The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-09-02
PORTO RIcAN SCENES.
sOME OF A SAVANNAH MANS EN-
PERIENCEs ON THAT ISLAND.
villages Worse Than Ynmncraw.
some of tie Fruits of the Country.
observations Respecting the PeO-
pIe-Oth Their. Matters of Interest.

..
on the steamer St. Louis, just opposite
Ponce. We expected to land the next day.
but that same evening preparations for
| leaving were made, and in the night our
sea voyage was continued as far east as
Arroyo. a little port opposite the city of
| Guyana, reaching there Monday at day
light. Guayama is situated at the foot
of high green hills at the entrance OF
valley, the city spread out on an eleva-
ton, it is a most charming landscape from
there, with the large dome of church in
the midst of group of buildings, and the
| young sun, which has just risen in the
horizon, throws feeble light on the vii
lage and on the undulating slopes. The
rest is still in the shade. The coast Is
about two miles from Guyana, which is
filled in with rich sloping lands, nearly all
in sugar cane. Along the coast we see
some bananas and cocoanut trees.
All of a sudden the terrible little steam
er Gloucester CHE one that destroyed Ger
vera's torpedo boaO, which was in port
fred several shots in the direction of
| Guayama. We were about three or four
miles form the coast. Then our lookout
saw several Suspects amongst the hills
between here and Guayama, aud we fired
several shots in that direction At last
we reached land, and as soon as we could
find place to leave our effects and Sc
cure lodgings, G. and myself and several
! others went on a tour of inspection at the
outposts. was provided with a book and
compass, and l was to make a little sur
vey from the coast up the principal street
going inland Several platoons were sent
as avant guardes so as to serve as SEN
tinels all around the village in the country
to protect MS against any surprise from
| the enemy. We went along thus for a lit
tie while, I taking the direction of the
| compass and counting the steps for the
| distance, looking about, admiring the Gu
| rious trees, flowers and habtations. When
| having passed the end of the village all
| of a sudden inhabitants and negresses
! rushed out, running towards US, gesticu-
lating and screaming, Go back so back
| quick!' I ran towards them. Cue hay?
said (What is it,. Some of our party ran
| back I soon found out that they wanted
| to warn us that soldiers were ahead but
| as they were "Our boys" we went ahead,
without other incident, and taking a cross
! road returned 10 Guayama in time to wit
| ness the landing of our troops. Our large
/ steamer cannot get nearer than two miles,
| the troops must be taken ashore in little
| lighters piloted by small tugs like large
naphtha launches. IL takes a very long
| time to make this transfer, and when we
reach shore the boat is pushed with long
! perches and each wave helping, we reach
| a place where, when the wave retires,
! each person can jump ashore, and we
| have to run not to get wet.
Our arrival here is heralded by every
/ 4 Ia I,a
tom house, farther on the English flag
and four French flags
| 1 was in constant demand as interpre-
| ter, although quite a number of people
| here speak Spanish, including the English
| consul and his three brothers.
! There is much poverty here since the be-
| ginning of the war, no ships have come
| here TO renew the stock of merchandise
no work is being done. Sugar cane grows
! well, and coffee farther back in the noun
! tains Is ripening.
There are crowds Of men here busy
| loading and unloading our immense ner-
| chandise, thousands of boxes barrels of
| provisions, tents, harness, guns at least
| 800 machetes, an enormous caisss Of wire
| cutters, etc. AS many warehouses are
/ empty at this season, we store orr provis- 4
| ions, etc, in them. T..
| quay had to be constructed so as to
| disembark with more facility. was
| asked to look for some wood for the pur-
| pose. They wanted logs, but there were
none to be had without sending, into the
| hills so, just took a walk through the
! village, presumably as a. sanitary inspec-
| tor, and found in an old lot some old tim
| Der, evidently some old shed refuse.
asked il 1 could have it, and was told
! certainly, so in a short time / had nv logs
| on the beach, beautiful mahogany logs,
worth thousands!
! We took two little barges, which we
4Io p. %t,,1e- \.
| bic. Then 1 took charge of about fifty
| natives, armed with sporels, picks, axes
| and sacks. We began to load these boats
with sand so as to sink them; at the same
! time we planted posts, so as to construct
a sort of bridge, communicating from the
| land to the boats. AS we were in a great
hurry to get this done we worked until
midnight, and began again at $50 a. m.
took a cup of coffee at a. M and
have had nothing to eat since I o'clock
yesterday, but the wharf and pier were
done in the afternoon. Unloading ammu-
nitons Of war continued all night
Bananas, plantins, oranges, are not vet
ripe, lines are beginning We find cocoa
nuts, mangoes and some other peculiar
fruit the nature Of which 1 have vet been
unable to determine. There is another lit
tie green fruit with sticlSers on the skin.
it resembles somewhat a defective water
melon, but inside there is a creamy white
/
apple ice cream, the fibers lead from fhe
skin toward the center, like the pineapple.
and tell you it is not bad to take.
The village Is old and poor, although
there are some good houses like the IN
dian Bungaloo, the ground floor Of con-
crete mixed with brick and stone, for the
most part the houses are surrounded with
thick bushes and hedges; there are many
fruit trees, crepe myrtle jasmine Ovhite)
caladiums with huge leaves; nearly every
garden has cocoanut trees.
Disorder and negligence are terrible. 1t
Is worse than Yamacrawi And it is sur
prising that there is no fever or illness. but
stranger still is it, that all this accumula-
ton of filth, which has been added to for
these centuries has caused no sickness
whatever
Tomatoes and egg plants are very lux
uriant, and grow all the year round. Moth
ing is cared for so the fruit is naturally
small The trees that produce the rnaneoe