The leading article of import from the United States is wheat flour. Corn and meal, bread, biscuit, meats, dairy products, wood and its manufactures, iron, steel, etc., are also imported.
CITIES AND TOWNS.
San Juan, the capital, is situated on an island off the northern coast of the mainland, with which it is now connected by the San Antonio bridge. The city is a perfect specimen of a walled and fortified town, with Morro Castle crowning the promontory at the western extremity of the island. The population, including the inhabitants of Marina and Puerta de Tierra, as well as those within the city walls, was estimated in 1896 at 30,000, and consists largely of negroes and of mixed races. Owing to the lack of a good water supply, and the general unsanitary conditions which prevail, the city is unhealthy. The houses are all of two stories, the poorer inhabitants occupying the ground floor, while those better off live above them. There is no running water in the city, the inhabitants being dependent for their supply upon the rainfall which is caught on the flat roofs of the houses and stored in cisterns, and in dry seasons the supply is entirely exhausted. The city is built upon clay mixed with lime packed hard and impervious to water. Its manufactures are of small importance.
THE MARKET PLACE, PONCE, PORTO RICO.
The city of Ponce, with a population of 37,500, and in commercial importance the second city of Porto Rico, is situated two miles from the coast in the southern part of the island. With an ample water supply conveyed to the city by an aqueduct it is, perhaps, the healthiest town on the island. Playa, its port, having a population of 5,000, is connected with it by a fine road.
The town of Arecibo, with a population of from 6,000 to 7,000, is situated on the northern coast of Porto Rico, and is the port for a district of some 30,000 inhabitants.
CLIMATE.
The climate of the island, though hot and humid, is healthful, except in marshy districts and in cities where sanitary rules are neglected. Yellow fever seldom occurs, and when it does it is confined to the unsanitary towns and their surroundings, never appearing far from the coasts. The thermometer does not fall below 50° or rise above 90°. The heat is not so great as at Santiago, though the latter is one and a half degrees further north. As in Cuba, there are but two seasons, the rainy and the dry, the former lasting from July to December, the latter from January to the close of June. The delightful, dry and salubrious atmosphere of midwinter and spring, with its general healthfulness, promises to bring this island into prominence both as a resort for invalids and for homes to those who would escape the rigors of northern winters.