Evening star., 1898-11-14


| of green. and generally of the same height.
| All the decoration is iavished on the inside,
and the walls are quite bare and dingy
The entrances are even squalid, as 1t Is the
usual custom to rent the lower floor to a
poor family-sometimes to darkieS and to
storekeepers. This is true even OF the pest
| houses: Therefore. you see crowds OF ne
gro children in the best streets.
"Of course, the sidewalks and streets are
narrow, but they are well paved and almost
! as clean as those of Washington. I have
| of people. save occasionally on a balcony
Our band has not begun to play on the plaza
| yet, and the people are not promenading as
| of yore. 1t will take a little time for things
| to settle down.
"A friend and I wandered from shop to
shop, seeking in vain for souvenirs. Every
| thing seemed to be of American or French
manufa cture 1t seems to be impossible to
buy anything characteristic OF the place
| 1t was probably government town purely,
and had little manufacturing. 1t was really
quite disappointing to find old associations
on every side. 1t only needed Chlnese
laundry to cap the climax.
The Sea Front.
1.-The view from the streets on the sea-
front is magnificent. The town fronts on
the sea from Cristobal to MORO, ending in a
rocky cliff, on which beats ceaseless surf.
This stretch of coast IS lined with old stone
forts and walls with here and there lit
| tie stone lookout tower 1t would make a
sple add boulevard some time.
THE cathedral is impressive by reason OF
its architecture and its interior reminds
me in some features of that at Grenada;
but the shrines and altars with their taW-
dry decorations are very depressing. L
nearly dropped one evening when L met
Archie MCGEE in the hotel cafe. He is here
| in connection with the post office, and got
me a chance to see the lottery building in
which they are established. The latter
paid a large subsidy to the state and main
| " supported the government, thus enabling
| the officials to pocket the money obtained
py lnnumerahle direct taxes We were
shown through labyrinth of rooms, many
| of them beautifully furnished and all Of
them adorned with paintings some were
of great size and many were very beauu-
full.
which runs to Rio Piedras, about twenty
miles east of San Juan 1t is narrow
gauge road and they have the queerest
| little engines Imaginable. The ROAD Is par
alleled by carriage road better than any
other I know of; 1t would be perfect for
wheels.
San Juan Is built on island, and the
narrow creek separating the MAINLAND, ana
crossed by two stone bridges, is guarded by
an ancient fort and walls, as well as by
recent fortifications. 1 don't believe we
could have taken San Juan from either sea
or land save at great expense Of time
and life.
For long way you ride through sub
urbs of the capital, and the road Is lined
with the most beautiful! gardens The
country is green and fertile beyond fmag-
nation and the vegetation is beautifully
luxuriant and tropical. Rio Piedras is only
a small place and there is nothing to See
except the captain generals summer pal
ace The palace, which was deserted and
bare, was General Brookes headquarters
for some time, and our troops are camped
about half a mile away.
Palace Gardens.
THE palace gardens are worth the trip.
The profusion Of flowers and their variety
in form and color are quite bewildering,
but. best Of all, was lane of giant trees,
which, arching high above, made a dark,
cool tunnel, surprising anything of the
kind I ever saw. The spaces between the
trunks were planted with trees like our
southern magnolias-almonds, I think.
MORO has six six-inch machine guns. Our
shells did no damage whatever. They only
hit few times. Imagine walls 200 feet
thick at the base and sixty or more at the
top and all of solid stone and earth.
Il am living on fruit, mainly bananas and
alligator pears. The lines are the best you
ever saw; almost as large as lemons.
Think of six oranges and ten lines for
cents We get 1.70 in Porto Rican money
for 81 United States, but things are dear
in Porto Rican money. A dinner at the
hotel costs s1.25, P. R., for instance.
II saw church with several large holes
in it and fine bank was badly damaged by
our shells. In the lottery building they
had two unexploded American Shells one
eisht-inch and one six-pounder
"There are two very fine statues here-one
of CHRISTOPHER Columbus and one of Ponce
de Leon The Columbus is especially good
and has four fine bas reliefs upon the ped
estal."