"Are there any rivers, grandma?" asked Ned.
"Nine small ones," she answered.
"Are there any towns?"
"Oh yes, quite a good many; large ones. Ponce, the capital, has a good many thousands of inhabitants, and some fine buildings. San Juan, too, is quite a large place; it stands on Morro Island, which forms the north side of the harbor and is separated from the mainland by a narrow creek called the Channel of San Antonio. At the entrance to San Juan's harbors is a lighthouse on Morro Point. It is one hundred and seventy-one feet above the sea, and its fixed light is visible for eighteen miles over the waters."
"Oh," cried Ned, "let's watch out for it when we are coming that near."
"It will be very well for you to do so," his grandma said, with a smile; then went on with her account of Porto Rico.
"The island has much to recommend it; the climate is salubrious, and there are no snakes or reptiles. It has valuable minerals, too—gold, copper, lead; also coal. San Juan is lighted by both gas and electricity.
"The Spaniards were very cruel to the poor Indians who inhabited Porto Rico when Columbus discovered it. It is said that in a hundred years they had killed five hundred thousand of men, women and children."
"Oh, how dreadful!" exclaimed Elsie. "And they killed so, so many of the poor natives in Peru and in Mexico. I don't wonder that God has let their nation grow so poor and weak."