not much lighted by brilliant plumage or enlivened
by notes of song. Wild animals are few, though
the agouti and the armadillo are still found; reptiles
are not specially plentiful, and insects are less
intrusive than in most tropical climes. There are,
however, some objectionable specimens, including
a chigoe that will bore through the sole of a shoe
and attack the sole of the foot.
Puerto Rico is a land of rich soil and luxuriant
vegetation rather than of varied animal life, and it
is capable of cultivation far beyond anything to
which it has been subjected. Among its indigenous
products are tobacco, maize, cotton, cacao, yams,
plantains, bananas, oranges, and many other fruits,
and great crops of these can be easily raised; but
the leading “ s tap le s ” have long been the exotic
coffee and sugar-cane, on account of the profit which
they yielded in former days. T h e y still hold the
front place in spite of negligent cultivation, depressed
prices, and the lack of proper means of
transportation. T he climate of the island does not
differ materially from that of the other Antilles,
except that it has less of the variety due to differences
of altitude. It is very warm and very wet in
the summer months, and on the northern slope the
rainy season is rather prolonged. T h e heat and
humidity in Au gust and September are oppressive
and enervating in the low lands near the coast, and
malarial fevers are common in the absence of sanitary
and hygienic precautions. L ittle attention has
been given in the past to drainage or a proper distribution
of the abundant water supply, and where
there is a dense population in the artificial conditions
of towns epidemics sometimes appear. But
on the whole the climate is remarkably healthful,
and from November to June has a delightful softness
and splendour. T he prevailing winds are
easterly and north-easterly, and there is a notable
absence of the land breeze which is characteristic of
the islands farther west. Sometimes in the wet
season there are thunder-storms of terrific violence,
and occasionally the hurricanes, which are bred below
the Caribbees, sweep with all their fury across
this narrow barrier to the open ocean, though their
customary track is farther west. A very destructive
one visited the island in 1825.