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Other towns are Hato Mayor, 18 miles west of Seibo; Ramon Santana, formerly called Guaza, 19 miles south-west of Seibo; La Romana, on the coast 25 miles south of Seibo, with rapidly expanding sugar estates; and El Jovero, a hamlet on the coast near the eastern end of Samana Bay.
The communes bear the names of their urban centers. Towns with long names are usually referred to by part of the name only, thus Santa Cruz del Seibo is known simply as El Seibo, Santa Barbara de Samana either as Santa Barbara or as Samana, etc. At the head of each province is an official who bears the title of governor.
If the railroad is finally built, it will probably be from Seibo to San Pedro de Macoris and not to La Romana.
Such placers are common in the Jaina River and its tributaries in the province of Santo Domingo; in Bonao creek in Seibo province; and in the Verde River, the streams of Sabaneta and a number of other streams of the Cibao. On the upper Jaina and on the Verde River there are still persons who make their living by washing gold from the river sands.
Santa Cruz del Seibo, 74 miles northeast of Santo Domingo, was originally founded by Juan de Esquivel in 1502, but being destroyed by an earthquake in 1751, was moved to its present location, to the north of its old site. It lies in the center of a region devoted to cacao planting and stockraising.
For administrative purposes the Republic is divided into twelve provinces; Azua, Barahona, Espaillat, La Vega, Macoris, Monte Cristi, Pacificador, Puerto Plata, Samana, Santiago, Santo Domingo and Seibo. Formerly six were known as provinces and six as maritime districts, though there was in practice no distinction between them.
It includes almost the entire region east of the Jaina River and south of the central range, being about 115 miles long by 30 miles wide. This Eastern Valley or Seibo Plain, as it is sometimes called, is covered with forests and broad savannas, the most notable of which are comprised in the series of prairies known as Los Llanos, the Plains.
In 1751 the colony was visited by a severe hurricane, which caused the Ozama to leave its banks, and by a destructive earthquake which overthrew the cities of Azua and Seibo and did much damage to the church buildings of Santo Domingo. Azua and Seibo were reestablished on their present sites. Another earthquake in 1770 destroyed several towns in the French part of the island.
In 1915 the government granted several franchises for electric car lines, one for Santo Domingo City, with the right to extend as far as Bani; another for Santiago, with the right of extension to Janico; and a third for Macoris, with the right of extension to Seibo, but no work has been done on these projects.
The principal cacao region is the Cibao and the upper Seibo plain, and the largest plantation, belonging to the well-known Swiss chocolate manufacturer, Suchard, is situated near Sabana la Mar, on the south side of Samana Bay. The cacao here produced is not of the finest grade, such as that grown in Ecuador, but goes to make the cheaper grades of chocolate.
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