CHAPTER XIX 



CITIES OF POKTO RICO 



San Juan. Ponce. Mayaguez. Aguadilla. Arecibo. Fajardo. Naguabo, 

 Arroyo, San German, and small towns. Islands attached to the gov- 

 ernment of Porto Rico. 



PORTO RICO has many centers of population, includ- 

 ing the chief cities of San Juan, Ponce, and Maya- 

 guez, and over fifty smaller towns which are the centers 

 of small departments having a population of from six 

 to thirty thousand inhabitants. The population is so 

 dense that, with the exception of the unsettled area of the 

 highest portions, the island presents the aspect of a con- 

 tinuous series of farms and small villages. The people 

 center in towns and villages, whence the laborers proceed 

 to the fields to work. All the towns are built upon the 

 same general plan, with ornately colored, stuccoed houses, 

 roofed with red tiles, usually narrow streets, and always an 

 attempt at a central park or plaza with gardens, benches, 

 and promenades. Some of these towns, like San German 

 and Aguada, date back to 1511 ; a larger number were built 

 during the eighteenth century. Nearly twenty of the towns 

 originated within the present century, however, showing 

 that the urban development of the island has not been 

 retarded. 



In the present chapter we shall describe the larger com- 

 mercial cities, which are mostly seaports. 



172 



