The times., 1898-10-23
CHANCES IN PORTO RICO.
An Island Occupied and Guilt
waited Nearly to Its Limit.
GOOD 0PENINGSFOR CAPITAL

The InsaIar Railway system-Conee.
Sugar and Tobacco Plantations.
Northern Fruits CuItivnble in the
Uplands-Hordes of disappointed
Prospectors-Some Industrial Op-
portunfties-A Hard Climate ON
Europeans.
Ponce. Porto Rico, Sept. 2J-Although
you may now make the circuit of this
island by railway and visit several in
terror towns in a parlor car It is in
finitely pleasanter. If time is not press
Ing, to travel over these tropical coun-
tries on horseback or en- coche wher-
ever practicable. Nothing more delight
full can be imagined than a saddle jour-
ney from San Juan to Ponce, the capi-
tai, a distance of thirty miles as the crow
flies. but nearer fifty by the windings
of the old canine real, or royal road"
built by the early Spaniards almost four
centuries ago! The interior of Porto
Rico is extremely fertile, and SO we'll
titled that the entire island looks like
one continuous garden. 1t is remark
ably we'll supplied with towns and VIII
lages. there being no fewer than sew
enty-three with upward of thousand
population, besides innumerable hamlets
of grass-covered huts surrounding some
tile-roofed church or bodega All the
towns are connected by good highways,
with many transverse roads; and the
railway, begun in 1893, follows the irregu-
lar short line some 800 miles, and al
ready sends several short branches into
the interior. ~
When fully ccmpleted-as 1t is likely
soon TO be, under energetic American
management-Porto Rico's railway sys-
tenn will include five lines, with twelve
sections, about 500 miles all told: not
bad showing for the little three-cornered
island which is only about one-thirtieth
the size of the State of Michigan, or
somewhere about ninety-six miles long
by thirty-six miles wide, in Its longest
and widest part. Before the war there
were ATS miles of telegraph in operation
In Porto Rico and "a deep-sea cable con-
Meeting II with the United States, Europe.
and the other Antilles. 1t had also a well
established banking institution, whose
headquarters were, in San Juan, with
branches extending throughout the ISL
and. and in 1890 charter was extended
for another bank, with the exclusive privi-
lege of q note issue, the original capital
being 100000 pesos.
Aren ana Population.
Though Porto Rico is only one-twelfth
.he size of Cuba, 1t contains fully half
as many people, the larger island having
so much waste land, while every acre of
the smaller Is occupied and cultivated.
The comparatively level strip between the
highlands and the sea is filled with coffee
groves, cotton, cane, rice and tobacco.
Then comes a mass of irregular hills, ap-
parently piled hap-hazard, around cloud
capped Yunque, their upper heights yet
covered with the magnificent forests
which Columbus so much admired. Flour
ishing plantations extend a long way up
the sloping hill sides and down into the
green valleys that lie between, while in
hundreds of narrow canyons grass grows
and flocks and herds find rich pasturage.
Porto Rico is famous for its excellent
cattle. and for a particularly fine breed of
nOrSeS
Though the methods of farming are nat
urally most primitive and the lazy peo-
ple invariably put off until tomorrow
everything which should be done today.
less than a quarter of the crops now
raised by the present slip-shod methods
are needed for the support of the popu-
lation. Never was there small country
better equipped for sustaining itself, inde-
pendent OF the outside world. than Porto
hi dc ENtrvN mn,
corn and vegetables are cultivated to per-
lection; and between the coffee cotton
and sugar plantations and the sturdy line
of ancient trees which stand out in the
landscape like a ruff around the necks of
the topmost peaks-rice is grown OF
peculiar mountain variety, which does
not require flooding, and constitutes the
staff of life for the laboring classes.
There are said to be something over 500
varieties of native trees on the island, and
In the loftier attitudes apples. pears and
other northern fruits might be success
fully grown. Every wall and hedgerow Is
overrun with vines and blossoming creep
ers, and every spot not devoted to arti-
fetal crops is covered with natural fruit
bearing trees, or teeming with flowers,
such as are carefully tended in our
Northern conseryatories, here sprlnging
in wild and odorous profusion.
When the discoyerers named this ISL
and the Rich Port they believed 1t to
contain incalculable mineral riches.
Gold. copper, iron, zinc. and coal are
known to exist In several places, but no
serious attempt has ever been made 10
develop these resources. Possibly under
American management they may come
to the front in the near future, particu-
larly the iron and coal, which, in this
locality, would prove more valuable, If
found in considerable quantities, than
most gold mines. The only industry in
this line which has been pursued to any
extent here are the salt mines at Salinas.
on the south coast. and at Cape Rojo
on the west. The apongefieids, too. are
practically inexhaustible. and have hard
ly been touched and there are extensive
auarries Of beautiful white stone. granite
and marble which have been entirely
neglected for lack Of capital, but in
Yankee hands would pay we'll
The Boomer In Evidence.
good many Americans are already
here to look up the prospects for invest
ment of capital and the business chances