[some, in a simple style, and nearly uniform. A considerable part of these, built within these 15 years, are of wood, covered with the leaves or taches of palm trees. The roofs are generally platformed, being shaped so as to conduct the rainwater to the cisterns. The climate of the capital is, happily, very temperate. The nights of those months which answer to the winter in Europe, are even found to be cold.

Among a number of public edifices that merit attention in this declining city, we may reckon the ruins of the house that Diego, son of Christopher Columbus, had begun, entirely of hewed stone. The walls are yet remaining, and some of the sculpture round the windows. The roof and ceilings are fallen in, the lower floor is become a penn for cattle, and a Latin inscription over the portal is now hidden by the hut a of herdsman. The cathedral, of the same sort of stone as the house of Diego Columbus, stands on the s. e. Opposite its entrance is a fine spacious oblong square, at the s. w. end of which is the town-house. The cathedral is a noble Gothic pile, begun in 1512 and finished in 1540, and was constructed after the model of a church at Rome. It merits admiration on account of the boldness of its vault, which, notwithstanding the ravages of earthquakes in its neighbourhood, has never, till within these 15 or 20 years, had a single flaw. The dust of Columbus rested within this pile until 1796, when it was removed.

The population of the city of St. Domingo is not very considerable, yet it is extraordinarily augmented since the year 1780. The census lately taken amounted to 20,000, of every age and sex: but this is far below the exact number. The census is taken by the Spanish priests or vicars, and who go from house to house to verify those who do not perform their paschal duties. This list does not comprehend children under seven years of age, nor heads of families absent from their home or from the city. But the principal cause of the inexactness is, one half of the parochial territory of the city is on the outside of the walls.

This territory comprehends the part called the Plains, a great part of the Monte de Plate, and again, as well to the e. as to the w. of the city, a very considerable number of country seats and provision habitations, where there are a great many families of blacks, of people of colour, and white cultivators; so that there are always 5 or 6000 not included in the census.

Notwithstanding the declining situation of the Spanish territory of the island, it is far more pros

perous than it was 70 years ago. A census of 1737 shows, that the total population at that time did not surpass 6000 souls, and the capital contained hardly 500.

The Spanish capital is 70 leagues e. by s. of Port au Prince; the road runs half the way along the sea-coast, through Bany, Azua, and Neybe, and thence by the lakes Henriquelle and Brackishpond. In this route you have to cross two large rivers, Nisai and Neybe, besides 11 smaller streams. It is 90 leagues s. e. of cape François, going by the road through St. Raphael, Azua, &c. and about 100 leagues by that of Dahabon, St. Yague, and La Vega. Lat. 18° 28' n. Long. 69° 50' w. See DOMINGO, Sr. the preceding article.]

DOMINGO, ST. a town of the province and government of Maracaibo; situate on the shore of the river of its name, at the source of this river, to the n. of the city of Barinas Vieja.

DOMINGO, ST. a settlement of the government and jurisdiction of Mérida, in the Nuevo Reyno de Granada. It is of a mild temperature, produces much maize and truffle; and contains 50 housekeepers, who make well worked hampers and baskets, by which they promote a considerable trade, from the emolument of which, combined with that arising from their cattle, cows, and horses that they breed, they live in comparative. credit and affluence.

DOMINGO, ST. another, of the province and government of Esmeraldas in the kingdom of Quito. DOMINGO, ST. another, of the head settlement of the district of Tepoxtlan, and alcaldia mayor of Cuernavaca, in Nueva España.

DOMINGO, ST. another, of the head settlement of Metlatlan, and alcaldía mayor of Papantia, in the same kingdom. It contains 110 families of Indians, and is one league to the s. of its head settlement.

DOMINGO, ST. another, of the head settlement. and alcaldía mayor of Nejapa in the same kingdom; situate on the skirt of a mountain. It contains 12 families of Indians, who employ themselves in the cultivation of scarlet-dye. It lies two leagues from its capital.

DOMINGO, ST. another, of the head settlement of Hiscotepec, and alcaldía mayor of Nejapa, in the same kingdom; situate at the foot of an elevated mountain. It contains 100 families of Indians, who carry on a commerce in scarlet-dye and seeds. It is six leagues from its head settlement.

DOMINGO, ST. another, which is the head settlement of the alcaldía mayor of Teutitlan in the same kingdom. It contains 92 families of Indians, and is three leagues between the e..and s. of its capital.

This island, experience a better reception from the natives than do any other foreigners; but they have nevertheless not been able to establish them selves here but with considerable difficulty, and after a great lapse of time. All around this island the anchorage is good, but there is neither port nor bay, and the only protection for vessels is here and there behind a cape. The French have ever been uneasy lest the English should establish themselves here, since in war-time they might thus lose the communication between Martinique and Guadalupe; and notwithstanding that they, the English, have desired it much, and that the governor of Barbadoes calls himself also governor of Dominica, they have no establishment whatever here, and only come here to cut wood and take in water, and are even then much harassed by the Caribes Indians. These, in 1640, formed a treaty with the French, and held the former in perfect abhorrence, in as much as they pretended to land here with a large fleet under the pretext of friendship, and carried away their people for slaves. These Indians had anciently a cacique or ruler of the whole island; and when they came to be on good terms with the French, the same ruler was Captain Bucon. This chief made many incursions against the English inhabiting the other islands. In this island, says the Father Labat, are found amongst the sands some small stones, which are called eye-stones, from their quality of cleaning any dirt from those organs; but they gain this title not for any chemical virtue, but through their figure, which is of a very small and smooth lens, which, being put under the eye-lid, and moved gently round, causes whatever is in the eye to drop out. [Dominica lies between lat. 15° 10' and 15° 36' 30" n. and between long. 61° 17' and 61° 32' w.; being about 29 miles in length from Crab point s. to the n. w. cape of Agusha bay on the n. and nearly 16 miles broad from Raymond bay e. to Coulihaut on the w.; and contains 186,436 acres of land, and is divided into 10 parishes, viz. St. John, St. Andrew, St. Peter, St. Joseph, St. Paul, St. David, St. George, St. Patrick, St. Luke, and St. Martin. The island contains many high and rugged mountains, interspersed with fertile valleys, and is watered by upwards of 30 rivers, beside a number of rivulets. Several of the mountains contain unextinguished volcanoes, which frequently discharge vast quantities of burning sulphur. Here are several hot springs, esteemed efficacious in removing tropical disorders. Some of the waters are said to be hot enough to coagulate an egg. Here are vast swarms of bees, which produce a great quantity of wax and honey; they hive in the trees, and are

thought to have been transported from Europe the native bee of the W. Indies being a smaller species, unprovided with stings, and very different in its manners from the European. The forests afford an inexhaustible quantity of rose wood, so esteemed by cabinet-makers. The fruits and other productions are similar to those in the neighbouring islands; but the soil being generally thin, is more adapted to the rearing of cotton than sugar. Dominica, from its local situation, between Martinico and Guadalupe, is the best calculated of all the British possessions in that part of the world, for securing to her the dominion of the Charaibean sea. A few ships of war in Prince Rupert's bay would effectually stop all intercourse of the French settlements with each other, as not a vessel can pass but is liable to capture, by ships cruising off that bay, and to windward of the island. It is a separate government and a free port. The legislative authority is vested in the commander in chief, a council of twelve gentlemen, and an assembly of 19 members. The governor's salary, exclusive of his fees of office, is 1300l. sterling, payable out of the four and a half per cent. duties.

Dominica was discovered Nov. 3, 1493; was ceded to the British crown in 1763; was taken by the French in the late war, and restored to Britain at the peace of 1783. Previous to its cession in 1763, it was deemed a neutral land, but was in fact occupied and settled by many French intruders, who, to the number of about 800, were permitted to remain; 343 Frenchmen then becoming lessees, and holding 10,541 acres of the British crown. These lessees were generally engaged in coffee-plantations, which, in 1787, returned 18,149 cwt. of coffee, and which have been since extended to the produce of 40,000 cwt. and may be further so in this great island to a considerable amount. The country is so rugged and the soil generally (but with exceptions) so unfit for sugar, that although 90,346 acres were sold and apportioned, on Dominica coming under British sovereignty, it had not in 30 years reached to the average produce of above 6000 hogsheads of sugar yearly. In the report of the privy council on the slave trade, in 1788, the British property vested here is estimated at 100,000 taxed acres of patented estates, and the number of Negroes is computed at 22,083, at 507. each Negro. The value of exports, according to the current London prices in 1788, amounted to 302,9871. 15s. sterling, including exports to the American states, value 71647. 5s. The cargoes in 162 vessels consisted of 71,302 cwt. 1 qr. 21 lbs. of sugar; 63,392 gallons of rum; 16,803 gallons of molasses; 1194 cwt. 3 qrs. 2lbs. cacao; 18,149 cwt.]

130 4653

called by the natives Hecvaroa, extending e. and w. six leagues; is about 16 leagues in circuit, full of rugged hills, and of a barren aspect, but is inhabited. Lat. 9° 44' s. The long. of the w. end is 139° 5' w. from Greenwich.]

DOMINICA, LA, a bay on the n. coast of the island of Cuba, between that of Merced and that of Cabaña.

DOMON, a cape or point of land of the island of Newfoundland, and at the extremity of the same, which looks to the n. It is one of those which form the entrance of the strait of Belleisle.

DONANGUISE, a bay of the w. coast of lake Erie, in New France or Canadá.

[DON CHRISTOPHER'S Cove lies on the n. side of the island of Jamaica, having St. Ann's bay on the w. and Mammee bay on the s. e. markable for having given shelter to the discoverer

It is re

of America, during a storm, in 1503, and for being the site of the old town of Sevilla de Nueva.]

DONDON, a settlement and parish of the French, in the part they possess in the island of St. Domingo; situate near the n. coast, and to the s. of the Petite Ance. [It is three leagues n. w. of St. Raphael, in the Spanish part, and 13 leagues e. by n. of Les Gonaives.]

[DONEGAL. There are three townships in Pennsylvania of this name; the one in Lancaster county, the other in that of Westmoreland, and the third in Washington county.]

DONEVIS, a small river of the province and colony of Sagadahock. It runs s. and enters the sea opposite the island of Mount Desert. DONGUILL, a river of the kingdom of Chile, in the district of Tolten-baxo. It runs n. and enters the Tolten.

[DOOBOUNT Lake, newly discovered, about 60 or 70 miles long, and 20 or 30 broad, lies s. e. of the head of Chesterfield inlet, in New South Wales.]

DORADO, a spacious province and country, called also Coropa, or Nueva Estremadura. All that is said by others concerning it, of its riches and mountains of gold, as well as of the grand city of Manóa, founded on the shore of the lake Parime, are merely fables taken from the imaginary relations of Juan Martinez, and from whom the Spaniards have borrowed them, and from the latter strange historians, who have borne testimony to them in their histories and geographical charts. In this spacious and unknown country dwell many barbarous nations of Indians, amongst which some place Las Amazonas, but of all of them there is but little certain information. Here are large rivers which flow down from the mountains, and run from n. to w. many of which together form the great lake of Parime, which is not imaginary, as was formerly thought; and from this lake run out some other rivers on the n. e. and e. side, and others on the s. and s. e. and there enter the Marañon or Amazonas, the former running into the Atlantic. This fable of the Dorado, or Golden Land, has made many anxious to find it, and it has been the cause of the loss of very many individuals; first of Gonzalo Pizarro, who, for the sake of discovering it, left Peru with a fine army in 1541, and who, after a long and tedious peregrination returned only by a miracle with a very few of his companions. Its discovery was successively attempted by Pedro Ordaz from Quito, Antonio Berrio, sent from the Nuevo Reyno de Granada, by Gonzalo Ximenez de Quesada, Francisco de Orellana, Felipe de Utre, Pedro de Ursua, all of whom met with the

e;

same disastrous fate as the former; these being succeeded with no better fortune by the English under Walter Raleigh in 1545, as also by another person, called Reimisco, in the following year, 1546: all these repeated misfortunes began at last to make people believe that there was really no such thing as the Dorado, or Golden Land, in existence and although the Father Joseph Gumilla, of the extinguished company of the Jesuits, corroborates its existence in the history he has written of the Orinoco, no doubt of its falsity at present remains; since the journeys made into the country by the Dutch colonists of Berbice and Surinam, and by the Capuchin missionaries of Guayana, by the religious Franciscans of the missions of Piritú, as also made by several officers, who under instructions for the purpose arrived as far as the lake Parime, bear witness to the same assertion; and since, moreover, the truth may be easily seen by reference to the history of Nueva Andalucía, written by the Father Fr. Antonio Caulin, and printed in 1779.

DORADO, a river of the province and government of Tucumán, in the jurisdiction of Salta. It runs n. forming a curve, and enters the river Del Valle.

DORCHESTER, a county of the province and colony of Maryland in N. America; one of the five which compose this province. It is situate to the s. of the Talbot. The parish and capital, where also is held the assembly, bear the same name. This is a small town, having little more than a dozen houses. The territory which lies to the n. of the river Nantilkoke, from the mouth of that of Chickacoan up to its source, and from there to the arm of the Andérton, as far as the wastewater or arm which it throws out to the n. w. and to the mouth of the aforesaid Chickacoan, was declared by an act of the assembly, in 1698, to belong to Panquash and Annatouquem, two caciques or Indian chiefs, and to their heirs and successors, with the condition of paying annually one castorskin by way of tribute. In this country are more settlements of Indians than in any other. [It has several islands on its coast; the chief of these, from the mouth of Hudson river, are James, Taylor's, Barren, Hooper's, and Goldsborough's, which last lies between Hungary river and Fishing bay. The length of the county from e. to w. is about 33 miles, and its breadth from n. to s. 27 miles. The number of its inhabitants 15,875, of whom 5337 are slaves. The lands in the n. parts are somewhat elevated, but in the s. parts low and marshy, particularly along Fishing bay, and up its waters, Transquaking, Blackwater, and Fearim]