The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1898-10-20

lists have never been able to discover
what there is in the soil of that par
ticular island to make it better for
sugar than others of the West Indies,
but the fact remains, demonstrated
over and over again, than a quintal
Of Porto Rico cane yields from , to u
per cent. more sugar than can be OBJ
tanned from Il similar quantity grown
in Cuba, Jamaica or Santa Domingo.
Perhaps it is because this island is so
exceptionally well watered, without
being marshy, II rivers running to
the sea on the north shore alone, all
of them navigable several miles above
their mouth.
Doubtless in Leon's time the space
between the fort and castle was open,
so that, sitting in his own windows,
he had an unobstructed view of the
horizons rim. After the natives of
Borinquin were mostly killed and the
remnant subjected to his will, the am
bilious Conquistador sighed for more
than island to conquer. 1t is
said that in one of these seaward rooms
in the Casa BlancO he planned the
voyage which resulted in the discov-
cry ofFlorida and the upperBahamas
Sitting day after day in his window,
during the three or four years of en-
forced idleness, looking out over the
ocean as it billowed away to unknown
regions and specializing upon won
ders that might lie beyond his vision
he brooded over the story he had
heard from his Indian sergeants
about mysterious islands in the far
Lucayan chain, one of which held deep
in it's forest the enchanted fountain of
eternal youth, and as by that time the
hey-day of his youth was past and the
hair beginning to whiten. he was
doubIy anxious to find an unfaiing
eliXir-fOr which most of us would
journey far and wide. So in 1912 he
sailed out of this bay, which was then
callAguadilla, ,asCoIumbus had named
it, headed due north in search of
"Bimini the fabled island on which
was to be found the wonderful fOun-
tain, according to the Indians, who
were thus repaying treachery with
trcachery We know how he cruised
the Bahamas, and landed On Guiana
hani, or San SalvadOr-the first bit
of the Western world which Columbus
sighted on his first voyage, just twenty
years before; and thence, still steer
ing towards the North star, Leon dis
covered a coast banked with tall trees
all abloom. He named it Florida
but did not pronounce it as we do
the Spanish fashion of the wOrdlbeing
as if spelled FlOw-read-ah; and to the
day of his death he believed it to be
an island, although the King of Spain
made him Adelantado of the new land.
We may as well finish the story
while about it, as we go from the casa
DlullCti " lllS lOlllb vi lIS
Leon did not stay long in Florida but
under the guidance of an old woman,
whom he captured on one Of the KEYS.
searched the outlaying islands up and
down for the Bimini Of his dreams.
Naturally, he did not find what
never existed, and finally returned
disheartened to Porto Rico He had
hardly reached the casa blanca before
one of his officers, in ship left behind
to continue the search, brought him
the glad tidings that the long-sought
fountain had at last been discovered
a lie, of course, but it is said that a
falsehood we'll told is as good as the
truth. At any rate, on the strength
of this one Ponce de Leon was elevated
to the exalted rank of Adelantado of
Florida and Bimini; but rested con
tent in Porto Rico, meaning to drink
of the magic waters before old age
overlook him.
Meanwhile, engrossed in Porto
Rican affairs, he almost forgot the
new domain, until the great discov-
cries of Cortez in Mexico electrified
the world and aroused again his spirit
Of adventure. In 1851 he fitted out
two ships and made another voyage
to the North, determined to stop Ell
route at Bimini and head off old
Father Time by copious draughts
from the Fountain of Youth. But
alas, that the best-laid plans gang
aft agley.n Landing on the Florida
coast, he was at once attackedgby the
Indians and so severely wounded thai
he had to be conveyed in haste tC
( Cuba, where he died. His body was
brought back to this island and de
posted beneath the altar of the Dom
| inican Church of San Juan, just L
years after the beginning of his ad
ministration in Porto Rico and th'
/ building of the casa blanca. There i
rested for more than 300 years, when
in 1868, the lead casket that contained
the remains of the Conqueror wa
disinterred. The intention was t.
l,,;Id n CnIandi6 moDumpnt tO hi