422 MEXICO, CENTRAL AMEEICA, WEST INDIES. 



The basiu of tlie Yuno, whidi flows eastwards to the head of the bay, and which 

 is now traversed by a railway, is the richest district of the whole island, and might 

 alone support a larger population than that of both republics. This is the famous 

 region of Vega, or the " Plain," whence its capital takes the name of Concepcion de 

 la Vega. Other flourishing towns in this privileged district are Moca, Cotiii, San 

 Fra)icisco de Macoris, and Santiaqo de los Cahalleros, the last-mentioned near the 

 waterparting on the slope watered by the Yaqui, which flows west to Manzanillo 

 Bay. Thanks to its favourable position between the two basins and on the trans- 

 verse route connecting the capital with Puerto Plata, Santiago has become the first 

 city in the island both for population and the extent of its trading relations. It 

 is the centre of the tobacco plantations which supply the market of Hamburg 

 Puerto Plata, its seaport on the Atlantic, has replaced Isabella, founded by 

 Columbus as the future capital of the New World. 



The port of Monte- Cridi, north of the Yaqui estuary at the extremity of 

 the Monte-Cristi range, is little frequented, this borderland between the two states 

 being almost an uninhabited wilderness. 



EcoxoMic Condition and Administration of San Domingo. 



In recent times San Domingo has made rapid material progress, thanks to the 

 natural increase of population, the maintenance of peace and the considerable stream 

 of immigration from Jamaica and Puerto Pico. 



The resources of the state are not so exclusively agricultural as in Haiti. 

 Mining operations are already in progress, especially in the gold and silver dis- 

 tricts ; there are also extensive savannas large enough to raise sufficient live-stock 

 for the whole of the Antilles. The chief cultivated plant is the sugar cane, intro- 

 duced from the Canaries in 1506. Coffee is also largely grown, and in recent years 

 the cultivation of tobacco has much increased. 



Foreign tr.-ide, greatly inferior to that of Haiti, is carried on chiefly with the 

 United States and the depots of St. Thomas in the Danish Antilles. The exchanges 

 have considerably increased since the opening of the railways, especially the line 

 70 miles long between La Yega and Samana. The telegraph system is connected 

 with the outer world by submarine cable, but owing to the prevailing ignorance of 

 the people, it is little used except by the commercial class. 



The constitution of 1844, when San Domingo was separated from Haiti, has 

 been frequently modified, and was even suspended for two years at the time of the 

 Spanish invasion. Since 1887 the legislature is invested in a national congress 

 elected for two years by universal suffrage, each province or district returning two 

 members. The president, elected in the same way, is assisted by six ministers. 

 Each province has its local legislature, in which the centTal authority is represented 

 by a governor nominated by the president. Catholicism is still the State religion, 

 though all others are tolerated. The army of a few thousand men is a heavy 

 charge on the revenue, which scarcely exceeds £-300,000, derived chiefly from the 

 customs, controlled by a financial company. 



