CITIES OF PORTO RICO 177 



rock. It is consequently impervious to water and fur- 

 nishes a good natural drainage. The town is unprovided 

 with running water. The entire population depends upon 

 rain-water, caught upon the flat roofs of the buildings, and 

 conducted, in every case, to the cistern, which occupies 

 the greater part of the inner courtyard that is an essential 

 part of Spanish houses the world over, but that here, on 

 account of the crowded conditions, is very small. There 

 is no sewerage, except for surface-water and sinks, while 

 vaults are in every house and occupy such space as there 

 may be in the patios not taken up by the cisterns. The 

 risk of contaminating the water is very great, and in dry 

 seasons the supply is entirely exhausted. Epidemics are 

 frequent, and the town is alive with vermin, fleas, cock- 

 roaches, mosquitos, and dogs. Just under the northern 

 wall of the Castle of San Juan is the public cemetery, the 

 gate being overhung by an ornate sentry-box. The bones 

 of evicted tenants of graves, whose terms of tenancy have 

 expired, are piled in the corner of the inclosure a most 

 revolting and unsanitary practice. 



The trade-wind blows strong and fresh, and through the 

 harbor runs a stream of sea-water at a speed of not less 

 than three miles an hour. With these conditions, no con- 

 tagious diseases, if properly taken care of, could exist ; 

 without them the place would be a veritable plague-spot. 



Ponce, near the south shore, is about ninety miles south- 

 west from San Juan by a fine road running diagonally 

 across the island. This city, founded in 1752, has fifteen 

 thousand inhabitants, and is second only to San Juan in 

 population. It has a large adjacent rural population, 

 numbering twenty-eight thousand people. 



The city is on a plain about two miles from the suburban 

 seaport of Playa, with which it is connected by a fine 

 highway. Playa lias about five thousand inhabitants, and 

 here are situated the custom-house, the ottice of the cap- 

 tain of the port, and all the consular offices. The port is 



spacious and will hold vessels of twenty-five feet draft. 

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