TOPOGRAPHY AND CLIMATE.
Now that there is no doubt of the acquisition of Porto Rico by the
United States, many of our people will be going there, and it is
therefore of great interest to note how its general features will please
and its climate be adapted to Americans.
The island is most eastern of the Greater Antilles, and it is the fourth
in size and importance of all the islands of the West Indies. In fact,
in point of density of population and general prosperity, it takes the
first place. On the east, the Lesser Antilles extend in a curve toward
Trinidad, on the South American coast, inclosing on the westward the
Caribbean sea. A strait of seventy miles separates Porto Rico from Hayti
on the west, and the distances from San Juan, the capital, to other
points are 2,100 miles to the Cape Verde Islands, 1,050 miles to Key
West and 1,420 miles to Hampton Roads.
Porto Rico lies near enough to the Gulf of Mexico to receive the benefit
of the soft Gulf breezes and the very best and most desirable of the
trade winds.
The island is almost a rectangle in shape. Its length from east to west
is 108 miles and its breadth from north to south about 37 miles. Its
area, including its dependencies, the isles of Vieques, Culebra and Mona
is 3,530 square miles.
The coasts are generally regular, but there are a large number of bays
and inlets, and the north coast is full of navigable lagoons.
The principal capes are San Juan, Mala Pascua, Rojo and Bruquen.
Generally speaking, the conformation of the island is slightly
undulating, with the exception of a mountain range which traverses it
from east to west, running through nearly its whole length in a zig-zag
course, and on the average about twenty-five miles distant from the
north coast.
This range divides the island into two unequal portions. The largest is
on the north, and the rivers flowing through that section are much the
longer. A part of the main range is called Sierra Grande or Barros. The
northeast spur is known as the Sierra de Luquillo and the northwest as
the Sierra Larea. The general height of these mountains is about 1,500
feet above the sea, but there is one peak, Yunque, which reaches a
height of 3,678 feet. This can be seen seventy miles at sea, and would
be a magnificent place for a shore signal for the benefit of the ships
that sail the South Atlantic seas.
It is noticeable that there are no extensive lakes in the highlands of
the interior, but there are many interesting caves in the mountains, the
principal ones being those of Aguas Buenos and Ciales.
The elevated ridge which crosses the island intercepts the northeast
trade winds which blow from the Atlantic and deprives them of their
moisture. The consequence of this is that the rainfall in the northern
portion of the island is very copious. It also has the effect of
reducing the rain south of the mountains, so that there is a prevalence
of droughts in that section and agriculture can be advantageously
carried on by irrigation. Up to the present, however, this work of
irrigation has been very imperfect and unsystematic, and the results on
the whole have not been satisfactory.
The Luquillo range ends ten miles from San Juan. The capital is,
therefore, to a certain degree sheltered by a mountain wall from the
rain-bearing winds, which, in the warmest months blow mainly from
easterly points. Still all the northern adjacent shores and lowlands are
subject to flooding by torrents of rain.
Taking it as a whole, the island is approximately roof-shaped, so that
the rainfall is rapidly drained off.
In the interior are extensive plains and there are level tracts from
five to ten miles wide on the coast.
The soil of Porto Rico is exceedingly fertile. In the mountains it is a
red clay, colored with peroxide of iron, in the valleys it is black and
less compact, and on the coasts it is sandy, but capable of some
culture.
The pasture lands in the northern and eastern parts of the island are
superior to any others in the West Indies.
Porto Rico is essentially a land of rivers and streams. Of course none
of them are of any great length, but of the entire number, some thirteen
hundred, forty are navigable for more or less distances for commercial
purposes.
Mr. John Beggs, a former planter of Porto Rico, says that the island is
perfectly adapted for commerce. Sugar, coffee, cotton, corn and potatoes
are constantly shipped down the navigable rivers, and were Porto Rico to
be fully cultivated, many more streams could be opened and communication
made between others by means of canals, so that the entire island would
present a system of water ways which would make it an ideal place for
the shipping of useful articles to the United States.
The water of the rivers and brooks and lakes is remarkably pure, and
there is quite an industry in its shipment for sale to other West India
islands. It is stated that more than twenty of these islands send to
Porto Rico for water. Little boats sail up the harbor of San Juan, fill
their tanks with water and sail away again, Havana's chief scourge is
the lack of fresh water, but Porto Rico has all the water it can use and
enough to supply islands hundreds of miles away.
The anchorages can not be said to be the best in the world, although a
few of them are excellent, and most of them sufficiently deep for
ordinary craft.
Mayaguez Bay on the west coast admits vessels of any size and is the
best anchorage on the island. Guanica is the best on the south coast, of
which it is the most western port. It was here that the American troops
first landed. Still Guanica is not visited by much shipping. The
district immediately surrounding it is low and swampy, and the roads
leading from it are not good. Guanica has been the outlet for the
produce of San German Sabana Grande and, to some extent, of Yanco,
which is on the railroad. The western and southwestern parts of the
island have been particularly over-run by the Porto Rican rebels, and
this has undoubtedly done much to injure its commerce. But with the
advent of the Americans all this will be changed.
The eastern coast is fairly indented and washed by a sea which is
usually smooth.
On the rugged north side, where the ocean currents set to southward,
there are no good anchorages between Arecibo and San Juan. The port of
San Juan, however, affords good shelter and will be an important centre
for merchant shipping as well as an attractive rendezvous for yachts on
a pleasure cruise. The harbor is deep enough to admit large vessels, but
its channel communicating with the sea is winding and difficult, and can
be navigated safely only with the aid of a pilot.
One of the leading seaports of the island is Aquadilla on the west
coast. This has the advantage of a spacious bay, which is sheltered from
the trade winds. From this place are shipped the sugar and coffee
produced in the northwest part of the island.
There are seven or eight other ports of minor importance.
The main highway of central Porto Rico runs from Ponce to San Juan, in a
northeasterly direction, through Juana Diaz, Coamo and Abonito. From the
latter place it proceeds almost eastward to Cayey, and there it takes a
winding course to the north as far as Caquas. Thence it turns west to
Aquas Buenos, and then goes straight north through Guaynola and Rio
Piedras to San Juan. The entire length of this highway is about
eighty-five miles.
The distance from Ponce to San Juan, as the bird flies, is only
forty-five miles.
And now to take up a most important point--the climate. Of this much can
be said in favor.
On the whole, it may be stated that Porto Rico, for a tropical region,
is very healthful; in fact, by far the most so of any of the West India
islands.
There have been no climatic observations which cover the whole of the
Porto Rican territory, but the Spanish Weather Bureau has published
certain observations which show the general conditions prevailing in San
Juan and the vicinity.
The climate, though hot, is agreeably tempered by the prevailing
northeast winds. At night there is always a pleasant breeze which
carries sweet fragrance along the northern coast. A temperature as high
as 117 degrees has been recorded, but this is most unusual. At San Juan,
the average temperature in August is about 81 degrees Fahrenheit; in
September, 80.5 degrees, and in October, 79.3 degrees. At night it sinks
to 68 or 69 degrees, which is more than it frequently does in New York
or Chicago during heated spells. The most marked feature of the climate
is that the summer's heat and rainfall keep up until late autumn. In the
hottest months the calm days average not far from ten a month, and these
have a very relaxing effect. For this reason it is advisable for
residents of temperate climes not to visit Porto Rico until November,
when the weather becomes beautifully fine and settled, and almost always
continues good during the winter and early spring.
The rainfall in San Juan, which can be taken as a fair index of that
along the northeastern coast, averages about 6.65 inches during August,
5.30 during September and 7.10 during October. But in some years the
heaviest fall was in September. Not infrequently the cultivated fields
and plantations are inundated, and swamps are formed. As has been
intimated, the southern part of the island is relatively much drier than
the northern, though the former is apt to experience excessive rains
during the passage of a hurricane.
It is fortunate for Porto Rico that it does not lie directly in the
track of West Indian cyclones. It has been visited, however, at long
intervals by devastating hurricanes, notably those of 1742 and 1825,
which destroyed a vast deal of property, and during the passage of which
many lives were lost. The terrible tornadoes of the tropics are very
erratic in their course, and are so apt to be deviated from their
accustomed paths that it is unsafe to assume that danger has passed for
Porto Rico until late in the autumn. Captains of all vessels during the
summer mouths should therefore exercise extraordinary vigilance to avoid
being caught in a hurricane.
The prevailing diseases of the island are yellow fever, elephantiasis,
tetanus, March fever and dysentery. There is no question but that a lack
of proper sanitary measures is responsible for much of the illness.
Even the most to be dreaded of these diseases, yellow fever, could in
all probability be rooted out if proper precautions were taken and every
available means employed to prevent its recurrence. As it is, yellow
fever never scourges Porto Rico as it does parts of Cuba.
In the winter and early spring Porto Rico is less subject than Cuba to
those chilling winds that blow from the freezing anticyclones moving
east from the American coast toward Bermuda. Under American auspices and
enlightened systems of sanitation, there will doubtless spring up a
number of attractive winter resorts, which will prove formidable rivals
to those of Florida, especially if, as is not unlikely, San Juan Bay
becomes the headquarters of the North Atlantic naval station from
November until April.
In this regard, the manager of a prominent life insurance company has
spoken as follows:
"Let me raise my voice in prophecy and then wait and see if events do
not bear me out. I want to prophesy right now that five years from date
that island will be a great popular winter resort. No one can appreciate
its natural attractions unless he has been there, and when to them have
been added a few good American hotels it is bound to become a popular
resort.
"I was in Porto Rico several years ago, and I then expressed surprise
that it was not boomed as a winter resort. The Porto Ricans to whom I
spoke shrugged their shoulders and smiled. The ground is high, the
climate is fine, and the place is healthful.
"It has many attractions of its own that are lacking in the other West
Indies.
"Close on the heels of the army will march some enterprising American
hotel man, and then look out for results."