The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1902-02-16
some SNAP SHOTS IN
. DARKEST PORTO RICO
Where Poverty Makes Life a
Nightmare.
AND MAN is DEGRADED
Miserable Wretches That Might PEG.
pie Dream of Hades.
STRANGE SCENES IN THE MARKETS
Horse Race in the Streets. COttor.Bsaring Trees
Milking Cows at Your Door. Pigs,
Chickens and Men HuddIed
Under One Roof

Under One Roof.
To the Editor: Pardon the liberty /
take in speaking through you to your
many readers. / have been on this island
more than two weeks and the News and
Observer is the first newspaper l have
gotten a chance 10 read since / came.
Today / visited the barracks of the
United States troops and it was there l
found the paper. 1t is needless to as
sure you l read it with much interest,
and this led me to feel that / ought to
send YOU a few words, and the more so
as Raleigh was once my home and the
editor of the News ana Observer was
then, and is yet, an esteemed friend.
AS to Porto Rico, there is so much of
interest that l can scarcely decide just
what will interest You. Perhaps the
manners and customs of the people, to-
gether with some of the singular things
in nature, may be acceptable.
The people are partly civilized but the
masses are in heather darkness. They
are ignorant. immoral degraded and
many of them are poverty stricken be-
yond anything l have seen in my life.
The market is good place to begin.
In the early morning the butchers cut
up into small pieces all the meat they
have. They use no axe or saw, but big
knives 1t is almost sickening to hear
the clatter of knives as they cut and
break the bones. They have no refrig-
~,
over until the next day The cattle here
are the finest in the world, but the meat
is very poor. One thing is they ruin the
beef in cutting it--they follow the it's
sue and muscles and cut into short
strips, long strips, ragged strips. Vege-
tables and fruits are plentiful Or
anges, fine article, can be bought for
% cents a hundred Bananas are cheap.
The market men and women arrange
themselves about the market. They
spread a cloth on the ground and then
PIT their goods down in small piles
Usually such pile is worth one cent. AS
slipped under the cloth upon which
their goods are placed for sale.
The fish market is also full of inter
est, specially because of the strange
looking fish and the many beautiful col
ors--they are spotted, deep blue, red
brown, golden, silver and / know not
what else. Many of them are queer
shaped. One was about the size of the
palm of your hand with long ropy legs
running out in every direction
A Porto Rican milk wagon is a novel
Iolf
ing's milk to customers. The cows and
calves and the mixer go from house to
house, stopping in front of the door and
milking and then deliver the milk while
IT, is warm to the customers, who usual
~ stand by looking ON while the milking
is done. There is one advantage in this
methQl-the milk is not likely to be
"watered." II the COW is at all unruly
they tie her hind legs together while
they are milking.
A great many oxen are used here for
hauling, but the driving of these oxen
is singular. The driver walks in front
of the team With "a pole or a club and as
he wishes them TO go faster or pull hard
err he whips them in the face and over
the head while still standing immed-
ately in front of them. They also have
sharp nail in the end of the pole and
when they cannot otherwise make them
do they punch them with the nail. Again
they tie the yoke to the horns of the
oxen, using no bow. The United States
Government sent over load of yokes
with a view to lettering the condition
OF the oxen, making his work easier,
but the OK refused to work under
yoke, and the yokes were useless.
The native horses are all small poor
and ugly, but tough and smart to de-
gree that is amazing. They are driven
rapidly nearly all the time. I have seen
them with two ponies to two-horse
carriage with five persons in go UP
steep Hill in a sweeping gallop. They
travel rapidly for miles without rest.
Strange things are also seen in ma
ture. Cotton grows on trees-some OF
them fifteen and twenty feet high.
Gooseberries and grapes also grow upon
trees, many of them twenty TO twenty
five feet high The Royal Palm bears
no fruit of any value. but the bark peels
from the upper section of the body and
this is used by the poor to cover their
houses. This leads nue. to say: | have
often heard Of poor people and | think
have seen poor people, but my eyes
never looked upon such poverty as have
seen here. simply cannot describe it
in Language that can give the reader any
fair conception of what it IS. ! took