on the island. Playa, its port, having a population of 5,000, is
connected with it by a fine road.

The town of Arecibo, with a population of from 6,000 to 7,000, is
situated on the northern coast of Porto Rico, and is the port for a
district of some 30,000 inhabitants.

CLIMATE.

The climate of the island, though hot and humid, is healthful, except in
marshy districts and in cities where sanitary rules are neglected.
Yellow fever seldom occurs, and when it does it is confined to the
unsanitary towns and their surroundings, never appearing far from the
coasts. The thermometer does not fall below 50 deg. or rise above 90 deg.
The heat is not so great as at Santiago, though the latter is one and a
half degrees further north. As in Cuba, there are but two seasons, the
rainy and the dry, the former lasting from July to December, the latter
from January to the close of June. The delightful, dry and salubrious
atmosphere of midwinter and spring, with its general healthfulness,
promises to bring this island into prominence both as a resort for
invalids and for homes to those who would escape the rigors of northern
winters.

Porto Rico is an ideal lazy man's country, and the overworked American
will, undoubtedly, come to make it more and more his Mecca for rest and
recuperation. Even the interior feels the soft, salt air from the ocean.
The people are kind-hearted, "easy-going," hospitable, and fond of
amusement. Every environment conduces to the dismission of all
worriment, to rest, sleep, and a happy-go-lucky state of mind.

OUR NEW POSSESSIONS (CONTINUED).

THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS.

"Most bounteous here in her sea-girt lands,
Nature stretches forth her hands,

* * * * *

And walks on gold and silver, and knows her power increased,
Nor fears the tyrant longer--'Our Lady of the East.'"--_Stoddard_.

The most important, and by far the most interesting, as well as the
least known of America's new possessions, gained by her war with Spain,
are the Philippine Islands. Comparatively few Americans have ever set
foot upon that far-away and semi-civilized land, the possession of which
enables America to say with England, "The sun never sets upon our flag."

[Illustration: FILIPINOS OF THE SAVAGE TRIBES.]

The Philippines lie almost exactly on the other side of the globe from
us. Approximately speaking, our noonday is their midnight; our sunset is
their sunrise. There are some