[Illustration: The Best Outfit in our Wagon Train.]
Of the facilities for transportation in this part of Puerto Rico, it may be said that they are either extremely good or extremely bad. The former condition prevails generally in the valleys, and the latter among the hills toward the interior. There are several interrupted lines of railroad, and burros are used to a considerable extent by the inland planters; but far the greater part of communication and carriage is accomplished by way of the sea.
Labor here, as elsewhere in the tropics, is to be had very cheaply, but is uncertain, sluggish, and dishonest. A man for plantation work can be hired for almost nothing a day, but he will not earn even that unless he is driven at the point of a machete. The local peon desires to toil no longer than is necessary to obtain the bare wherewithal to fill his belly. Then he dreams away the remainder of the day, smoking the eternal cigarette; perhaps rousing himself sufficiently to pick the strings of a guitar in the cool of the evening—and this, at least, the beggar does well. He is not at all ambitious to improve his condition, and he will never be any better than he is to-day. Probably he will be much worse. He will cut throats and burn haciendas all the gay year round if he is not allowed to gang his ain gait. We are going to reform him, of course; but—the day will come when we shall be ashamed to look Spain in the face. In Cuba this man's brothers were known as "patriots"; which meant that they were soldiers when there was any work to be done, and laborers when fighting was on hand. In my opinion, they are vicious beasts.
The cost of living naturally hinges upon the price of labor; and so one may eat and drink in Puerto Rico for a trifle more than a song. Fruit and vegetables are cheap and plentiful, though flour is so costly as to be almost a luxury; while the meats are neither low in price nor good in quality. Excellent fowls are to be had for very little money. Milk is dear and dangerous; butter is only known as it appears in cans from Denmark; and all the other dairy products are of the meanest description. Still, one can live with pleasure and comfort upon the many peculiarly native articles of subsistence in common use.
[Illustration: "Promenade of the Fleas" in Yauco.]
[Illustration: When only One Man gets a Letter.]
Rents are low, but satisfactory houses are seldom to be had when they are wanted.
There is always room in the hotels of the larger towns; and, until one can build for himself, a hotel offers a very pleasant substitute—at a slightly increased expense. Land, for building purposes, or in an unimproved state, can be leased for a sum that is almost nominal, except in a few highly favored localities. Purchasers of land are more than likely to find themselves immediately embroiled in a lawsuit over the title. If no flaw exists in your title, then it does exist in one that was drawn up a hundred years ago; and in either case the result is the same—you lose.
Skilled workmen in any branch of industry will not find a good field for their abilities in Puerto Rico, at least not for a few years to come. If there were any demand for their services,—which there isn't,—they would not be able to command anything approaching the standard of wages usual in the United States.
To the investor, dairy farms, ice-plants, transportation schemes, and bar-rooms offer tempting possibilities,—I reserve agriculture for separate consideration,—but it cannot be too forcibly emphasized that plenty of money, good-health, patience, and a smattering of the Spanish language are absolutely indispensable requisites to the foreigner trying to do business on this island.