n alike are imported, especially from Paris and London. Those who
are in comfortable circumstances dress just like people in European
countries. The men wear woolen clothes all the year round. The young
women dress very elaborately and all wear hats, the Spanish mantilla
being adopted by elderly women only.

In the small towns, men dress after the fashion of the cities, except
that their clothes are made of linen. Woolen fabrics are uncomfortable,
and they are considered a luxury to be donned only on Sundays and
holidays.

Laborers and farm hands wear neither coats nor shoes. They do not care
to do so, in the first place, and, in the second, they could not afford
to, as their earnings are very small.

In San Juan the streets are rectangular and are closely built with brick
houses usually two or three stories, stuccoed on the outside, and
painted in different colors. In one house live several families, and the
degree of rent, as well as of social position, rises with the height of
the floor above the ground.

The lower floors, as a rule, are very dirty, and are crowded in a most
unhealthful way by negroes and the servants of those who live above.

Sanitary conditions, by the way, as in all Spanish possessions, are the
very worst possible, and much will have to be done in this respect when
the United States takes permanent possession.

There is one feature which strikes every foreigner, and that is the roof
gardens. In many parts of the island, especially in the smaller towns,
the whole population enjoys itself at night on the housetops. The houses
are built a little off the ground, and they look not unlike castles in
the air which have been built for pleasure rather than for living
purposes.

In all tropical countries people have the habit of sleeping in the
daytime, and do their shopping and attend to their social duties in the
evening. In Porto Rico this custom is almost universal.

Every man of any means is the possessor of two houses, a town house and
a country house. At carnival times, or when any special celebration is
going on, he takes his family to town and brings them back again when
the sport is over.

Poverty is almost unknown in Porto Rico, for almost every man owns his
horse and every woman is the possessor of chickens. Horseback riding is
an almost universal pastime. There are many fine horses on the island,
and they are used daily by men and women.

The inhabitants have but few wants which are