Adams County news. [volume] (Ritzville, Wash.) 1898-1906, 1898-09-14
ISLAND OF PORTO RICO.
fhe Melting LONELINESS of Its Tropical
Landacape.

fhe Melting LONELINESS of Its Tropical
Landscape.
Frederick A. ODER, late commission
er In Porto Rico of the Columbian Ex-
position, contributes to the Century an
article on "The Island Of Porto Rico"
east rises the highest peak of the CEN
trail cordillera, in the Luquillo Sierra,
known as Eel Yunque,' or 1.-The Anvil"
variously estimated at from thirty-six
hundred to forty-five hundred feet in
height. The hills are of lesser eleva-
ton toward the west and southwest,
but the whole north-central country Is
rugged and uneven. Between the
spurs from the main range lie innu-
merable secluded valleys, where the
soil Is Of great fertility. The impress
sive features Of the landscape are the
rounded submits Of the multitudinous
bills, which leave the coast In con-
stantly rising pillows that finally break
against the cordillera vertebra; yet all
are cultivable, and cultivated to their
very crests, though the higher noun
tain peaks are forest-clad.
More than thirteen hundred streams,
1t is said, of which number perhaps
forty or fifty attain to the dignity Of
rivers, rise in the hills and seek the
coasts, most Of them running northerly,
though the best harbors are In the
west and south. But Notwithstanding
the great river flow, portions of the
Island in the southwest are afflicted
with drouth at times, owing to the
precipitation Of the northeast trades
against the northern hills.
The higher hills are clothed In the
exuberant and diversified vegetation
Of the tropical forest, where tree-ferns
flourish, and great gum-trees and
mountain palms tower aloft; at lower
levels are the cedar and mahogany,
walnut and laurel, with many others
noted for their useful woods. Through
put the island are found those trees
and shrubs valuable for their gums, as
the Nancy, guaiacum, and copal, while
the list Of medicinal plants includes
most Of those, invaluable to our phar-
macopoeias, which tropical America
has given to the world. These are the
silvestres, natures wild children; but
Of cultivated plants there Is no species
peculiar 70 the tropics that does not
flourish here. In the lttoral levels, be-
tween the mountains and the sea,
grows the sugarcane, which may be
cultivated up to an altitude of three
thousand feet. 1t was introduced here
from SantO Domingo, having been
brought to America either from Spain
or the Canaries. The annual yield of
sugar is estimated at about seventy
thousand tons.
In these fertile lowlands, also, tobac-
co does exceedingly well, and the an
nual production is said to be quite
seven million pounds. 1t may be cul-
tivated on the hills, but the true noun
tain-lover is the coffee, which does not
do well below six hundred feet, and is
at Its best thousand feet above the
sea. 1t was first brought here from
Martinique, In 1922, and now yields
to the extent Of seventeen thousand
tons annually. Maize, the true Indian
corn, is indigenous, as is the yucca, the
aboriginal "staff of life;" and both
grow everywhere, as well as the pine
apple, which is more reliable and more
universal than the peach Of our north
temperate zone. Cotton and rice are
a. a,,lx, oil 81 1,@
ter, which is the chief food of many
laborers, being what Is known as the
mountain variety.
Bananas and plantains are wonder
fully prolific, bearing fruit in ten
months from planting. The plants vir-
tually last sixty years, being equally
long-lived with the cocoa palm, which
produces nuts in six or seven years,
and thereafter during the space of an
ordinary life. Its yield being reckoned
at a hundred nuts year. The annual
production Of bananas is given as two
hundred millions, and of cocoanuts
three millions. The entire range of trop-
lcal fruits Is represented here, such as
the guava, lime, orange, aguacate, sap
pdilla, and avocado pear; while all SUBJ
tropIc vegetables may be raised, includ-
Ing those Of the south-temperate zone,
such, for instance, as are grown In
Florida.
The mineral kingdom has not been so
exhaustively exploited as the vegeta-
BILE, but more than traces have been
found Of copper, coal, and iron, as
well as vast deposits of salt. The riv-
srs at one time ran to the sea over
beds Of golden sand, and from the
streams to-day (as In the neighboring
island Of Santo Domingo, where the
first American gold was discovered,
the natives wash out nuggets, by the
crude processes of that distant day
when Agueynaba went prospecting
with his false friend Ponce de Leon.
There are no native quadrupeds here
larger than the agouti and the arma-
dillo, but birds are relatively numerous,
with few of fine song, and some OF
brilliant plumage. All domestic fowl
do well here, and the great pastures OF
the northwest and southeast support
vast herds Of cattle and horses, which
suffice not only for the needs of the
Island, but are exported to all parts OF
the West Indies, being held In high es.
TEEN.
There are no poisonous reptiles to be
feared. but insects of questionable
character are too numerous for COM