Santo Domingo: A Country with a Future Part 15

PROVINCE OF MONTE CRISTI

_San Fernando de Monte Cristi_, 196 miles northwest of Santo Domingo City, the capital of Monte Cristi province, was founded during the government of Ovando by sixty Spanish families, and after giving promise of prosperity decayed with the rest of the colony. It was supported for a time by a brisk contraband trade which sprang up with the Dutch and other nations and to put a stop to which the town was destroyed in 1606 like Puerto Plata and the inhabitants transferred to Monte Plata, to the south of the central mountain range. In 1750 a royal dispensation granted it the right to free trade with all nations for a period of ten years and it began to attain prominence as a port, but the wars with the Haitians, the War of Restoration with the Spaniards and the many civil wars have r.e.t.a.r.ded its progress. Only in the last few years has it received a new impetus. The town is built about a mile from the sh.o.r.e, with which it is connected by a tiny horse car. About thirty houses are connected with a private system of waterworks which supplies water from the Yaque river. Situated as it is in the arid region of Santo Domingo the city bears much resemblance to some of the western towns of the United States.

Other towns are _Guayubin_, 24 miles, _Sabaneta_, 36 miles, and _Moncion_, 46 miles southeast of Monte Cristi; and _Dajabon_, 22 miles, _Restauracion_, 40 miles, and _Copey_, 12 miles southwest of Monte Cristi. They are all small villages. Dajabon, founded towards the middle of the eighteenth century, is situated on the east bank of the Ma.s.sacre river, which const.i.tutes the Haitian boundary, and is one of the inland ports of entry. Restauracion is peopled largely by French speaking negroes from Haiti.

PROVINCE OF AZUA

_Azua de Compostela_, about 83 miles west of Santo Domingo City, was founded by Diego de Velazquez in 1504 at a point four miles southwest of its present location. It was first called Compostela after a Galician official who held some property here, but the Indian name of the region prevailed. Hernando Cortez, later the conqueror of Mexico, settled here and for some five years was the notary of the town. At first prosperous, the city soon suffered a serious decline, but was beginning to revive when on August 18, 1751, it was entirely destroyed by an earthquake. The inhabitants then transferred the town to its present location on the western bank of the Via River. The ruins of the old city are still visible near the hamlet called Pueblo Viejo, Old Town. Azua was destroyed by fire three times in the Haitian wars: in 1805, by order of the Haitian emperor Dessalines, in 1844 by President Herard, and in 1849 by President Soulouque. To-day it is the most important town in the southwestern part of the Republic.

Situated in an arid region, like Monte Cristi, it is similar to many a town in New Mexico and Arizona, with hot, sunny, shadeless streets beginning and ending in s.p.a.ce, one story houses, a great plain of dark green beyond the town and purple mountains in the distance. The houses here are of wood or stone and with thatched or zinc roofs. There is a large new church, the images in which seem to be very old and do not distinguish themselves for beauty. The town is about three miles inland from the port, but a branch of a narrow gauge plantation railroad connects the city with the wharf and on steamer days a pa.s.senger car makes several trips. Azua is famous throughout Santo Domingo for its excellent "dulce de leche," a kind of milk taffy, which is well made elsewhere in the Republic, but is better in Azua as it is here prepared from goat's milk.

_San Juan de la Maguana_, 48 miles northwest of Azua, was founded in 1504 by Diego Velazquez in the beautiful Maguana valley where the Indian chief Caonabo had his residence, became almost extinct in 1606, but revived in 1764 with the establishment of new cattle ranches in the vicinity. During the Haitian wars it was burned repeatedly. Near the town is a curious relic of Indian times called Anacaona's circus or "el corral de los Indios," consisting of large stones laid in a huge circle, and in the center a strange cylindrical stone, carved with Indian figures, which is supposed to have served as the throne of the Indian queen Anacaona.

_Las Matas de Farfan_, 64 miles northwest of Azua, was established in 1780 and suffered greatly during the wars with the Haitians. Like the other villages of the Maguana valley its chief industry is stockraising. _Banica_, 75 miles northwest of Azua, on the Haitian frontier, was one of the towns established by Diego Velazquez in 1504.

Though an important town in the early days it decayed, and in the beginning of the nineteenth century was abandoned entirely. During Haitian rule it was reestablished, but upon the declaration of Dominican independence was again abandoned for fear of Haitian vengeance, remaining so until the War of Restoration during which it was settled anew.

Other villages are _San Jose de Ocoa_, also known as _Maniel_, 18 miles northeast of Azua, founded in 1844 in a picturesque region; _Tubano_, 34 miles northwest of Azua; _El Cercado_, 12 miles southwest of Las Matas de Farfan; and _Comendador_, near the Haitian frontier, 13 miles west of Las Matas de Farfan, the seat of one of the inland custom-houses.

Dominican writers include among the towns pertaining to the Province of Azua those situated in that part of the territory of the former Spanish colony which is now held by Haiti. The princ.i.p.al towns in this territory are _Lares de Guajaba_ or _Hincha_, to-day called _Hinche_, which was founded in 1504 and was the birthplace of General Pedro Santana; _Las Caobas_, founded about the middle of the eighteenth century; _San Miguel de la Atalaya_, to-day called _St. Michel_, founded about the same time; and _San Rafael de la Angostura_, called _St. Raphael_ by the Haitians.

PROVINCE OF BARAHONA

_Barahona_, 126 miles west of Santo Domingo City, became capital of the Barahona district when a provincial government was established there in 1881. It is a small town, which began to be settled in the beginning of the nineteenth century, and suffered greatly during the Haitian wars and the revolutions following them. At present its fame is its fine coffee.

Other towns are _Enriquillo_, formerly called _Pet.i.tru_ (Pet.i.t Trou) on the coast 22 miles south of Barahona; _Neiba_, 32 miles northwest of Barahona, founded a century ago and prevented from developing by the damages it sustained first in the Haitian, then in the civil wars; and _Duverge_, formerly called _Las Damas_, which commands a fine view of Lake Enriquillo with Cabras Island in the distance. In the northwest corner of the province is the small collection of huts called _Tierra Nueva_, and a few miles beyond, isolated in a wild region on the frontier, the inland customhouse of _Las Lajas_.

CHAPTER XVII

THE REMAINS OF COLUMBUS

Burial of Columbus.--Disappearance of epitaph.--Removal of remains in 1795.--Discovery of remains in 1877.--Resting place of Discoverer of America.

The greatest pride of the Dominican people is that they are the custodians of the mortal remains of Christopher Columbus. The same honor is claimed by Spain, but a Dominican would consider it almost treasonable to doubt the justice of the Dominican claim. It is a strange freak of fate that not only should the great navigator have been denied in life the rewards promised him, not only should the new world he discovered have been given the name of another, but that his very tomb is a matter of controversy. It is admitted that after his death in Spain his remains were transferred to Santo Domingo City and there deposited in the cathedral. In 1795, when the Spanish colony of Santo Domingo was ceded to France, the Spaniards carried with them to Cuba what they supposed were the remains of Columbus, and these were in 1898 taken to Spain, but in the year 1877 another casket was brought to light in the Santo Domingo cathedral, with inscriptions which indicated that it contained the bones of the great Discoverer.

It was the desire of Columbus to be buried in Santo Domingo, his favorite island. In his will, executed shortly before his death, he called on his son Diego to found, if possible, a chapel dedicated to the Holy Trinity, "and if this can be in the Island of Espanola, I should like to have it there where I invoked the Trinity, which is in La Vega, named Concepcion." Columbus died on May 20, 1506, in Valladolid and his body was deposited in the church of Santa Maria de la Antigua in that city. In 1513, or perhaps before, it was transferred to the Carthusian monastery of Santa Maria de las Cuevas in Seville, where was also deposited the body of his son Diego, who died in 1526. Diego Columbus, in his will of the year 1523, stated that he had been unable to carry out his father's wishes, but requested his heirs to found in the city of Santo Domingo, inasmuch as La Vega was losing population, a nunnery dedicated to St. Clara, the sanctuary of which was to be the burial place of the Columbus family.

His plans were modified in favor of a n.o.bler mausoleum and his widow, Maria de Toledo, in the name of her son Louis Columbus, applied to the king of Spain for the sanctuary of the cathedral of Santo Domingo as a burial place for her husband, his father and his heirs, which grant the king made in 1537 and reiterated in 1539. A difference having arisen with the bishop of Santo Domingo, who wished to reserve the higher platform of the sanctuary for the interment of prelates and cede only the lower portion to the Columbus family, the king in 1540 again reiterated his concession of the whole sanctuary. According to the annals of the Carthusian monastery of Seville, the bodies of Christopher Columbus and his son were taken away in 1536, and it is probable that they were deposited in the cathedral of Santo Domingo in 1540 or 1541, after the issue of the king's third order and the conclusion of the work on the cathedral. Where they were during the intervening four or five years and in what year they were brought to Santo Domingo, is not known. Las Casas, writing in 1544, states that the remains of the Admiral were at that time buried in the sanctuary of the cathedral of Santo Domingo. In the year 1572 Louis Columbus, the grandson of the Discoverer, died in Oran, in Africa, and his remains were taken to the Carthusian monastery in Seville. It is not known when they were brought to Santo Domingo, but the transfer probably took place in the beginning of the seventeenth century.

The early records of the Santo Domingo cathedral were burnt at the time of Drake's invasion in 1586, and those since that year have been so damaged by the ravages of tropical insects that little is left of them. They make little and only pa.s.sing reference to the tomb of Columbus, and mention no monument or inscription whatever. Juan de Castellanos, in his book "Varones Il.u.s.tres de Indias," printed in 1589, recites a Latin epitaph which he says appeared near the place where lay the body of Columbus in Seville, but pretty Latin epitaphs were Castellanos' weakness, and it is to be feared that this one, like others which he dedicated to American explorers, was nothing more than a figment of his poetic imagination. Two writers, Coleti and Alcedo, who almost two centuries later mentioned the same epitaph as marking the grave in Santo Domingo, must have copied from Castellanos.

Undoubtedly there was at first some inscription to mark the tomb, but in the course of the years any slabs with inscriptions were permitted to disappear entirely from the graves of Columbus, his son and grandson, and the very existence of their remains in the cathedral became a matter of tradition. It is possible that the epitaphs disappeared at some time when the pavement of the church was renewed, or when damages inflicted by earthquake shocks were repaired, or when changes were made in the windows and doors about the main altar, or when the higher altar platform was extended to reach the desks on which lie the Gospels and Epistles. At any such times the slabs over the burial vaults may have been broken or laid aside and never replaced. It is also possible that they were intentionally removed in order to guard against profanation of the tombs by enemies in time of war or by West Indian pirates, who captured and sacked stronger cities than Santo Domingo. In 1655 when an English fleet under Admiral William Penn appeared before the city and landed an army under General Venables, there was great excitement and fear in Santo Domingo, and the archbishop ordered that the sacred ornaments and vessels be hidden and that "the sepulchres be covered in order that no irreverence or profanation be committed against them by the heretics, and especially do I so request with reference to the sepulchre of the old Admiral which is on the gospel side of my holy church and sanctuary," That other tombs were hidden, whether at this time or another, was shown in 1879, when, on repairing the flooring in the chapel of the "stone bishop" in the cathedral, the slab indicating the grave of the Adelantado Rodrigo de Bastidas, the explorer, was found concealed under a stone, and it was discovered that the epitaph of Bastidas on a board which from time immemorial had hung on the wall of the chapel was an incorrect copy of the original graven on the burial slab. From the words of the archbishop it appears possible that the sepulchre of Columbus was marked in some way in 1655, although even then there may have been nothing, since the prelate saw fit to specify the point in the church where the tomb was situated.

The first doc.u.ment in which tradition appears invoked for designating the burial place is the record of a synod held in 1683, which contains the following clause: "this Island having been discovered by Christopher Columbus, ill.u.s.trious and very celebrated throughout the world, whose bones repose in a leaden box in the sanctuary next to the pedestal of the main altar of this our cathedral, with those of his brother Louis Columbus which are on the other side, according to the tradition of the old people of this Island." The synod and tradition were not strong in Columbus genealogy when they referred to Louis Columbus as the brother instead of the grandson of the Discoverer, and it is noticeable that no mention is made of the son Diego Columbus. It may be remarked, in pa.s.sing, that the body of Bartholomew Columbus, brother of the Admiral, was deposited in the convent of San Francisco in Santo Domingo, upon his death in 1514, and while some writers suggest it may have been taken to Spain, there is nothing to indicate that it was ever given sepulture in the cathedral of Santo Domingo.

After the lapse of another century tradition referred to two sepulchres, one of Christopher Columbus, on the right side of the altar, the other of his brother or son, on the left side of the altar.

Moreau de Saint-Mery, a French diplomat and statesman, who lived in the French colony of St. Domingue for some years during the decade of 1780 to 1790, in his book "Description de la partie espagnole de l'isle Saint-Domingue" states that, being desirous of obtaining accurate information with reference to the tomb of Columbus, he addressed himself to Jose Solano, an ex-governor of the colony, then in command of a fleet in the insular waters; that this official wrote a letter to his successor in the governors.h.i.+p, Isidoro Peralta, and that he received the following answer:

"SANTO DOMINGO, March 29, 1783.

"_My very dear friend and patron:_

"I have received the kind letter of Your Excellency of the 13th of this month, and did not answer immediately in order to have time to ascertain the details it requests relative to Christopher Columbus, and also in order to enjoy the satisfaction of serving Your Excellency as far as is in my power and to permit Your Excellency to have the satisfaction of obliging the friend who has asked for those details.

"With respect to Christopher Columbus, although the insects destroy the papers in this country and have converted whole archives into lace-work, I hope nevertheless to remit to Your Excellency the proof that the bones of Columbus are in a leaden box, enclosed in a stone box which is buried in the sanctuary on the side of the gospels and that those of Bartholomew Columbus, his brother, repose on the side of the epistles in the same manner and under the same precautions. Those of Christopher Columbus were transported from Seville, where they had been deposited in the pantheon of the dukes of Alcala after having been taken there from Valladolid, and where they remained until their transport here.

"About two months ago, in working in the church, a piece of thick wall was thrown down and immediately reconstructed. This fortuitous event was the occasion of finding the box of which I have spoken, and which, although without inscriptions, was known, according to a constant and invariable tradition, to contain the remains of Columbus. In addition I am having a search made to see whether in the church archives or those of the government some doc.u.ment can be found which will furnish details on this point; and the canons have seen and stated that the greater part of the bones were reduced to dust and that bones of the forearm had been distinguished.

"I send Your Excellency also a list of all the archbishops which this island has had and which is more interesting than that of its presidents, for I am a.s.sured that the first is complete, while in the second there are voids produced by the insects of which I have spoken and which attack some papers in preference to others.

"I also refer to the buildings, the temples, the beauty of the ruins and the motive which determined the transfer of this city to the west bank of the river which const.i.tutes its port. But with reference to the plan requested by the note there is a real difficulty, as this is forbidden me as governor; the superior understanding of Your Excellency will comprehend the reasons, etc."

The doc.u.ments sent by Governor Peralta were as follows:

"I, Jose Nunez de Caceres, doctor in sacred theology of the pontifical and royal University of the Angelical St. Thomas d'Acquino, dignitary dean of this holy metropolitan church, primate of the Indies, do certify that the sanctuary of this holy cathedral having been torn down on January 30 last, for reconstruction, there was found, on the side of the platform where the gospels are chanted, and near the door where the stairs go up to the capitular room, a stone coffer, hollow, of cubical form and about a yard high, enclosing a leaden urn, a little damaged, which contained several human bones. Several years ago, under the same circ.u.mstances and I so certify, there was found on the side of the epistles, another similar stone box, and according to the tradition handed down by the old men of the country and a chapter of the synod of this holy cathedral, that on the side of the gospels is reputed to enclose the bones of the Admiral Christopher Columbus and that on the side of the epistles, those of his brother, nor has it been possible to verify whether they are those of his brother Bartholomew or of Diego Columbus, son of the admiral. In testimony whereof I have delivered the present in Santo Domingo, April 20, 1783.

JOSe NUnEZ DE CACERES."

An identical certificate, signed by Manuel Sanchez, was also sent, as well as a third which reads as follows:

"I, Pedro de Galvez, schoolmaster, dignitary canon of this cathedral, primate of the Indies, do certify that the sanctuary having been overthrown in order to be reconstructed there was found on the side of the platform where the gospels are chanted, a stone coffer with a leaden urn, a little damaged, which contained human bones; and it is remembered that there is another of the same kind on the side of the epistles; and according to the report of the old men of the country and a chapter of the synod of this holy cathedral that on the side of the gospels encloses the bones of the Admiral Christopher Columbus, and that on the side of the epistles those of his brother Bartholomew.

In witness whereof I have delivered the present on April 26, 1783.

PEDRO DE GALVEZ."

The certificates were not carefully drafted, for in speaking of the rebuilding of the sanctuary only the interior thereof, probably only the platform, was referred to, and from a notarial doc.u.ment of December 21, 1795, quoted below, it is evident that by coffer was meant a vault and that the word urn was used synonymously with box.

The papers give eloquent testimony of the uncertainty in which the eminent men's remains were involved. Governor Peralta died in 1786 and was interred under the altar platform near the supposed remains of Columbus. In 1787, when Moreau de St. Mery endeavored to find the official record of the find of 1783, it had already disappeared.

In 1795 Spain ceded to France the entire Spanish part of Santo Domingo, and in evacuating the island the Spanish authorities determined to carry with them the remains of the great Discoverer. It is to be a.s.sumed that there were still persons connected with the cathedral who could point out the location of the vault accidentally discovered twelve years before and that as tradition referred to only one vault on that side of the altar, the remains contained therein were extracted without further investigation. The description of the vault opened tallies with that of the vault found in 1783. The doc.u.ment attesting the embarking of these remains reads as follows: "I, the undersigned clerk of the King, our Lord, in charge of the office of the chamber of this Royal Audiencia, do certify that on the twentieth day of December of the current year, there being in this holy cathedral the Commissioner Gregorio Savinon, perpetual member and dean of the very ill.u.s.trious munic.i.p.al council of this city, and in the presence of the most ill.u.s.trious and reverend friar Fernando Portillo y Torres, most worthy Archbishop of this metropolitan see; of His Excellency Gabriel de Aristizabal, Lieutenant-General of the royal navy of His Majesty; of Antonio Cansi, Brigadier in charge of the fort of this city; of Antonio Barba, Field-marshal and Commander of Engineers; of Ignacio de la Rocha, Lieutenant-colonel and Sergeant-major of this city, and of other persons of rank and distinction, a vault was opened which is in the sanctuary on the side of the gospel (between) the main wall and the pedestal of the main altar, which is one cubic yard in size, and in the same there were found several plates of lead, about one tercio in length, indicating that there had been a box of the said metal, and pieces of bone as of the tibia or other parts of some deceased person, and they were collected in a salver that was filled with the earth, which by the fragments of small bone it contained and its color could be seen to belong to that dead body; and everything was placed in an ark of gilded lead with iron lock, which being closed its key was delivered to the said ill.u.s.trious Archbishop, and which box is about half a yard long and wide and in height something more than a quarter of a yard, whereupon it was transferred to a small coffin lined with black velvet, and adorned with gold tr.i.m.m.i.n.gs, and was placed on a decent catafalque.

"On the following day with the presence of the same ill.u.s.trious Archbishop, His Excellency Aristizabal, the communities of Dominicans, Franciscans and Mercenarians, military and naval officers, and a concourse of distinguished persons, and people of the lower cla.s.ses, ma.s.s was solemnly said and fasting enjoined, whereupon the same ill.u.s.trious Archbishop preached.

"On this day, about half past four o'clock in the afternoon there came to the holy cathedral the gentlemen of the Royal Order, to wit, Joaquin Garcia, Fieldmarshal, President-Governor and Captain-General of this Island of Espanola; Jose Antonio de Vrisar, knight of the royal and distinguished order of Charles the Third, Minister of the royal and supreme council of the Indies and at present Regent of the Royal Audiencia; Justices Pedro Catani, dean; Manuel Bravo, likewise knight of the royal and distinguished order of Charles the Third, and with honors and seniority in the Royal Audiencia of Mexico; Melchor Joseph de Foncerrada and Andres Alvarez Calderon, state's attorney; there being in the cathedral the most ill.u.s.trious and reverend Archbishop, His Excellency Gabriel de Aristizabal, the munic.i.p.al council and religious communities, and a complete picket with draped banner, and taking the wooden box covered with plush and gold tr.i.m.m.i.n.gs, in the interior of which was the box of gilded lead, which contained the remains exhumed on the preceding day, the President Joaquin Garcia, the Regent Joseph Antonio de Vrisar and the Justices, Dean Pedro Catani and Manuel Bravo conducted it to a little before the exit through the door of the said holy church, where the President and Regent separated, pa.s.sed to their respective places and were subst.i.tuted by Justice Foncerrada and Calderon, state's attorney, and upon leaving the church it was saluted by the said picket with a discharge of musketry, and there followed the Fieldmarshal and Commander of Engineers Antonio Barba, the Brigadier and Commander of militia Joaquin Cabrera, the Brigadier and Commander of the fort Antonio Cansi, and the colonel of the regiment 'Cantabria,' Gaspar de Casasola, and thereafter the military officers alternated according to their grade and seniority until reaching the city gate which leads to the harbor, where their places were taken by the members of the very ill.u.s.trious munic.i.p.al council of this city, dean Gregorio Savinon, Miguel Martinez Santalices, Francisco de Tapia and Francisco de Arredondo, judge of the rural court, and upon emerging from the gate it was placed upon a table prepared therefor; a response was chanted and during the same the forts saluted it with fifteen minute guns, as for an admiral, and one after another took the key of the ark and through the said ill.u.s.trious Archbishop placed it in the hands of His Excellency Aristizabal, stating that they delivered the ark into his possession subject to the orders of the Governor of Havana as a deposit until His Majesty should determine what may be his royal pleasure, to which His Excellency acceded, accepting the ark in the manner stated and transferring it aboard the brigantine 'Descubridor,'

which, with the other war-vessels waiting with insignia of mourning, also saluted it with fifteen guns, whereupon this certificate was concluded and signed by the parties.

"Santo Domingo, December 21, 1795. Joaquin Garcia. Friar Fernando, Archbishop of Santo Domingo. Gabriel de Aristizabal. Gregorio Savinon.

Jose Francisco Hidalgo."

The brief account of the remains when everything else was related with such detail leads to the logical conclusion that there was no epitaph on the vault and no inscription on the leaden plates found within. The Spanish judicial chronicler's habit of minute description would not have permitted the omission of such important particulars, if they had existed.