w. r PORTO RICO and CUBA By Mrs. CHARLES L. THOMPSON Literature Department of the Woman's Board of Home Missions of the Presbyterian Church, U.S.A., 156 Fifth Avenue, New York City Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2018 with funding from Columbia University Libraries https://archive.org/details/portoricocubaOOthom PORTO RICO T WAS in November, 1493, on his second voy¬ age, that Columhus discovered Porto Rico. The first mention of it is in a letter ad¬ dressed to the Chapter of Seville hy Dr. Chaiica, a physician to the fleet of Columbus. “We discovered another island called Buren- quen, which we judged to be thirty leagues in length, for we were coasting along it the whole of one day. This island is very heautiful and apparently fertile. Hither the Carib- bees come with hie view of subduing the inhabitants, and often carry away many of the people. These islanders have no boats, nor any knowledge of navigation.” Porto Rico was thickly populated at the time of its dis¬ covery with a quiet, docile race. In common with the other Indians of the West Indies they compressed the head arti¬ ficially in infancy, rendering the skull very hard, and it is said to have required practice and skill on the part of the Spanish soldiers to crack open the head of an aborigine without injuring his good sword. None of the Indians wore clothing, but they painted themselves elaborately, and as late as 1853, Humboldt says, “To go out of the hut without being painted would be to transgress all rules of Carib decency.” The friendship with which the Indians of the more north¬ ern islands greeted the Christian voyagers was sadly abused. The white races have never felt that any man could read his title clear to land, if he were unable to prove his claim by superior physical force. In this case, as with the Indians of North America, and the negroes of Africa, the title could not be proved, and the Spaniards entered into possession. Columbus, while depriving the natives of their terrestrial titles, took pains to explain that they merely exchanged them for titles celestial. He writes: “In all the countries visited by your Highnesses’ ships I 3 have caused a high cross to be fixed upon every headland, and have proclaimed to every nation that I have discovered the lofty estate of your Highnesses and of your Court in Spain. I also tell them all I can respecting our holy faith, and of the belief in the holy Mother Church, which has its members in all the world, and I speak to them also of the courtesy and nobleness of all Christians, and of the faith they have in the Holy Trinity.” The first white settlement on Porto Rico was made by I‘once de Leon, who came to the island in 1508 and founded his capital the following year on the north shore, calling the place Caparra. In the saipe year, however, he began to build San Juan, to which town he shortly moved. The discovery of gold in Hayti created a demand for labor and the natives were caught and shipped to the mines, there to be beaten and worked and starved until they died. There were always more to take the places of the dead, and it did not pay to consider complaints. After the passing of the native came the introduction of African slavery, though never in large proportions till the nineteenth century. Although there was no mineral wealth in Porto Rico, its tropical beauties attracted the cupidity of other nations, and in 1538 France invaded the island. The English tried it six times in all. The Dutch took a hand in 1625, and our own Admiral Porter, in his successful raids on the West Indian pirates, could not resist the temptation in 1824. Seventy- four years later Admiral Sampson fired a few shots, which injured a church and El Morro, and departed, leaving the island in peace till the arrival of General Miles. In 1815 was issued a royal decree entitled “Regulations for promoting the Population, Commerce, Industry and Agriculture of the Island of Porto Rico.” This decree held out the most fiattering prospects to worthy foreigners, con¬ ferring on them the rights and privileges of Spaniards. Free land was granted, and freedom from taxes. For fifteen years they were relieved from tithes and exportation duties. That this was a wise and enlightened policy has been proved 4 !)y the fact tliat the period of Porto Rico’s prosperity dates from tliat time, its population and wealth having iucrefised in greater measure than in any other of the West Indian islands. In 1873 slavery was abolished, and thirty-four thousand negroes were given their freedom. After five years they were granted the franchise. The iudemuiticatiou of the masters was appropriated from the Porto Rican budget. In 1870 Porto Rico was made a province of Spain, with rep¬ resentation in the Cortes, elected by universal suffrage. In 1S!)7 autonomy was granted. By it the island had a Premier and a House of Representatives. This form of government was not fully tried, for in ISOS the liag of the United States was raised over Porto Rico and she was declared to be part of the territory of onr Union. RESOURCES Porto Rico is not a large country, being in fact but one- half the size of New Jersey, or about one hundred miles long and forty miles wide, mountainous in the center, with a tiat rim around its sea coast. These fertile plains around the island's edge are planted with sugar and produce two hun¬ dred and fifty thousand tons of sugar aunually. Tobacco is the next largest article of export; then follows coffee, which is raised on the mountains and highlands, and is of a good quality. When we consider that the coffee bill of the United States amounts to over eighty-seven millions of dollars a year, it seems somewhat unfortunate that we should pass by Porto Rico in our search for the so-called IMocha which comes from the highlands of Brazil. Fruit culture is increasing in the island, oranges, bananas, pineapples and grape fruit are shipped north in great quan¬ tities. Cattle-raising is profitable, owing to the abundance of pasturage. Besides these industries, which represent the main wealth of the island, there are a few smaller ones, among which are the various forms of weaving in straw and inlaid work in woods. Woman’s work is clearly defined; it is needle-work, and the beautiful embroideries and fine drawn-work which are shown to the admiring guest speak of many hours passed with needle and scissors. With the increased number of public schools has come a demand for teachers, and many more of the young women of the island are preparing themselves for that work than was the custom in former years, though it still remains true that many of the teachers are men. The population of the island is about one million, and forty per cent, of these are of colored blood. The Spanish and their descendants are, of course, in the majority among the whites. Many of them are wealthy and maintain the pride of their estate with all the dignity of Spanish grandees. THE TRIP TO PORTO RICO When we leave the harbor of New York we sail for four¬ teen hundred miles to the southeast, and so come to San Juan, the capital. No frost ever touches this beautiful tropical island; summer and winter the temperature is very much the same; the humidity is great, however. On the northern coast the annual rainfall is about 120 inches, and at night, especially in the mountains, everything is drenched with heavy dews. On the southern coast conditions are different, and the dry season there frequently lasts for two or three months. The harbors of Porto Rico are inferior to those of Cuba; on the other hand, the highways are somewhat better. Many miles of fine roads have been made since the American occupation of the island, and much new territory has been brought into touch with the railroad which runs around the northern and western coast from San Juan to Ponce. The most famous of all the I’oads, however, is the old military road, made in Spanish days, and which goes straight across the island from San Juan to Ponce, a distance of eighty-five 6 miles, covered easily in one day by the automobile coaches which have largely s^ipplanted the coach and horses of other days. This is one of the best highways in the western hemisphere, climbing the mountains with easy grades and beautiful curves to a height of twenty-five hundred feet, then dropping to the level plains of the southern coast. The scenery on this long drive is of great beauty. As it climbs higher into the mountains the cocoa palm is replaced by the royal palm, with its gray shaft, like a granite column, and its plume-like crown of verdure. Coffee planta¬ tions creep to the very crown of the mountains. Men and women are dotted over the valleys working in the tobacco fields. The flamboyan tree, with its foliage like a sensitive plant, and its brilliant vermillion flowers, shades the road. Groves of banana trees with their gigantic, glossy leaves, and the single red blossom pendant at the end of the bunch of fruit, accentuate the tropical note. Oranges fall on the roadside. The bread-tree with its many-fingered leaves stands ready with its fruit. The thatched huts of the peon fit easily into the landscape. As we look we see a man ploughing with a pointed stick in good Biblical style. His primitive machine answers the purposes very well in the rich, moist soil around us. MISSION STATIONS San Juan, our landing place, gives also our first view of mission work. The Board of Home Missions has here three organized churches, an English and a Spanish church in San Juan proper and a Spanish church in Santurce. The church building in San Juan is on a street near the palace, and is the only memorial building we have on the island. The Hugh O’Neill Memorial Church contains an audience room on one side, and schoolrooms on the other, while on the roof there is a cool, pleasant home for the teachers, looking out over the harbor and the channel where the ships for the homeland go and come. 7 The English Church numbers about forty members; twelve were added during the last year. This congregation has raised, for the support of the pastor, five hundri>d dollars during the year, in addition to running expenses. The men have recently organized a Presbyterian brotherhood, which is probably the first in the West Indies. The Spanish services are held in the same church Sunday evenings, and the membership is about one hundred and thirty. There is increasing willingness shown by the Porto means to carry the responsibility of their church work. In Santurce, a suburb of San Juan, is one of our strongest native churches, with a membership of about two hundred and sixty. This was the first Presbyterian church in Porto Rico, and was built in 1900 by our first missionary in San Juan. The ten years of Christian instruction have developed a sturdy Christian manhood amongst its members. They carry on jjrayer meetings in several wards; they are inter¬ ested teachers in the Sunday School, and they feel a sense of responsibility for other needy neighborhoods. Last year they contributed time and labor towai'ds the erection of a house of worship for the outlying village of Cangrejo Arriba. Many of the workmen walked seven miles night and morn¬ ing until the little chapel was completed. There was much happiness when it was dedicated on February twenty-second, in the presence of many friends, both Porto Rican and American. Supplementary to this evangelistic work our Woman’s Board conducts a school in San Juan, in the Hugh O’Neill Memorial building. It has two efficient teachers. Last and by no means least is the San Juan Hospital, with its far- reaching and beneficent work. The hospital has been built on the cottage system, and consists now of four buildings, dispensary, administration building, the wards, and Training Home for Nurses. There are two resident physicians in charge of the hospital, with several American nurses. The staff of the training school consists of a head nurse and a 8 number of native assistants who are taking the regular course in nursing. Toa Alta, about eighteen miles distant from San Juan, lias an organized church, ministered to hy a native helper, who was formerly a Roman Catholic priest. Besides this tlie missionary conducts monthly services at Campo Alegre, Gandul, Mellila and Lehorneo. Twenty to thirty miles west of San Juan are the two mountain towns Corozal and Naran.iito. In each there is an organized church. There is a very good church building at Corozal, where the minister who serves the two towns resides, and the whole village seems to hear the most kindly feeling toward him and his work. Isabela is on the railroad, about fifty miles west of San Juan. We have a church building and manse here, and a well- organized church. Our missionaries endeavor to be most thorough in indoctrinating their converts, and every effort is made to make them thorouglil.y intelligent regarding the Protestant faith. Besides the ordained minister at Isahela we have also a native helper. At Jobos, an out-station, a new chapel has recently been completed, built largely by the people themselves. The church is organized and has a growing membership. The Sunday School services are some¬ times so crowded that the seating capacity of the building is insufficient. At Quebradlllas, another out-station, there is also an organize