PORTO BELLO PORTO RICO T31 out and lighted with gas. The principal pub- lic huildings are the cathedral, town hall, trea- sury, Brazilian and Portuguese hospitals, and a college. There is a fine theatre, and the shops are among the handsomest in the empire. The harbor is exceedingly beautiful, and three lines of steamers are owned in the town. A railway to Santa Catharina is in process of con- struction (1875). In the environs, which are extremely picturesque, are two orphan asylums. PORTO BELLO, Puerto Bello, or Puerto Veto, a seaport of the United States of Colombia, on the N. coast of the isthmus and 40 m. N. of the city of Panama ; pop. about 3,500. It is situated at the foot of a mountain extending almost to the shore, and is divided into two quarters, the eastern of which, called Guinea, is mostly inhabited by negroes and other per- sons of color. The only public edifice of note is the old custom house erected in the 16th century. The port, formed by a narrow inlet of the sea, is defended on the north by the castle Todo-Hierro, and on the south by Fort Gloria. This port, for about two centuries the resort of the galleons engaged in transporting to Spain the precious metals and other com- modities from the Pacific coast via Panama, though repeatedly surprised by the buccaneers, was a flourishing place until 1739, when it was captured and dismantled by Admiral Yernon, and the trade began to be carried on by way of Cape Horn. PORTO FERRAJO, a town of Italy, in the province of Leghorn, capital of the island of Elba, situated on a promontory of the N. coast, on a fine bay of the Mediterranean, about 12 m. S. W. of Piombino; pop. nearly 4,000. It is strongly fortified and well built, and has a good harbor. The principal export is iron. In antiquity it was called Portus Argous, after the Argonauts. In the vicinity are Roman ruins and the villa in which Napoleon I. re- sided. (See ELBA.) PORTO MAURIZIO, a province of N. Italy, in Liguria, bordering on Coni, Genoa, and Nice; area, 467 sq. m. ; pop. in 1872, 127,053. It comprises the former provinces of Oneglia and San Remo, and some territory which Italy re- tained from Nice, and is divided into the dis- tricts of ^Porto Maurizio and San Remo. Al- though very mountainous, it is fertile, but the sea winds injure agriculture, especially when the irrigation is inadequate, and the produc- tions are not sufficient for home consumption. Most of the district of San Remo is covered by the Maritime Alps, and according to some it is the most salubrious of all the regions on the Mediterranean. Capital, Porto Maurizio. PORTO PLATA. See PUERTO PLATA. PORTO RICO, or Puerto Rico, the smallest and most easterly of the Greater Antilles, West Indies, belonging to Spain, lying between lat. 17 55' and 18 30' N., and Ion. 65 39' and 67 11' W. ; area, including its dependencies, the isles of Vieques, Culebra, and Mona, 3,530 sq. m. ; pop. about 625,000, of whom 338,000 are white and the remainder colored. It is separated from Santo Domingo on the west by the Mona passage, in which lies the island of Mona, and from the Virgin islands on the east by the Virgin passage, in which are Vieques and Culebra. It is nearly a rectangle, the length of which E. and W. is about 100 m., and the breadth N. and S. about 40 m. The prin- cipal capes are San Juan on the N. E., Mala Pascua on the S. E., Rojo on the S. W., and Bruquen on the N. W. The coasts are gener- ally regular, but there are many bays and in- lets, and the N. coast is lined with navigable lagoons. The principal ports are San Juan, Arecibo, Aguadilla, Mayaguez, Ponce, Guay- anilla, Humacao, and Fajardo. A range of mountains extends through the island from E. to W., having a general height of about 1,500 ft. above the sea, with one peak in the N. E., Luquillo, whose summit is called Yun- que, of 3,678 ft. From these mountains de- scend many small streams, some of which are navigable a few miles inland for small vessels. In the interior are extensive plains, and there are level tracts from 5 to 10 m. wide on the coast. The soil is exceedingly fertile. In the mountains it is a red clay, colored with perox- ide of iron ; in the valleys it is black and less compact, and on the coasts it is sandy, but capable of some culture. The pasture lands in the N. and E. parts are superior to any others in the West Indies. The climate, though very warm, is more healthful than that of the other Antilles. The prevailing winds are E. and E. N. E., but from November to March N. winds are frequent. The land wind, so constant at night in the other islands of the Antilles, is felt but seldom. The island has suffered much from hurricanes, of which those in 1742 and 1825 were very destructive. The natural pro- ductions are numerous and valuable. Many varieties of cabinet and dye woods, including mahogany, ebony, lignum vitse, cedar, and log- wood, and plants valuable in the arts and in pharmacy, abound. The tropical fruits grow to perfection. Among the agricultural pro- ducts are sugar cane, coffee, tobacco, cotton, rice, and maize. The amount of sugar ob- tained from a given area is greater than in any other West India island. The poverty of the fauna and flora is remarkable, there being scarcely any wild animals, birds, or flowers. Gold, copper, iron, lead, and coal are found, but no mines are worked ; considerable quan- tities of salt are procured from lakes. Agri- culture is almost exclusively in the hands of the natives, but most of the business and com- merce is controlled by foreigners and Span- iards from the Peninsula. The total value oi the commerce in 1871 was about $33,000,000, of which $17,500,000 was for imports. The chief exports are sugar, molasses, coffee, to- bacco, cotton, cacao,, cattle, and hides. The total amount of sugar exported in 1871 was 111 084 tons, of which 1.732,897 cwt. was sent to the United States, 460,688 cwt. to Great
