of poetic
grace to the landscape. It is something, perhaps, though not very much,
that sectarian animosities do not embitter the easy minds of these
peasants, who dwell together in enviable fraternity.

Porto Rico is only one of some thirteen hundred islands in the West
Indies that are now in the American fold. It has several large towns
that will intensely interest the traveller. San Juan, with twenty-five
thousand inhabitants, is the principal city. A fine old military road
runs from it across the mountains to Ponce, on the south shore. It is
twenty feet wide, hard and dustless, winds along through eighty miles
of scenery unsurpassed in any country, though the island is only forty
miles directly across.

Every considerable town has its cathedral. That at Sabana Grande was
built in 1610. Some of them have gorgeous altars and precious paintings.
In one little church the figure of the Blessed Virgin is of pure gold.
Another has an altar of silver.

The retail stores in the cities make little or no front display. The
store is virtually a sample room, with extensive warehouses in the rear.
Town life is, in its way, Parisian. The cathedral stands in a square or
park, the promenade and gossiping ground for both sexes. The midday
siesta is the rule, a two hours' cessation from the round of toil. The
evenings are given to music and dancing, or the merry chatter of groups
as they enjoy the strains of the band. The lacy mantilla adds grace to
the generally captivating beauty of the women, as they cunningly drape
it over their heads to take the place of hats. The palms and cocoa-nut
trees, the clusters of coffee-trees, the sugar-cane, the groves of
oranges, lemons, bananas, and other fruits lend great beauty to the
landscape. Tobacco is largely cultivated, with plenty of inducements
for a more systematic treatment of a commodity which ought greatly to
increase the wealth of the island.

Since it has come under American influence many improvements have been
effected. The cities are treated to the modern system of drainage, and
roads have been constructed which will make traffic between the towns
easier and thus encourage trade.

Exceptionally fierce hurricanes and floods wrought havoc with many
plantations soon after the war. Other misfortunes plunged the always
poor laboring class into absolute starvation, many of the well-to-do
were ruined, and business has been severely hampered by questions of
tariff arising out of the c