To reach Ponce, the next city we wish to visit, we must use carriages as
well as railways. It is on the southern side of the island.
Ponce is the largest city in Puerto Rico, having a population of over
thirty-seven thousand people. The main part is built on a plain about
three miles from the seashore.
A fine road connects it with Playa, the port, where are found a good
harbor, large wharves and the more important government offices.
Ponce has wide, clean streets, handsome buildings, and attractive homes.
Many quaint and picturesque old buildings line its avenues; but in the
newer parts of the town and in the suburbs the buildings are modern.
It has a military hospital and barracks, two other hospitals, a home for
the old and poor, gas works, and an ice machine. There are also
establishments for hulling coffee, drying coffee, distilling rum,
manufacturing carriages, and grinding sugar. (See illustrations on pages
54 and 69).
The large central plaza has pretty gardens and a cathedral.
There are three manufactories of chocolate for the use of the people in
the surrounding country. Sugar, coffee, oranges, pineapples and
cocoanuts are brought here to be shipped to the United States and other
countries.
Near the city are white-gypsum quarries; also medicinal baths, to which
many invalids and travelers go.
The only Protestant church in the West Indies is the Episcopal church
here.
On the outskirts of Ponce is an old cemetery, in which many famous
Puerto Ricans of an early day were buried. It is quite different from
our idea of a cemetery. It is one solid mass of masonry built into the
side of a hill. In this are narrow vaults, one above the other.
[Illustration: A FUNERAL PROCESSION.]
The openings of these vaults look much like bakers' ovens. The bottom
vaults are used first, and when a body is laid in one of them it is
sealed up and the name of the deceased graven on the outside. The next
member of the family who dies is placed in the vault above; and so on,
each family having a tier of vaults.
As carriages and hearses are rare objects in Ponce, the coffin is
sometimes carried on the shoulders of men. The procession is often
composed of those attracted by curiosity, rather than the friends and
relatives of the deceased.
The people of Ponce are wide-awake, progressive and anxious to better
their condition. They are also more hospitable and friendly than in
other towns.
It was here that the American army under General Miles proceeded in
1898, after landing at Guanica. The troops received a hearty welcome
from the inhabitants.
The people were glad to be relieved from Spanish rule, and wished to
have their land annexed to the United States.
A proclamation of welcome was issued to the soldiers, feasts were
spread, and the stars and stripes floated from many house tops.