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 the year 1739, when it was stormed by Admiral Vernon, during the war between England and Spain. -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. Area, 3897 square miles; pop. in 1864, 615,574, of whom 323,032 were pure whites, and 292,542 coloured. Of the latter, 249,900 were free, and the remaining 42,642 were slaves. The island is traversed from east to west by a PUERTO DE SANTA MARI'A (usually called EL PUERTO, the Port), a seaport of Spain, in the range of mountains, 1500 feet in average height, modern province of Cadiz, stands at the mouth of though rising in one peak to 3678 feet above the sea. the Guadalete, in a most fertile district, on the Bay From the base of the mountains, rich alluvial tracts extend to the sea, and there are numerous wellof Cadiz, 6 miles north-east of the city of that wooded and abundantly watered valleys. The cliname, and 9 miles by railway south-west of Xeres. mate is warm, but is considered more healthy than Suspension-bridges cross the Guadalete and the Rio de S. Pedro. The mouth of the Guadalete forms that of any other island of the West Indies. The The principal crops are the harbour; but the bar is dangerous and much sugar, coffee, and tobacco of the finest quality, and soil is remarkably fertile. neglected. P., a pleasant and well-built town, resembling Cadiz in its houses, and containing only cotton remarkable for its length of fibre, tenacity, and whiteness. Cattle and sheep are extensively one long and handsome street, while the others are reared, of a quality superior to any others in the narrow and ill paved, is the port for the shipment West Indies. The value of the imports for the year of Xeres wines. The wines are lodged in numerous 1867 was $7,767,415, and that of the exports, bodegas, or wine-stores, lofty buildings built with $5,761,720. The imports consist of cotton, woollen, thick walls and narrow windows, in order to secure linen, silk, and embroidered goods, metals, hardware, an even temperature inside. From this port about and provisions, as ale, porter, fruits, wines, &c. The 1,530,000 gallons of Xeres wines are exported to foreign lands, and about 26,000 gallons are trans-exports are sugar, tobacco, coffee, cotton, molasses, rum, hides, and cattle. ported inland. The bull-fights which take place here in May are among the most famous in the country. Steamers ply three times a day between this town and Cadiz, and P. supplies that city with drinking-water at a cost of £10,000 a year. 21,714. Pop. PUERTO PRINCIPÉ, 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 RI’CO, an island in the West Indies, belonging to Spain, is one of the Greater Antilles, and lies west of Hayti or St Domingo, lat. 17° 55′ The exports in each of the years 1866 and 1867 comprised the following articles: Articles. Brandy, hhds., 66 Coffee, 66 1866. 1867. 255 1,301,390 111,358,765 219 1,085,998 120.257,796 14,924,810 1,042,440 8,161 43,134 3,379,966 19,220,194 775,042 8,640 43,998 1,747,879 Tobacco, pounds, The chief ports are San Juan, commonly calle Puerto Rico (pop. stated at 10,000), in the nort east, Ponce in the south-west, and Mayaguez in the west. At the close of 1863 surveys had been completed for a railway running along the north coast 365 |