the port. This adds to the picturesque appearance
of the place, but exposes it to direct attack in case
of hostile operations.
T h e island on which the town was built extends
about two and a quarter miles along the channel into
the bay, but is only from a quarter to half a mile in
width, and ends in a bluff about a hundred feet high.
T h e walls and battlements are mediaeval in aspect,
and the inclosure is crowded with the habitations of
some 20,000 people. S ix parallel streets run lengthwise
of the narrow space and are crossed by seven
others. T h e houses are of gray stone, or of brick
stuccoed over and tinted drab, yellow, pink, or blue,
making a variegated and attractive picture as seen
from the sea. T he houses are mostly of two stories,
but the lower is a kind of high basement crowded
with negroes and people of the poorer sort, while the
upper floors are occupied by respectable and well-to-
do families. There are iron balconies to the main
or upper story, but the windows which open upon
these have no glass behind the shutters, or jalousies,
and the houses have no visible chimneys. T h e y are
entered through interior patios, and some have roof
gardens, but there are no open spaces about them.
T h e people are dependent upon rain for their water
supply, and there is no drainage except from the
surface. It is not strange if the narrow and crowded
streets become unwholesome in a pioist, hot atmosphere,
and are haunted by vermin and the germs of
fever.
Besides the forts and barracks there are a “ governor’s
palace,” a city hall, theatre, cathedral,