e of the exports for the
same year was, for the first time for more than a decade, slightly in
excess of that of the imports; the former being valued at $18,341,430,
the latter at $18,282,690. The chief exports from the island are
agricultural products. The principal articles are sugar, coffee,
molasses, and tobacco; while rice, wheat, flour, and manufactured
articles are among the chief imports. The value of the sugar and
molasses exported to the United States during the ten years from 1888 to
1897 made up 95 per cent. of the total value of the exports to that
country. Fruits, nuts, and spices are also exported to a small extent.
Of the non-agricultural exports the most important are perfumery and
cosmetics; chemicals, drugs, and dyes; unmanufactured wood, and salt.

[Illustration: NATIVE BELLES, PORTO RICO.]

The leading article of import from the United States is wheat flour.
Corn and meal, bread, biscuit, meats, dairy products, wood and its
manufactures, iron, steel, etc., are also imported.

CITIES AND TOWNS.

San Juan, the capital, is situated on an island off the northern coast
of the mainland, with which it is now connected by the San Antonio
bridge. The city is a perfect specimen of a walled and fortified town,
with Morro Castle crowning the promontory at the western extremity of
the island. The population, including the inhabitants of Marina and
Puerta de Tierra, as well as those within the city walls, was estimated
in 1896 at 30,000, and consists largely of negroes and of mixed races.
Owing to the lack of a good water supply, and the general unsanitary
conditions which prevail, the city is unhealthy. The houses are all of
two stories, the poorer inhabitants occupying the ground floor, while
those better off live above them. There is no running water in the city,
the inhabitants being dependent for their supply upon the rainfall which
is caught on the flat roofs of the houses and stored in cisterns, and in
dry seasons the supply is entirely exhausted. The city is built upon
clay mixed with lime packed hard and impervious to water. Its
manufactures are of small importance.

[Illustration: THE MARKET PLACE, PONCE, PORTO RICO.]

The city of Ponce, with a population of 37,500, and in commercial
importance the second city of Porto Rico, is situated two miles from the
coast in the southern part of the island. With an ample water supply
conveyed to the city by an aqueduct it is, perhaps, the healthiest town