IMPORTS AND EXPORTS OF TIMBER. 41 



say that the daily consumption of fuel for domestic purposes, exclusive 

 of heating, in an American family exceeds that of the weekly allow- 

 ance of the average Porto Ricau household. The ship upon which the 

 writer traveled to Porto Rico carried as part of its cargo several 

 hundred bags of charcoal and many barrels of petroleum for use as 

 domestic fuel. This fact alone is a significant indication of the scarcity 

 of forest products in the island. 



MANUFACTURED PRODUCTS. 



The principal use of woods upon the island at present is in the con- 

 struction of the heavy two-wheeled ox carts, which, next to pack 

 animals, are the most general means of transportation. These carts 

 have large wheels with massive hubs, spokes, and fellies, and are tired 

 with iron. These wheels, the wood for which costs $20 per pair, have 

 almost the rigidity and durability of iron, and upon any roads not as 

 bad as those of Porto Rico would be practically indestructible. The 

 hubs are made of guayacau, the spokes of ausubo, and the fellies of 

 mora. They are made by hand in every city and village, and the prin- 

 cipal stocks of lumber are those stored for their manufacture. In 

 Ponce there is a small wood- working mill run by steam with modern 

 machinery. If American manufacturers would make cart wheels of 

 common woods of sufficient strength for the Porto Rican market the 

 valuable island woods now used in these wheels could be saved for 

 furniture veneers and other ornamental purposes. The native stock of 

 woods for this latter purpose is not abundant, and much of the material 

 is imported from Santo Domingo. Some beautiful furniture made of 

 native woods may be seen in the houses of the well to do. 



Throughout the country there are many huge mortars made of sec- 

 tions of trees and used for hulling coffee and rice and pounding corn. 

 In the aggregate these represent a great cost of wood and labor. 

 Troughs for feeding cattle are frequently seen. In Arecibo there are 

 many large dugout canoes made from solid logs. 



IMPORTS AND EXPORTS OF TIMBER. 



It is impossible to ascertain the exports and imports of woods from 

 and into Porto Rico, inasmuch as statistics are difficult to obtain. It 

 is safe to say, however, that there are no considerable exports of woods, 

 either crude or manufactured. Even the staple products of the island, 

 sugar, coffee, and tobacco, are exported in packages of foreign material, 

 the sugar and rum being largely disposed of in hogsheads and casks 

 made of Louisiana staves, and the coffee in sacks of foreign make. 



There are only a few items concerning the exports of woods from 

 Porto Rico. From 1892 to 1896 cabinet woods were exported to Spain 

 to the value of $2,848. Small shipments of woods have been sent to the 



