494 
POKTO EICO. 
had been rain in the night, and the shaggy hill-tops 
were partially robed in fragments of cloud, undefined 
and changing, which contrasted finely with the dark 
surface of the forest. Inland the mountains in the 
morning sun looked inviting ; and I noticed that they 
displayed the same singular resemblance to crumpled 
paper, as those in the eastern part of Jamaica. Our 
stay here was short ; the harsh, deafening sound of 
escaping steam was succeeded by the crashing of the 
paddles on the water, and ofi* we rushed on our 
homeward course. By nightfall we were just within 
the singular insulated rock called Alta Vela, or the 
lofty sail, from its very deceptive resemblance to a 
ship in the distance. 
At sunrise on the 13th, we were under the little 
island Mona, between Hayti and Porto Rico, and 
through the day we steamed along the northern shore 
of the latter island. The land, thickly strewn with 
cultivated estates, spotted with clumps of trees, has a 
very beautiful appearance, contrasting in this respect 
with both Jamaica and Hayti, whose forest-covered 
coasts display little traces of cultivation, and look rude 
and repulsive. Soon after mid-day, the Moro, or for- 
tification which protects the port of San Juan, was in 
sight, like a white wall projecting into the sea, and at 
4 P.M. the steamer moored under it. 
A few of the passengers went on shore for an hour 
or two. Everything showed we were in a foreign 
country. The town gloomily walled, and strongly 
fortified, the turret-like houses, and little balconies to 
each window, the well-paved streets, the ladies in 
black mantillas, opening and shutting their fans as 
