The History of Puerto Rico by R.A. Van Middeldyk
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R.A. Van Middeldyk >> The History of Puerto Rico
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FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 53: Estudio Historico. San Juan, 1899.]
[Footnote 54: Cards, rum, and women.]
[Footnote 55: He had been President of the Royal Academy.]
[Footnote 56: El Porvenir, for the Liberals, the Boletin Mercantil,
for the Conservatives.]
[Footnote 57: Extracts from the History of the Insurrection of Lares,
by Jose Perez Moris.]
CHAPTER XXVI
GENERAL CONDITIONS OF THE ISLAND--THE DAWN OF FREEDOM
1874-1898
The Spanish Republic was but short lived. From the day of its
proclamation (February 11, 1873) to the landing in Barcelona of
Alphonso XII in the early days of 1876 its history is the record of an
uninterrupted series of popular tumults.
The political restlessness in the Peninsula, accentuating as it did
the party antagonisms in Cuba and Puerto Rico, led the governors, most
of whom were chosen for their adherence to conservative principles, to
endeavor, but in vain, to stem the tide of revolutionary and
Separatist ideas with more and more drastic measures of repression.
This persistence of the colonial authorities in the maintenance of an
obsolete system of administration, in the face of a universal
recognition of the principles of liberty and self-government, added to
the immediate effect on the economic and social conditions in this
island of the abolition of slavery, for which it was unprepared,[58]
brought it once more to the brink of ruin.
From 1873 to 1880 the resources of the island grew gradually less,
the country's capital was being consumed without profit, credit became
depressed, the best business forecasts turned out illusive, the most
intelligent industrial efforts remained sterile. The sun of prosperity
which rose over the island in 1815 set again in gloom during this
period of seven years.
The causes were clear to every unbiased mind and must have been so
even to the prejudiced officials of the Government. They consisted in
the anomalous restrictions on the coasting trade, the unjustifiable
difference in the duties on Spanish and island produce, the high duty
on flour from the United States, the export duties, the extravagant
expenditure in the administration, irritating monopolies, and
countless abuses, vexatious formalities, and ruinous exactions.
Mr. James McCormick, an intelligent Scotchman, for many years a
resident of the island, who, in 1880, was commissioned by the
Provincial Deputation to draw up a report on the causes of the
agricultural depression in this island and its removal by the
introduction of the system of central sugar factories, describes the
situation as follows:
" ... The truth is, that the country is in a pitiable condition.
Throughout its extent it resents the many drains upon its vitality.
Its strength is wasted, and the activities that utilized its favorable
natural conditions are paralyzed. The damages sustained have been
enormous and it is scarcely possible to appraise them at their true
value. With the produce of the soil diminished and the sale thereof at
losing prices the value of real estate throughout the island has
decreased in alarming proportions. Everybody's resources have been
wasted and spent uselessly, and many landholders, wealthy but
yesterday, have been ruined if not reduced to misery. The leading
merchants and proprietors, men who were identified with the progress
of the country and had vast resources at their command, after a long
and tenacious struggle have succumbed at last under the accumulation
of misfortunes banded against them."
Such was the situation in 1880.
To relieve the financial distress of the country a series of
ordinances were enacted[59] which culminated in the reform laws of
March 15, 1895, and if royal decrees had had power to cure the
incurable or remove the causes that for four centuries had undermined
the foundations of Spain's colonial empire, they might, possibly, have
sustained the crumbling edifice for some time longer.
But they came too late. The Antilles were slipping from Spain's grasp;
nor could Weyler's inhuman proceedings in Cuba nor the tardy
concession of a pseudo-autonomy to Puerto Rico arrest the movement.
The laws of March 15, 1895, for the administrative reorganization of
Cuba and Puerto Rico, the basis of which was approved by a unanimous
vote of the leaders of the Peninsula and Antillean parties in Cortes,
remained without application in Cuba because of the insurrection, and
in Puerto Rico because of the influence upon the inhabitants of this
island of the events in the neighboring island.
After the death of Maceo and of Marti, the two most influential
leaders of the revolution, and the terrible measures for suppressing
the revolt adopted by Weyler, the Spanish Colonial Minister, Don Tomas
Castellano y Villaroya, addressed the Queen Regent December 31, 1896.
He declared his belief in the proximate pacification of Cuba, and
said: That the moment had arrived for the Government to show to the
world (_vide licet_ United States) its firm resolution to comply with
the spontaneous promises made by the nation by introducing and
amplifying in Puerto Rico the reforms in civil government and
administration which had been voted by Cortes.
He further stated that the inconditional party in Puerto Rico, guided
by the patriotism which distinguished it, showed its complete
conformity with the reforms proposed by the Government, and that the
"autonomist" party, which, in the beginning, looked upon the proposed
reforms with indifference, had also accepted and declared its
conformity with them.
Therefore, the minister continued: "It would not be just in the
Government to indefinitely postpone the application in Puerto Rico of
a law which awakens so many hopes of a better future."
The minister assures the Queen Regent that the proposed laws respond
to an ample spirit of decentralization, and expresses confidence that,
as soon as possible, her Majesty will introduce in Cuba also, not
only the reforms intended by the law of March 15th, but will extend to
Puerto Rico the promised measures to provide the Antilles _with an
exclusively local administration and economic personnel_. "The reform
laws," the minister adds, "will be the foundation of the new regimen,
but an additional decree, to be laid before the Cortes, will amplify
them in such a way that a truly autonomous administration will be
established in our Antilles." Then follow the proposed laws, which are
to apply, explain, and complement in Puerto Rico, the reform laws of
March 15th--namely, the Provincial law, the Municipal law, and the
Electoral law.
The Peninsular electoral law of June, 1890, was adapted to Cuba and
Puerto Rico at the suggestion of Sagasta, who, in the exposition to
the Queen Regent, which accompanied the project of autonomy, stated:
That the inhabitants of the Antilles frequently complained of, and
lamented the irritating inequalities which alone were enough to
obstruct or entirely prevent the exercise of constitutional
privileges, and he concludes with these remarkable words: " ... So
that, if by arbitrary dispositions without appeal, by penalties
imposed by proclamations of the governors-general, or by simply
ignoring the laws of procedure, the citizen may be restrained,
harassed, deported even to distant territories, it is impossible for
him to exercise the right of free speech, free thought, or free
writing, or the freedom of instruction, or religious tolerance, nor
can he practise the right of union and association." These words
constitute a synopsis of the causes that made the Spanish
Government's tardy attempts at reform in the administration of its
ultramarine possessions illusive; that mocked the people's legitimate
aspirations, destroyed their confidence in the promises of the home
Government, and made the people of Puerto Rico look upon the American
soldiers, when they landed, not as men in search of conquest and
spoliation, but as the representatives of a nation enjoying a full
measure of the liberties and privileges, for a moderate share of which
they had vainly petitioned the mother country through long years of
unquestioning loyalty.
The royal decree conceding autonomy to Puerto Rico was signed on
November 25, 1897. On April 21, 1898, Governor-General Manuel Macias,
suspended the constitutional guarantees and declared the island in
state of war. A few months later Puerto Rico, recognized too late as
ripe for self-government by the mother country, became a part of the
territory of the United States.
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 58: The slaveholders were paid in Government bonds
(schedules), redeemable in ten years. They lost their labor supply,
and had neither capital nor other means to replace it. Their ruin
became inevitable. An English or German syndicate bought up the bonds
at 15 per cent.]
[Footnote 59: See Part II, chapter on Finances.]
PART II
THE PEOPLE AND THEIR INSTITUTIONS
CHAPTER XXVII
SITUATION AND GENERAL APPEARANCE OF PUERTO RICO
The island of Puerto Rico, situated in the Atlantic Ocean, is
about 1,420 miles from New York, 1,000 miles from Havana, 1,050 miles
from Key West, 1,200 miles from Panama, 3,450 miles from Land's End in
England, and 3,180 from the port of Cadiz. It is about 104 miles in
length from east to west, by 34 miles in average breadth, and has an
area of 2,970 square miles. It lies eastward of the other greater
Antilles, Cuba, Haiti, and Jamaica, and although inferior even to the
last of these islands in population and extent, it yields to none of
them in fertility.
By its geographical position Puerto Rico is peculiarly adapted to
become the center of an extensive commerce. It lies to the windward of
Cuba, Santo Domingo, and Jamaica, and of the Gulf of Mexico and Bay of
Honduras. It is contiguous to all the English and French Windward
Islands, only a few hours distant from the former Danish islands Saint
Thomas, Saint John, and Santa Cruz, and a few days' sail from the
coast of Venezuela.
Puerto Rico is the fourth in size of the greater Antilles. Its first
appearance to the eye of the stranger is striking and picturesque.
Nature here offers herself to his contemplation clothed in the
splendid vesture of tropical vegetation. The chain of mountains which
intersects the island from east to west seems at first sight to form
two distinct chains parallel to each other, but closer observation
makes it evident that they are in reality corresponding parts of the
same chain, with upland valleys and tablelands in the center, which
again rise gradually and incorporate themselves with the higher
ridges. The height of these mountains is lofty, if compared with those
of the other Antilles. The loftiest part is that of Luguillo, or
Loquillo, at the northeast extremity of the island, which measures
1,334 Castilian yards, and the highest point, denominated El Yunque,
can be seen at the distance of 68 miles at sea. The summit of this
ridge is almost always enveloped in mist, and when its sides are
overhung by white fleecy clouds it is the certain precursor of the
heavy showers which fertilize the northern coast. The soil in the
center of the mountains is excellent, and the mountains themselves are
susceptible of cultivation to their summits. Several towns and
villages are situated among these mountains, where the inhabitants
enjoy the coolness of a European spring and a pure and salubrious
atmosphere. The town of Albonito, built on a table-land about eight
leagues from Ponce, on the southern coast, enjoys a delightful
climate.
To the north and south of this interior ridge of mountains, stretching
along the seacoasts, are the fertile valleys which produce the chief
wealth of the island. From the principal chain smaller ridges run
north and south, forming between them innumerable valleys, fertilized
by limpid streams which, descending from the mountains, empty
themselves into the sea on either coast. In these valleys the majestic
beauty of the palm-trees, the pleasant alternation of hill and dale,
the lively verdure of the hills, compared with the deeper tints of the
forest, the orange trees, especially when covered with their golden
fruit, the rivers winding through the dales, the luxuriant fields of
sugar-cane, corn, and rice, with here and there a house peeping
through a grove of plantains, and cattle grazing in the green pasture,
form altogether a landscape of rural beauty scarcely to be surpassed
in any country in the world.
The valleys of the north and east coasts are richest in cattle and
most picturesque. The pasturage there is always verdant and luxuriant,
while those of the south coast, richer in sugar, are often parched by
excessive drought, which, however, does not affect their fertility,
for water is found near the surface. This same alternation of rain and
drought on the north and south coasts is generally observed in all the
West India islands.
Few islands of the extent of Puerto Rico are watered by so many
streams. Seventeen rivers, taking their rise in the mountains, cross
the valleys of the north coast and fall into the sea. Some of these
are navigable for two or three leagues from their mouths for small
craft. Those of Manati, Loisa, Trabajo, and Arecibo are very deep and
broad, and it is difficult to imagine how such large bodies of water
can be collected in so short a course. Owing to the heavy surf which
continually breaks on the north coast, these rivers have bars across
their embouchures which do not allow large vessels to enter. The
rivers of Bayamon and Rio Piedras flow into the harbor of the capital,
and are also navigable for boats. At Arecibo, at high water, small
brigs may enter with perfect safety, notwithstanding the bar. The
south, west, and east coasts are also well supplied with water.
From the Cabeza de San Juan, which is the northeast extremity of the
island, to Cape Mala Pascua, which lies to the southeast, nine rivers
fall into the sea. From Cape Mala Pascua to Point Aguila, which forms
the southwest angle of the island, sixteen rivers discharge their
waters on the south coast.
On the west coast, three rivers, five rivulets, and several
fresh-water lakes communicate with the sea. The rivers of the north
coast are well stocked with edible fish.
The roads formed in Puerto Rico during the Spanish administration are
constructed on a substantial plan, the center being filled with gravel
and stones well cemented. Each town made and repaired the roads of its
respective district. Many excellent and solid bridges, with stone
abutments, existed at the time of the transfer of the island to the
American nation.
The whole line of coast of this island is indented with harbors, bays,
and creeks where ships of heavy draft may come to anchor. On the north
coast, during the months of November, December, and January, when the
wind blows sometimes with violence from the east and northeast, the
anchorage is dangerous in all the bays and harbors of that coast,
except in the port of San Juan.
On the western coast the spacious bay of Aguadilla is formed by Cape
Borrigua and Cape San Francisco. When the southeast winds prevail it
is _not_ a safe anchorage for ships.
Mayaguez is also an open roadstead on the west coast formed by two
projecting capes. It has good anchorage for vessels of large size and
is well sheltered from the north winds.
The south coast also abounds in bays and harbors, but those which
deserve particular attention are the ports of Guanica and Hobos, or
Jovos, near Guayama. In Guanica vessels drawing 21 feet of water may
enter with perfect safety and anchor close to the shore. Hobos or
Jovos is a haven of considerable importance; sailing vessels of the
largest class may anchor and ride in safety; it has 4 fathoms of water
in the shallowest part of the entrance, but it is difficult to enter
from June to November as the sea breaks with violence at the entrance
on account of the southerly winds which prevail at this season.
All the large islands in the tropics enjoy approximately the same
climate. The heat, the rains, the seasons, are, with trifling
variations, the same in all, but the number of mountains and running
streams, the absence of stagnant waters and general cultivation of the
land in Puerto Rico do, probably, powerfully contribute to purify the
atmosphere and render it more salubrious to Europeans than it
otherwise would be. In the mountains one enjoys the coolness of
spring, but the valleys, were it not for the daily breeze which blows
from the northeast and east, would be almost uninhabitable for white
men during part of the year. The climate of the north and south coasts
of this island, though under the same tropical influence, is
nevertheless essentially different. On the north coast it sometimes
rains almost the whole year, while on the south coast sometimes no
rain falls for twelve or fourteen months. On the whole, Puerto Rico is
one of the healthiest islands in the West Indies, nor is it infested
to the same extent as other islands by poisonous snakes and other
noxious reptiles. The laborer may sleep in peace and security in the
midst of the forest, by the side of the river, or in the meadow with
his cattle with no other fear than that of an occasional centipede or
guabua (large hairy spider).
Unlike most tropical islands there are no indigenous quadrupeds and
scarcely any of the feathered tribe in the forests. On the rivers
there are a few water-fowl and in the forests the green parrot. There
are neither monkeys nor rabbits, but rats and mongooses infest the
country and sometimes commit dreadful ravages in the sugar-cane. Ants
of different species also abound.
CHAPTER XXVIII
ORIGIN, CHARACTER, AND CUSTOMS OF THE PRIMITIVE INHABITANTS OF BORIQUEN
The origin of the primitive inhabitants of the West Indian Archipelago
has been the subject of much learned controversy, ending, like all
such discussions, in different theories and more or less verisimilar
conjecture.
It appears that at the time of the discovery these islands were
inhabited by three races of different origin. One of these races
occupied the Bahamas. Columbus describes them as simple, generous,
peaceful creatures, whose only weapon was a pointed stick or cane.
They were of a light copper color, well-proportioned but slender,
rather good-looking, with aquiline noses, salient cheek-bones,
medium-sized mouths, long coarse hair. They had, perhaps, formerly
occupied the eastern part of the archipelago, whence they had
gradually disappeared, driven or exterminated by the Caribs, Caribos,
or Guaribos, a savage, warlike, and cruel race, which had invaded the
West Indies from the continent by way of the Orinoco, along the
tributaries of which river tribes of the same race are still to be
found. The larger Antilles, Cuba, Santo Domingo, and Puerto Rico, were
occupied by a race which probably originated from some part of the
southern division of the northern continent. The chroniclers mention
the Guaycures and others as their possible ancestors, and Stahl traces
their origin to a mixture of the Phoenicians with the aborigines of
remote antiquity.
The information which we possess with regard to the habits and customs
of the inhabitants of Boriquen at the time of discovery is too scanty
and too unreliable to permit us to form more than a speculative
opinion of the degree of culture attained by them.
Friar Abbad, in the fourth chapter of his history, gives us a
description of the character and customs of the people of Boriquen
taken wholly from the works of Oviedo, Herrera, Robertson, Raynal, and
others.
Like most of the aboriginal inhabitants of America, the natives of
Boriquen were copper-colored, but somewhat darker than the inhabitants
of the neighboring islands. They were shorter of stature than the
Spaniards, but corpulent and well-proportioned, with flat noses, wide
nostrils, dull eyes, bad teeth, narrow foreheads, the skull
artificially flattened before and behind so as to give it a conical
shape, with long, black, coarse hair, beardless and hairless on the
rest of the body. Says Oviedo: " ... Their heads were not like other
people's, their skulls were so hard and thick that the Christians by
fighting with them have learned not to strike them on the head because
the swords break."
Their whole appearance betrayed a lazy, indolent habit, and they
showed extreme aversion to labor or fatigue of any kind. They put
forth no exertion save what was necessary to obtain food, and only
rose from their "hamacas" or "jamacas," or shook off their habitual
indolence to play a game of ball (batey) or attend the dances
(areytos) which were accompanied by rude music and the chanting of
whatever happened to occupy their minds at the time.
Notwithstanding their indolence and the unsubstantial nature of their
food, they were comparatively strong and robust, as they proved in
many a personal tussle with the Spaniards.
Clothing was almost unknown. Only the women of mature age used an
apron of varying length, the rest, without distinction of age or sex,
were naked. They took great pains in painting their bodies with all
sorts of grotesque figures, the earthy coloring matter being laid on
by means of oily or resinous substances extracted from plants or
trees.
These coats of paint, when fresh, served as holiday attire, and
protected them from the bites of mosquitoes and other insects. The
dandies among them added to this airy apparel a few bright feathers in
their hair, a shell or two in their ears and nostrils. And the
caciques wore a disk of gold (guarim) the size of a large medal round
their necks to denote their rank.
The huts were built square or oblong, raised somewhat above the
ground, with only one opening for entrance and exit, cane being the
principal building material. The chief piece of furniture was the
"hamaca," made with creepers or strips of bark of the "emajagua" tree.
The "totumo" or "jigueera" furnished them with their domestic
utensils, as it furnishes the "jibaro" of to-day with his cups and
jugs and basins. Their mode of making fire was the universal one
practised by savages. Their arms were the usual macana and bow and
arrows, but they did not poison the arrows as did the Caribs. The
largest of their canoes, or "piraguas," could contain from 40 to 50
men, and served for purposes of war, but the majority of their canoes
were of small size used in navigating the coast and rivers.
There being no mammals in the island, they knew not the use of flesh
for food, but they had abundance of fish, and they ate besides
whatever creeping or crawling thing they happened to find. These with
the yucca from which they made their casabe or bread, maize, yams, and
other edible roots, constituted their food supply.
There were in Boriquen, as there are among all primitive races,
certain individuals, the embryos of future church functionaries, who
were medicine-man, priest, prophet, and general director of the moral
and intellectual affairs of the benighted masses, but that is all we
know of them.[60]
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 60: For further information on this subject, see Estudios
Ethnologicos sobre los indios Boriquenos, by A. Stahl, 1888. Revista
Puertoriquena, Ano II, tomo II.]
CHAPTER XXIX
THE "JIBARO," OR PUERTO RICAN PEASANT
"There is in this island a class of inhabitants, not the least
numerous by any means, who dwell in swamps and marshes, live on
vegetables, and drink muddy water." So wrote Dr. Richard Rey[61] a
couple of decades ago, and, although, under the changed political and
social conditions, these people, as a class, will soon disappear, they
are quite numerous still, and being the product of the peculiar social
and political conditions of a past era deserve to be known.
To this considerable part of the population of Puerto Rico the name of
"jibaros" is applied; they are the descendants of the settlers who in
the early days of the colonization of the island spread through the
interior, and with the assistance of an Indian or negro slave or two
cleared and cultivated a piece of land in some isolated locality,
where they continued to live from day to day without troubling
themselves about the future or about what passed in the rest of the
universe.
The modern jibaro builds his "bohio," or hut, in any place without
regard to hygienic conditions, and in its construction follows the
same plan and uses the same materials employed in their day by the
aboriginal inhabitants. This "bohio" is square or oblong in form,
raised on posts two or three feet from the ground, and the materials
are cane, the trunks of the coco-palm, entire or cut into boards, and
the bark of another species of palm, the "yaguas," which serves for
roofing and walls. The interior of these huts is sometimes divided by
a partition of reeds into two apartments, in one of which the family
sit by day. The other is the sleeping room, where the father, mother,
and children, male and female, of all ages, sleep, promiscuously
huddled together on a platform of boards or bar bacao.
The majority of the jibaros are whites. Mestizoes, mulattos, and
negroes are numerous also. But we are here concerned with the jibaro
of European descent only, whose redemption from a degraded condition
of existence it is to the country's interest should be specially
attended to.
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