San Juan, Puerto Rico

“ We make a last farewell tour of the shops in San Juan, and buy a few gifts for the friends at home: a green parrot to please sister; a tortoise-shell comb for mother; a cane for father, a native hat for brother, and a calabash drinking bowl for the school museum.
It is with reluctant steps that we make our way to the ship. The clear sky, the perfect climate, the constant verdure, the wonderful plants and trees, and the beautiful mountain scenery make Puerto Rico one of the most attractive lands to be found anywhere. ”

“ At Rio Piedras, not far from San Juan, is the Normal School and Agricultural School of Porto Rico. Other suburbs are Marina, with wharves and piers, Puerta de Tierra and on the mainland, Santurce, with a country club, the Union Club, a beautiful market-place, two charity schools and some attractive villas. ”

“ Naked little children of all ages and colors play about the streets and on the sidewalks. Colored men and women, smoking black cigars, saunter idly about. Street venders carrying their stores upon their heads or backs, or in large panniers upon tiny ponies, fill the air with cries announcing their wares.
Judging from the number of the venders of drinks we see on the streets, every one in San Juan is thirsty. We are, at any rate, and very delicious we find their ices and sherbets, their iced orange, lemon and strawberry waters, iced cherries, milk, coffee and chocolate. ”

“ Industries are of little importance. The sanitation of the city has been installed since the American occupation; sewers have been laid and a water-supply is piped from Rio Piedras.
From Caparra, established in 1508 by Juan Ponce de Leon and now known as Pueblo Viejo, the Spanish settlement removed in 1520 to San Juan or San Juan Bautista de Puerto Rico, nearer the coast. The new settlement became the capital of the eastern district of the island, to the whole of which the latter part of the name came to be applied. ”

“ An alcalde, two aldermen, and ten or twelve wealthy cattle-owners wanted to kill us. We had to lock ourselves up in our houses.... The people here are so insubordinate that if your Majesty does not send some one to chastise them and protect his servants, there will soon be no island of San Juan."
The system of electing annual governors among the residents was abolished in 1544, and the crown resumed its prerogative with the appointment of Gerónimo Lebrón, of la Española, as governor for one year. ”

“ If you are sick of the worry and fret and jar of contemporaneous life here at home, if you care for wide, sweet blue sky, eternal flowers, crystal fountains, and gypsy music, then there is no better place for you to go than to Puerto Rico. Take a bicycle and ride from Ponce around the island or straight across to San Juan. You will find the roads, when there are roads, superlatively excellent — particularly, if you do not mind an occasional hill or sharp and sudden shower of rain. The larger cities all have comfortable hotels ”

“ The palace of the governor-general and the headquarters of the American administration we find located in San Juan.
Over thirty thousand people make their homes in this city, and a goodly number of them we find at the shore to meet our vessel. They do not wait for us to land. They come out to meet us.
Dusky natives in landing boats are soon alongside, and we learn to our surprise that our ship does not go to the dock. We are to go ashore in these small awning-covered boats. This is a new experience for us, but it is an old Spanish custom. ”

“ HOW THE PEOPLE TRAVEL. Puerto Rico is a very delightful place to visit, but we do not care to go there to live until there are better roads.
There is but one good road on the island, the one leading from San Juan to Ponce. There is only one line of street cars (in the city of Mayaguez) ; and there are only one hundred and forty-seven miles of railroad in the whole island.
The best roads run along the coast from town to town. There is one exception. This is the wonderful military road which connects Ponce, on the south shore, with San Juan on the north shore. ”

“ After the settlement of Hispaniola in peace by Obando, Juan Ponce de Leon was appointed lieutenant of the town and territory of Salveleon in that island. Learning from the Indians of that district that there was much gold in the island of Borriquen, now called San Juan de Puerto Rico, or Porto Rico, he procured authority from Obando to go over to that island, which he reduced [122] . ”

“ Natural hazards: periodic droughts; hurricanes Environment - current issues: erosion; occasional drought causing water shortages Geography - note: important location along the Mona Passage - a key shipping lane to the Panama Canal; San Juan is one of the biggest and best natural harbors in the Caribbean; many small rivers and high central mountains ensure land is well watered; south coast relatively dry; fertile coastal plain belt in north
People Puerto Rico Population: 3,897,960 (July 2004 est.) ”

“ San Juan, the capital, is the principal city, especially so far as shipping is concerned, for its harbor is one of the best the island affords. The city contains about 30,000 inhabitants; natives, Spaniards and negroes, and foreigners from all over the world. ”

“ Stopping for the passage of an army freight wagon, it seemed very comical to me to hear those Puerto Rican lads “gee-hawing” to the sleek American mules.
If the politics of our American cities could be as well administered as those of San Juan appear to be from the cleanliness and order of her streets we would indeed have cause to rejoice. The streets of San Juan were so clean that even the trailer of skirts might for once be forgiven her lack of common decency. ”

“ Ponce, Juan, de Leon, with Columbus's second expedition; lands on Puerto Rico; appointed governor; deposed; restored; arrests Ceron; recalled by the King of Spain; defeats Guaybána with 5,000 to 6,000 Indians; deprived of his privileges; retires to Capárra; prepares for exploring the island of Bemini; discovers Florida; honored by the king; ordered to destroy the Caribs; accused of fomenting discord in Puerto Rico; last expedition to Florida, wounded, dies; monument to him in San Juan.
Population, growth of. ”

“ The Caribs in turn reëntered the island and occupied largely the eastern portions, so that for many years the Spaniards appear to have been restricted to the districts immediately dependent upon San Juan, Ponce, and one or two other towns. The corsairs and West Indian pirates also visited the island, using various places on the coast for more or less temporary headquarters. In 1595 Drake, after trying to induce the inhabitants to ransom the town with money which they did not possess, sacked San Juan, and three years later it again suffered similarly from the Duke of Cumberland. ”

“ Porto Rico as a territory of the progressive American republic will soon be transformed—while advancing with giant strides along the material road that may lead to statehood, the island must gradually lose those picturesque and distinctly national features that have marked Spanish rule for centuries.
Never again will San Juan be the same gay, careless, pleasure seeking capital of the past—the business loving, bustling Yankee shopkeeper banishes such folly, or at best makes it play second fiddle to his trading. ”

“ About the middle of the eighteenth century negro slaves and colonists from Spain began to be introduced in considerable numbers, and by 1780 the population had risen to nearly eighty thousand. In 1797 San Juan successfully withstood a three days' attack from the English under Lord Abercrombie. During the first quarter of the eighteenth century the island became a popular resort for large numbers of those who desired to escape from the turmoil and disaster incident to the revolutionary movements in South America. ”

“ It was clear, and from one point where they stopped to take a rest they could see for miles. Far away to the north they beheld the church spires of San Juan, and beyond the rolling sea, shining brightly in the sunlight. ”

“ All public lands and the structures thereon, situated on the peninsular extending into the harbor on the south side of the city of San Juan, Porto Rico, known as the Barrio de la Puntilla, or Puntilla Point, bounded on the north by the south boundary of the Paseo de la Princesa, and on the east, south and west, by the navigable waters of the harbor of San Juan, at such port warden's line as may be established by competent authority. ”

“ San Juan, where we passed a miserable week, is, even after seeing San Carlos, one of the most uninteresting places that can be imagined. The land is even flatter than the sea. It is a low sandy plain, just rising above the water, agreeably diversified with stagnant marshes, and hemmed in by unwholesome-looking forests. A few mushroom houses seem to have sprung up out of the sand, and among them three or four hotels, of the same board and shingle pattern that is so odious even in its native New England. ”

“ On the rugged north side, where the ocean currents set to southward, there are no good anchorages between Arecibo and San Juan. The port of San Juan, however, affords good shelter and will be an important centre for merchant shipping as well as an attractive rendezvous for yachts on a pleasure cruise. The harbor is deep enough to admit large vessels, but its channel communicating with the sea is winding and difficult, and can be navigated safely only with the aid of a pilot.
One of the leading seaports of the island is Aquadilla on the west coast. ”

“ About 1 1/8 miles northeast of the town are the Quintana thermal baths, in a building surrounded by pretty gardens. They are visited by sufferers from rheumatism and various other diseases.
San Juan is a perfect specimen of a walled town, with portcullis, moat, gates, and battlements. The wall surrounding this town is defended by several batteries. Facing the harbor are those of San Fernando, Santa Catalina, and Santa Toribio. Looking toward the land side is Fort Abanico, and toward the ocean the batteries of San Antonio, San Jose, and Santa Teresa, and Fort Princesa. ”

“ We pulled the agent ashore, and were ordered to wait for him, while he took a circuitous way round the hill to the mission, which was hidden behind it. We were glad of the opportunity to examine this singular place, and hauling the boat up and making her well fast, took different directions up and down the beach, to explore it.
San Juan is the only romantic spot in California. The country here for several miles is high table-land, running boldly to the shore, and breaking off in a steep hill, at the foot of which the waters of the Pacific are constantly dashing. ”

“ The great proportion of crime in San Juan, as compared with the rest of the Island, is of course largely due to social conditions, inasmuch as it is the largest city in the Island and to a great extent the resort of undesirable characters for this reason. In the second place, as a coast town and the most important shipping and commercial center, it has a more or less shifting [90] population, and a population composed to a great extent of an uneducated type among the working classes. Every seaport town offers opportunities for criminal classes which inland towns do not possess. ”

“ The natives knew their island as Boriquen. Later came Ponce de Leon, who founded Caparra, now Pueblo Viejo, across the bay from San Juan, to which spot he shifted a little later and built the white house that may still be seen. San Juan is the oldest city of white origin in the Western world, except Santo Domingo, albeit Santiago de Cuba and Baracoa claim [49] to be contemporary. ”

“ There is a peculiar fascination about Spanish and Oriental cities, a barbaric splendor that attracts the eye, even while our common sense tells us of its tawdry nature.
Many have described the San Juan of the past, and as a picture that has been turned to the wall, let us for the last time see the Porto Rican capital through the glasses of a [180] clever newspaperman, whose pen paints its colors just as might the faithful camera. This was as Roderic saw it the day after his safe entry into the town:
San Juan wakes early. ”

“ Geographically the cluster certainly belongs to the mainland, from which it is separated by Rosario Strait, generally much under 50 fathoms in depth, while Haro Strait, separating it from Vancouver Island, has depths ranging from 100 to 190 fathoms. In 1873 the islands, formerly considered part of Whatcom county, Washington, were made the separate county of San Juan. Of the total area of 200 sq. m., about 60 are in San Juan, 60 in Orcas and 30 in Lopez. ”

“ San Juan is the ideal city and spot of the whole island, saving that it is well fortified, for it is the coolest, the healthiest port, with thirty-eight feet of water in the harbour, and twenty-eight feet of water alongside the coal wharves. It is the only port on the island with fortifications. There are barracks in a few of the larger towns, but outside of the eight thousand or ten thousand troops there are very few fighting men on the island. ”

“ A sunset in San Juan is truly worth crossing either a continent or an ocean to witness, when the ranges toward La Paz are purple where the sage-brush is, and rose-color where the rains have washed the steep places to the clay, and over all of mesa and mountain the soft glory of golden haze. ”

“ The city of San Juan is Colonial in almost all its aspects, and its public and private gardens, filled with mingled tropical and temperate zone trees, shrubs and flowers, exhale the lazy atmosphere of days the memory of which is so constantly recurrent in all distant Argentine towns. Sleepy hollow; maybe, but its charm! A charm which will not nor can ever be “reconstructed,” try all those of us who are afflicted with unhappy artistic temperaments, never so hard. But that charm is still in San Juan, in Misiones (the one-time “Jesuit Empire”) , Salta and Jujuy ”