The Eddy current., 1898-10-08

Ponce. Porto Rico. Correspondence.
The dream of that innocent and credu-
iOus old Spanish knight. Ponce de
Leon has AZ last been partially realized
In the quaint historic city tha. bears
his name. upon the very island whore
he made his vain quest for the Spring
Of Everlasting Life Little ala this an
cient Don think. when IN the name OF
the king Of Spain he took possession Of
the beautiful island. that the time
would ever come whom an allen and
hated race would overthrow the indo-
Gent, careless and deep-rootod Ignorance
of this Spanish possession and lnstill
the spirit Of progress aud industry into
the natives who for hundreds OF years
have dragged ont an existence Of lazy.
useless Inactivity Yet tha, time has
come. and the island is even now en-
tering upon an epoch which will ere
long develop into one of remarkable
wealth and progress a. those who
visited Japan ten years ago would
scarcely recognize o. now. s0 will Il be
with Porto Rico In much less time. and
the native drees. customs and charac-
N'AAHtANN NWW ~ NNANhNN WIN AWNNNNHA
60 the seeker after knowledge Of his
fellowman will have passed into the
dead yesterday
To the traveller Ponce possesses
more OF interest than any other city
on the Island. II is lager. inhabited by
a better and more intelligent class and
Is FAR moro richly endowed with tho
beauties OF nature than rs rival. San
Juan, whose only claim TO interest lies
ia ita fortlhcatlons ard its flth
Ponce. although the most populous
city on the island. Us wholly without de-
fenae OF any kind The city proper lies
about two miles inland from tho har.
Dor and is connected with the port by
a military road one OF the few i'm
proyements granted % tho island un-
der the Spanish regime. Porto Ponce
lies on the waters edge and ms first
glimpse Of the town al our boat noarel
The rude pier was q long row Of low,
white. pink. blue and yellow stores.
That "a. the colurs were once there. but
time. neglect and the element had left
but little trace of the original huos. As
tho boat was tossed through tho surf
onto tho beach "a score ot youngsters.
from S 10 10 years of age and ranging
in color from mahogany brown 90
dusky white. wadoi about our boat.
wholly unahashod In their nakodnc.s
their curiosity overcoming the fear In
which they hold 20 Foreigners Upon
the pier were gathered couglomor.
ate mass Of sailors soldiers and ma
tIyoa 400 IuterminsIlng with the good
fellowship always uppermost among
tho Caucasian race when thrown 90.
gcthcr 900 foreign land No snan.
lards were to Doe found. or. n thcy were
they bid their EympaIhIes beneath the
everlasting shout OF "Niyc los Amorl.
canos' pushed my way through the
crowd, mp through thc narrow. muG3 IS
street. and finding a hack. bargained
with the driver to carry me 90 Ponce
Tor una real or twelve cents Spanish
money Ths 81 but ak cents In our
coin. and my Iehu specified that hc
was 20 be- paid IN Americana dinoro. '
ior American money. ! climbed into the
rlchcty old trap. drawn by two diminu.
tive native horses. whose size would
compare fnvorably with the smallest Oi
Arizona burrol but whose strength
was entirely out 1t proportion with
their size.
Porto Ponce is the tobacco and sugar
mart Tor tho greater portion of m,
island. and as we rode toward the in,
teriGr we passed dozons of long. lov
siorohouses filled with the soothln.
weed. and other where through On,
open doors could Boz seen hundreds o
men, women ana children etrippiug nu,
preparing the tobacco for the market
IN the streets and about the entrances