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From Fajardo to the capital, through the towns of Luquillo, Loisa, and Rio Piedras, the road is tolerably good for persons on horseback as far as Rio Piedras, and from thence to the city of San Juan, a distance of 2 leagues, is an excellent carriage road, made by the order and under the inspection of the Captain-General, part of it through a mangrove swamp.
Up to the present, however, this work of irrigation has been very imperfect and unsystematic, and the results on the whole have not been satisfactory. The Luquillo range ends ten miles from San Juan. The capital is, therefore, to a certain degree sheltered by a mountain wall from the rain-bearing winds, which, in the warmest months blow mainly from easterly points.
The whole island may be said to form a continuous network of sierras, hills, and heights. The following are the four highest mountains, with their heights above the sea level: Yunque, in Luquillo, 1,290 yards; Guilarte, in Adjuntas, 1,180 yards; La Somanta, in Aybonito, 1,077 yards; Las Teras de Cerro Gordo, in San German, 860 yards.
Besides the river mentioned, the majority of those which have their sources in the mountains of Luquillo are more or less auriferous. These are: the Rio Prieto, the Fajardo, the Espíritu Santo, the Rio Grande, and, especially, the Mameyes.
Far inland rises the conical summit of the great Luquillo, a mountain about 4,000 feet in height, and from whose sides descend streams that fertilize the island. It is about ninety miles from San Juan to Ponce, the southern port, by a fine road diagonally across the island.
"Negroes and Indians," says Abbad, "seeing the small number of Spaniards and their misery, escaped to the mountains of Luquillo and Añasco, whence they descended only to rob their masters." A slight improvement in the gloomy situation of the people of San Juan took place when, driven by necessity, they began to dedicate themselves to agriculture.
This range divides the island into two unequal portions. The largest is on the north, and the rivers flowing through that section are much the longer. A part of the main range is called Sierra Grande or Barros. The northeast spur is known as the Sierra de Luquillo and the northwest as the Sierra Larea.
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