A TALK ABOUT PORTO RICO
“He’s down on us now, if he never was before,” was Sam’s comment, after
Hockley had disappeared.
“But he won’t go to Professor Strong with his tale of woe,” put in
Mark. “When Darry spoke of the can of pitch he was scared and showed
it.”
“He knew it was mean to put off that joke on me,” said Darry. And then
he added: “I don’t think my joke was such a brilliant affair, but I
reckon it squared accounts.”
He had to go into the details of what he had done, and the boys had
another laugh, for boys are but boys, and it had been fun to see the
bully dancing around in such alarm.
By morning the storm was over and the sun came out so fiercely that all
were glad enough to remain in the shade of the awning spread over the
forward deck, where a little breeze was blowing.
“We are now in the track of Columbus on his first voyage to the New
World,” said Professor Strong. “He sailed across this very spot a
little over four hundred and eight years ago.”
“What tremendous changes since then,” said Sam. “He found our own
States inhabited by Indians and now a good many of our inhabitants have
never seen an Indian, outside of a Wild West show or a circus.”
“Yes, the march of progress has been great, Samuel, and I do not doubt
but what it will be still greater in the future. We are coming to a
point where everything seems possible, even to wireless telephones and
practical airships.”
During the afternoon the professor called the boys together in a quiet
corner of the cabin and hung up a large map of Porto Rico.
“I want all of you to know something about this new territory of the
United States before we visit it,” he said, when they had settled
themselves. “To us it is, just at present, the most important of the
West Indies.”
“It doesn’t look very large,” said Hockley, gazing rather blankly at
the map.
“The island is about a hundred miles long, east and west, and about
thirty-five miles wide, north and south. It is almost rectangular
in shape, as you can see, and contains about 3,600 square miles of
territory.”
“It looks to be mountainous,” came from Mark.
“There is a range of mountains running from one end of the island to
the other. The average height is fifteen hundred feet but one peak
is three-quarters of a mile high. Between the mountains are many
well-watered valleys and here the soil is remarkably productive.”
“I’ve heard of Porto Rico tobacco,” came from Darry.
“Yes, large quantities of very fine tobacco are raised there, and also
sugar, coffee, cattle and hides. In years gone by they also raised
a superior kind of cotton, but that industry does not appear to be
flourishing just now.”
“I’ve heard that they used to have lots of slaves here,” came from
Frank.
“Yes, Porto Rico did have its full share of slaves, and the Spanish
plantation owners were very cruel to them. Slavery flourished until
1873, when the last of the poor blacks, numbering probably twenty
thousand souls, were freed. All told, there are now about a million
people on the island, and the majority of them are blacks or of mixed
Spanish and black blood.”
“I thought there were a great many folks here from the United States,”
said Mark.
“People are coming in by every steamer, and it will not be long before
Porto Rico will have all the Yankees it can profitably use. Then
first-class railroads will be built and the mines developed, and some
day the island will find itself rich.”
“Aren’t there any railroads now?” asked Hockley.
“Yes, but they do not amount to a great deal. Along the north shore
there is a line from San Juan to Hatillo, on the west coast one from
Aguadilla to Mayaguez, and on the south shore one from Yauco to Ponce,
and that is all, so far as I know. There is none in the east, where
one is badly needed, and none from the north side of the island to
the south side. The only means of communication between San Juan, the
principal city on the north, to Ponce, the capital on the south, is by
means of the great military highway, which I mentioned to you before,
and which was built years ago. This highway runs in an irregular course
around the mountains and over the hills, and connects half a dozen
important inland cities with the seacoast. What those cities are we
shall see when we ride over the road from San Juan to Ponce, a distance
of seventy-five miles or more.
“Unlike Cuba and Jamaica, Porto Rico has a great number of rivers and
many of these are deep, so that ships of fair size can sail upon them.
The water is very pure and some of it is shipped to other islands for
drinking purposes.
“The raising of cattle and sheep forms an important industry and is
carried on with ease, for there are no wild animals to molest the stock
and very little disease.”
“No wild animals?” repeated Frank, and his face fell. “That means no
hunting.”
“You are right, Frank. About the only wild animals I ever saw on the
island were pigs and dogs. Under the old Spanish rule,” continued the
professor, “matters were carried with a high hand by the government.
The people were taxed outrageously and received little or nothing in
return. Everything was taxed, even to a dancing party, and to prevent
a revolution there was a law forbidding more than nineteen people
to assemble at a given place without a special license or else the
representative of the government had to be present. What few schools
the people had were only such in name, and all citizens who could
afford it sent their sons and daughters off to be educated. Newspapers
were of the poorest and I never heard of but one magazine, which was
worse than those sold for five cents at home. Those who owned slaves
treated them horribly, and the slaves would often retaliate by misusing
the horses, mules and cattle, and to-day horses are misused there
shamefully.”
“I saw a picture of an ox cart,” said Mark. “Do they use them in Porto
Rico?”
“Yes, they use all sorts of carts drawn by oxen, and the poor beasts
are driven along by having goads prodded into them, so that the blood
streams from them. But under our rule all these cruelties will some day
cease.
“Strictly speaking, there is very little poverty in the island, for
a person can live on very little. The climate is such that but scant
clothing is required, and fruit and vegetables are exceedingly cheap.
Any kind of a hut does for a shelter, and nothing has to be spent
for fuel or light. If a native owns a little garden patch, and a few
chickens and a cow, he can get along without any trouble, even though
the whole outfit may not be worth a hundred dollars.”
“It must be lazy man’s land,” laughed Darry.
“To a certain extent it is, and many of the Porto Ricans have the old
Spanish habit of putting off till to-morrow what should be done to-day.
They lie around and smoke cigarettes, and arrange for cock fights,
which are here, as in other islands, the national amusement. Years ago
they used to have bull fights, but that is a thing of the past.”
The talk now became general, and the boys and the professor spent a
good hour over the map, noting the position of the various towns and
rivers, bays and mountains. The professor told a story about getting
lost on a strange road, and of how he had seen a ghost which proved to
be nothing but swamp-damp.
“When I finally got back to the road and told a native of this, he said
the swamp-damp came from the bodies of brave soldiers who had died in
battle,” concluded Amos Strong.
The entrance to San Juan harbor is a difficult one and steamers must be
piloted in with great care. But once inside there is a fine anchorage,
two miles wide by three miles long, situated on the south side of the
city. Along this shore are located the governor’s castle, the soldiers’
barracks, the custom house, and a large number of warehouses and other
buildings. On the north side of the city is a finely-kept cemetery and
also another soldiers’ barracks.
“This city is really on an island,” said the professor, when they
found themselves landed, the day after the talk above mentioned. “It
is a long, narrow peninsula, separated from the mainland by a shallow
body of water spanned by the San Antonio bridge. As you can see, it is
inclosed by a high wall, which gives it the appearance of being what
it really is, an old Spanish town. The castle you see on the bluff is
Morro Castle, which played an important part during the War with Spain,
just as did Morro Castle at Havana.”
The streets were alive with people, and the boys were surprised to see
how many were Americans. English signs were everywhere in evidence, and
one reading, “Shooting Gallery, 3 Shots for 5 Cents,” made Darry laugh.
“We are in an American town now for sure,” he observed. “You’d never
see such a sign elsewhere.”
“To be sure we are on United States soil,” cried Frank. “Hurrah for
Porto Rico and its people!”
He had scarcely spoken when a hack driver rushed up to them.
“This way, gents!” he bawled. “Any hotel in the city. Take the six of
you for a dollar! Best keb in the city!”
“Well!” ejaculated Mark, stopping short. “That sounds as if we had
struck the Grand Central Depot in New York.”
“Oh, they are going to be up-to-date,” laughed the professor. “No, we
may as well walk to the hotel and see the sights on the way,” he added,
and shook his head at the cabman, and also at the crowd of native
drivers who swarmed around them.
“I see they have gas and telephones,” said Sam.
“Yes, and also electric lights, Samuel--in fact they now have
everything which you will find in any well-kept town in the States.”
“But the streets are narrow,” put in Frank.
“Only in the old part.”
The houses were of stone and brick, painted various colors. The
majority were of the old Spanish style of architecture, with small
windows and flat roofs. Here and there was a new building, looking
strangely out of place, with its wide windows and broad balconies.
Professor Strong had a friend in the hotel business in San Juan, and to
his place, called the Randall House, they made their way. It proved to
be a comfortable hostelry, and they were assigned three spacious rooms
on the second floor. From the roof of the hotel a splendid view of the
entire city could be obtained, and here the boys spent some time, while
the professor and the hotel proprietor pointed out various points of
interest to them.