El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1898-08-13
Porto Rico.
n ansas Oity World


That little island, Porto Rico, lying
southeast of Cuba, with San Domingo
intervening, Is only 100 miles long least
and west) and 40 broad. But it is so
packed full of riches that q population
of 800, 900, generally lazy, illiterate and
unskilled, are able to pay So, OO0, 900
tribute to Spain each year, support q
Spanish army and q horde of Spanish
office-holders, and live very comforts
bly, themselves.
Porto Rico has had a stormy history
since Columbus discovered it in 1893,
or, more accurately, since Ponce de
Juan, in 1910. He began with q ter
rible slaughter of natives, and Spain
or her enemies have kept war and cruel
oppression q chronic condition there
ever since.
Its population, according to the GEN.
sus of 1887, the latest. was 500, 7O8, of
whom about 45O, 900 is white, 100000
in eight are classed as "literate," but
a majority of those can only read, not
having reached the advanced stage of
learning which affords them the Joy of
writing.
Physically, the island presents q va
riety of conditions, which would not be
looked for on such a modest bit OF ter
ritory, to one accustomed to the larger
scale OF topography prevailing in this
country. A mountain range runs from
coast to coast, east and west, rising in
the eastern district to height of $3.50
feet, and the deep canons cutting
down to the Caribbean sea on the
south, and the Atlantic on the north,
are sources of iunumerable water
courses, no less than 40 of them being
large enough for inland navigation by
small trading craft.
The country on the northern slope of
the mountain range is as rich, aGricul-
tural land, it is said. as is found any
where in the world, raising the maxi
mum of crops with the minimum of
cultivation. while to the south OF the
mountains the lands require artificial
irrigation to produce good crops. This
great difference in so small an area is
all the more remarkable, as in the
wet" portion of the island the average
annual rainfall is "a inches.
Spaniards have been cultivating the
land for nearly four centuries, and they
exterminated people who were
wise in the arts of agriculture, yet to-
day only a very small proportion of the
available land of the island has ever
been cultivated, chiefly it seems, be-
cause there are no roads by which pro-
duce can be carried to shipping points.
cACcpt over Uue TlCu lOWlduQS near LQo
coast.
But even under system calculated
to make a Yankee farmer grOan for the
waste of possibilities, the Porto Ricans
raise enormous and rich crops of varie-
ty, which satisfy child's dream of
tropical goodies. Here is list
of the principal crops: Sugar, mo-
lasses, tobacco, coffee, rice, cotton,
maize, plaintains, oranges, bananas,
pineapples-and a score of other fruits
honey and cocOanuts. They mine"
and export salt, as well as sugar, build
ing stone and marble, and it is known
that the hills contain gold, copper. tin,
lead and iron, but the Inhabitants lack
the skill, enterprise and capital to de-
velop these mineral riches.
The climate of Porto Rico is much
superior to that of Cuba. But even at
the hottest it is not vexed with much
humidity, the air being kept generally
free of moisture by the pre- vailing
northeast wind.