Water power and supply

back to the mountain farms on the backs of the sturdy little pack horses which climb with sure foot the steep, wet, and slippery trails. (See PI. XI, (7.) The method of packing these animals is that com- monly practiced in some portions of South America. Most burdens are carried, not by means of pack saddles or of aparejos and lash ropes, but in wicker-basket panniers, which are hung loosely over the backs of the animals. Sacks of coffee, however, are hung loosely by sling ropes. In this way they are loaded with 150 to 250 pounds of coffee or other burden and tramp with quick, short steps over the rugged trails.

In addition to cattle and horses a very few small mules are bred; the only other domestic animals are poultry, hogs, and dogs. Th® poultry are of inferior breed, being chiefly raised for the game cocks, which are used in the universal sport of the people. These and the hogs, which are also of small size and of poor breed (see PI. XI, D), thrive well, but are so few in number that fences are rarely built to restrain them. It is therefore a common sight to see hogs tethered by a string tied around one leg and attached to a tree or picket, and to see poultry tied in the same manner and forage much as do milch cews.

The various agricultural crops of importance are distributed in zones, depending on and clearly marking the variations in altitude, rainfall, and soil composition. Sugar cane is cultivated exclusively in the coast playas and in the parting valleys among the lower hills of the back-coast border. It grows luxuriantly, the stalks being 10 to 15 feet in height and often 2£ inches in diameter at the base. (See PI. XII, A. ) The cane is cut during the months of January to March, inclusive, and produces an average yield of 3 tons to the acre. It is the only crop except coffee, the latter to a more limited extent, which is culti- vated with modern methods and harvested by the use of modern machinery. Heavy, imported metal plows, drawn by six to ten yoke of oxen, are used in tilling the soil and making the furrows, through which irrigation water is flowed. The cane is cut down with a blow of a machete, and the longer stalks cut into lengths of 3 to 4 feet by the same process. It is carted from the field to the sugar mill either in ox carts (see PI. XI, B) or occasionally on trains of cars, hauled by oxen over railways placed temporarily in various avenues through the cane fields (see PL XII, B). The roadbed of these tramways is laid permanently, but the rails and ties are moved about as required. The sugar mills are invariably substantial brick structures containing the most modern machinery, in which the cane is crushed, boiled, and evaporated. From the mills cane sugar of muscovada grade, molas- ses, and rum are shipped, the last being usually distilled in the same mills.

Tobacco of excellent quality thrives well everywhere. The best varieties, cultivated in sufficient quantities for export, are grown chiefly in the valleys and the river bottoms on the head waters of the Kios Loiza and Plata. The culture of tobacco is especially exten-