CHAMBERS'S

ENCYCLOPEDIA

PUERTO BELLO, a small decayed seaport town of the United States of Colombia, on the northern shore of the Isthmus of Panama, and 40 miles north of the town of that name. It is surrounded by mountains, has an excellent harbour, is very unhealthy, and has fallen into decay since 1739, when it was stormed by Admiral Vernon, during the war between England and Spain. Pop. 1300.

-18° 30′ N., long. 65° 39'-67° 11′ W. It is in
size somewhat less than Jamaica, being fully 100
miles from east to west, 40 miles from north to
south, and closely resembling a rectangle in shape.
The island is traversed from east to west by a
range of mountains, 1500 feet in average height,
though rising in one peak to 3678 feet above the
sea. From the base of the mountains, rich alluvial
well-wooded and abundantly watered valleys. The
tracts extend to the sea, and there are numerous
soil is remarkably fertile. The principal crops
and cotton remarkable for its length of fibre,
are sugar, coffee, and tobacco of the finest quality,
Cattle and sheep are
tenacity, and whiteness.
extensively reared,
of a quality superior to any
others in the West Indies. The imports consist of
cotton, woollen, linen, silk, and embroidered goods,
fruits, wines, &c. The exports are sugar, tobacco,
metals, hardware, and provisions, as ale, porter,
coffee, cotton, molasses, rum, hides, and cattle.
The chief ports are San Juan, commonly called
Puerto Rico, in the north-east, Ponce in the
south-west, and Mayaguez in the west.
West Indies. Area, 3897 sq. m.; pop. 700,000, of
one of the coolest and healthiest places in the
whom the majority are whites, and of the coloured

PUERTO DE SANTA MARI'A (usually called EL PUERTO, the Port), a seaport of Spain, in the modern province of Cadiz, stands at the mouth of the Guadalete, in a most fertile district, on the Bay of Cadiz, 6 miles north-east of the city of that name, and 9 miles by railway south-west of Xeres. Suspension-bridges cross the Guadalete and the Rio de S. Pedro. The mouth of the Guadalete forms the harbour; but the bar is dangerous and much neglected. P., a pleasant and well-built town, resembling Cadiz in its houses, and containing only one long and handsome street, while the others are narrow and ill paved, is the port for the shipment of Xeres wines. The wines are lodged in numerous bodegas, or wine-stores, lofty buildings built with thick walls and narrow windows, in order to secure an even temperature inside. This town vies with Cadiz and San Lucar as a wine-exporting place; the principal exporting houses are English or French. The bull-fights which take place here in the total exports were valued at £3,118,492 (of May are among the most famous in the country. which £2,062,067 were for sugar); the imports at Steamers ply frequently between this town and £3,500,000. A great portion of the trade is with Cadiz, and P. supplies that city with drinking- Britain, but owing to high differential duties and water at a cost of several thousand pounds a year. port charges, it is carried on in Spanish bottoms. Pop. 21,278.

PUERTO PRINCIPE, SANTA MARIA DE, an important inland town, in the east of the island of Cuba, about 325 miles east-south-east of Havana, and 45 miles south-west of its port, Las Nuevitas, with which it is connected by railway. Pop. 30,000. PUERTO RICO, an island in the West Indies, belonging to Spain, is one of the Greater Antilles, and lies east of Hayti or St Domingo, lat. 17° 55'

P. R. is

race not more than 20,000 are now slaves. In 1871,

The frequent changes in the executive government of P. R. do not appear to affect its commercial stability. The commerce of the island is almost wholly in the hands of foreigners and Spaniards from the Peninsula. Emancipation, which came into operation at the The Preliminary Act of beginning of 1871, has decreased the number of slaves by 100,000, and the number is daily diminishing. The slave-trade is extinct; and there is a unanimous feeling against any immigration of