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 space, 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
passenger 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