to Ponce. There is only one line of street cars (in the city of
Mayaguez); and there are only one hundred and forty-seven miles of
railroad in the whole island.

The best roads run along the coast from town to town. There is one
exception. This is the wonderful military road which connects Ponce, on
the south shore, with San Juan on the north shore. (See map, page 4).

Parts of the country away from the coasts are reached by bridle paths;
but the roads outside the cities and towns are impassable during the
rainy season. Sometimes there is only a bridle path or trail overgrown
with tangled vegetation, and crossed by streams without bridges.

The means of transportation employed by the people are the pony carriage
or surrey, the saddle horse, the ox-cart and the foot. The beast of
burden is either the donkey or the pony. These animals are employed to
carry goods in packs over the trails, in place of using the wagon.

The ponies are usually small, half-starved, badly treated animals. They
carry great burdens, that look heavy enough to crush them to the ground.

Their food consists of green corn and grass. One of the commonest sights
on the road, street, or marketplace is the pony with his load of green
fodder.

This is usually so large that it covers the animal entirely, but the
master is always in plain view, sitting astride the moving corn-stack.

[Illustration: A PUERTO RICAN PONY LOADED.]