aborigines, had fallen 

 into abeyance, like Quisqueya, " Great Land " or " Mother of Lands," which, 

 according to Charlevoix, had also served to designate this member of the Great 

 Antilles. Columbus, who discovered the island in 1492, called it Espafiola, or 

 "Little Spain ; " but this name was gradually replaced by that of the capital, Santo 

 Domingo, which is now applied in a special sense to the eastern section of the 

 island. The revival of the old Arawak word, Haiti, by the blacks of the western 

 section was due to the natural feeling of reaction against the memory of the 

 hateful days of slavery.* 



Physical Features. 



Considered in its relations to the other Antilles, San Domingo evidently forms 

 part of a well-defined geographical region. Continuing the axis of Puerto Pico 

 the island gradually broadens westwards ; in this direction it ramifies into two 

 branches, which are themselves again prolonged in the same direction, one by the 

 island of Cuba, the other by Jamaica. The soundings taken in the intervening 

 waters show that Puerto Rico is, so to say, the root, and San Domingo the stem, 

 throwing off two western branches or peninsulas towards Cuba and Jamaica. 



Submarine beds and even reefs and islets rising above the surface serve to 

 indicate the physical connection of all the islands across the channels by which 

 they are now separated. Thus between Puerto Pico and San Domingo the Mona 

 Strait is nowhere 500 fathoms deep. The Windward Channel between Haiti and 

 Cuba is no doubt deeper ; nevertheless, the flooded sill presents the form of a 

 rampart between two trenches. In the Jamaica passage an analogous structure is 

 observed between Cape Tiburon and Moraut Point. 



As regards its general relief, San Domingo forms several distinct orographic 

 regions. It may be described as composed of longitudinal islands connected by 

 intermediate plains, so that a subsidence of the land would resolve the whole into 

 four islands disposed from east to west, but slightly diverging, like the ribs of a 

 half-open fan. The northern fragment is clearly separated by the great plain 

 stretching from Samana Bay to Manzanillo Bay. A second and much larger 

 orographic section is formed by the zone of hilly lands which runs diagonally 

 across the island from Cape Engano to St. Nicholas' Head ; the third upland mass 

 is limited northwards by the Piver Artibouite, eastwards by the Neyba or Yaqui 



* The disuse of Espafiola. Latinised Hispaniola, as the exclusive general term for the whole island 

 is to be regretted. In the absence of such a general tenn both San Domingo and Haiti are now 

 commonly used in this sense ; but as these words are also the official designations of the eastern and 

 western states respectively, much confusion often arises from their twofold meaning. It is as if the 

 term Britain, or G-reat Britain, were to become obsolete, and both England and Scotland were to be used 

 in a general sense for the whole island, while retaining theii' special meanings as the proper names of the 

 southern and northern divisions. — Editor. 



