CHAPTER X. 



PUERTO EICO. 



UERTO RICO, tlie Borinquen of the Arawak Indians, ranks in 

 size only as the fourth of the Great Antilles, but takes the first 

 place for density of population and general prosperity. 



Physically it forms an eastern continuation of the line of 

 upheaval indicated by Jamaica and the southern seaboard of San 

 Domingo. In outline it presents the appearance of an almost geometrically 

 regular parallelogram, nearly three times longer than broad, with its four sides facing 

 the four cardinal points, but with a slight eastern convergence of the northern and 

 southern coasts. Both of these are indented like the edge of a saw, and towards 

 the south-west the coastlands, rising little above sea-level, are strewn with swampy 

 tracts. 



Even the islands and islets scattered along the east side seem to form a half- 

 upraised prolongation of the geometrical insular mass. Such are Vieques, or 

 " Crab " Island, disposed in a line with the main southern ridge, and La Culebra, 

 standing like a cornerstone of a future structure, continuing the north side east- 

 wards. Mona Island, also, off the west coast in. the passage separating Puerto Rico 

 from San Domingo, stands on the same submarine bank as the large island of which 

 it is a political dependency. Thus the parting-line between the Atlantic and 

 the Caribbean Sea is continued west and east of Puerto Rico in such a way as to 

 connect this island on the one side with San Domingo, on the other with the 

 Virgin Islands. But northwards and southwards the submarine slopes fall 

 regularly to depths of from 1,000 to 2,000 fathoms, and on the side of the ocean 

 even to over 5 miles. 



Physical Features. 



In general elevation Puerto Rico is far inferior to the other Great Antilles. It 

 is even rivalled in height by some of the peaks in the Lesser Antilles. Its uplands 

 are disposed in masses and ridges which present no clear arrangement in their 

 general disposition. Theculrainating-point is the Yunque (" Anvil ") de Luquillo, 

 or simply Luquillo, so named from the town at its foot. It rises to a height of 

 3,680 feet, in the north-east corner of the island, whence the crests ramify between 

 the river valleys. The chief range, consisting mainly of calcareous rocks, lies 

 near the south coast, where it ramifies westwards into several branches, some of 

 which terminate in headlands on the coast. 



