Porto Rico, the beautiful island which General Miles is taking under the American flag, has an area of 3,530 square miles. It is 107 miles in length and 37 miles across. It has a good telegraph line and a railroad only partially completed.
The population, which is not made up of so many Negroes and mulattoes as that of the neighboring islands, is about 900,000. Almost all of the inhabitants are Roman Catholics.
It is a mountainous island, and contains forty seven navigable streams. The roads are merely paths beaten down by cattle.
Exports in 1887 were valued at $10,181,291; imports, $10,198,006.
Gold, copper, salt, coal and iron abound
.
The poorer classes live almost entirely on a variety of highland rice, which is easily cultivated, as it requires no flooding.
One of the principal industries is grazing. St. Thomas is the market for fresh meat.
Corn, tobacco, sugar, coffee, cotton and potatoes constitute the principal crops.
There are no snakes, no beasts of prey, no noxious birds nor insects in the island.