Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-09-02

| saw bucks with canvas stretched over
! them. so that they can be folded up and
! set aside in the daytime.
/ The people come to the doors and look
at They all dress in cottons, the poor
er women wearing little more than cotton
skirts and jackets. Not a few Of them are
bareheaded and all are barefooted. Some
have naked babies in their arms and naked
children run about the streets. They are
brigh t-eyed little things of all colorS, from
jet black to Jersey cream. Many of them
look lean except at the waist where their
stomachs protrude to an enormous extent.
This comes from their diet of vegetables
and fruits, especially bananas.
Oranges ut Cents a Dozen.
AS we wait man goes by with a load
of oranges He is leading mule. which
has two baskets slung over its back. Each
| holds about three bushels. and he is ped
ding the fruit from house to house. We
stop him and ask the price. He tells
the fruit is exceptionally fine and that he
cannot possibly sell them for less than 4
cents dozen. We take hundred and
store them into one of the boxes of the
battery wagon. to eat on the way. They
are full of juice and deliciously sweet.
Their skin. however, is thicker than that
of oranges at home, and shall eat
them la Porto Rico. and this is by par
ing off the outer or yellow cover of the
skin and leaving only the white. Now we
slice off the top. and clapping the orange
to our mouths suck out the juice. l tell
you it is dish for a king.
On the Roof of Porto Rico.
Leaving Juan-a-Diaz go wind
ing way up the mountains. We climb higher
and higher. hanging to the sides of the
hills until at last we reach Aibonito, the
pass over the range which divides the is
land. We are now half mile above where
we started and are on the roof of Porto
Rico.
We are In one of the most beautiful parts
of Uncle Sans new Switzerland in one
of the most picturesque regions of the
world. AS far can all sides
rise green hills. spotted here and there by
the dark shadows of the clouds. Biiowy
mountains roll one over the other on all
sides until they lose themselves in the sky.
Below the Military road.
Just above the Spanish earthworkS
which commanded the road when we in
yaded the island. and we can climb up and
stand on the very spot where their cannon
thunde rel a warning to the troops.
Furt..er on our Journey we go down
branch of the Military road to visit Guy
amo Heights. where our troops were at
tackled when they made their way up from
the coast Here you can see the Military
road for miles winding it's way like white
Snake up the hills. 1t was perfectly com
manded by the Notifications. Indeed. some
of the hest Of officers think that had
the Spaniards tried to hold Porto Rico the
country is such that we could not have
conquered them.
West Indian Switzerland.
I have spoken of Porto Rico as Switzer-
land It is like Switzerland without the ice
and snow and still it has beauties which
Switzerland has not. The trees those
of the semi-tropics Long lines OF green
hang down frem their branches. Orchids
big peck measure wrap themselves
around their limbs. and not a few of them
have n veil of Spanish moss. Others are
great masses of bright red. yellow or pur-
pie flowers. | SAW one tree twenty feet
high covered with great balls of white wool
IT was q cotton tree and the cotton burst
ing from the balls was just like the cotton
produced in our southern states.
On the Atlantic side of the island reach
ed region of ferns. in which there were
fern trees from twenty to thirty feet high.
these trees and at the same time gathered
some maiden-hair ferns. which had
branches as fine the most delicate lace.
Paln Trees and Bnnnnas.
Let US notice the vegetation as we travel
down the north slope of the mountains.
See those fields of bananas which cover the
sides of the hills. The plants are twenty
feet high. They have leaves OF soft green
a foot wide and as tall as a man. Their
blossoms are of a rich maroon and those
which have opened are Of a blood red.
What let OF palm trees there are and
how many varieties. We saw cocoanutS
down on the coast Up here IN the noun
tains the most conspicuous trees are the
royal realms. They spot the landscape.
standing out like tail spires against the
hills. Now and then we see bread fruit
tree, whose fan-liRe leaves Hop about In the
breeze Now we pass coffee plantation,
and after leaving the town of Cayey we
ride for miles through mountains covered