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The trees and grass are always green. Rats are the great foe of the crops. The natives often live to be one hundred years old. The most beautiful flower on the island is the ortegon, which has purple blossoms a yard long. Hurricanes are frequent on the north coast and very destructive. Mosquitoes art the pest of the island. Spanish is the language spoken, and education is but little esteemed.
A Kirtella with crimson flowers is also rather common. A tree which is called Ortegon by the natives is found at high altitudes, but chiefly near the coast. It has immense purple spikes, more than a yard long, and is very striking. It seems to be confined to Porto Rico and Hayti. There are many varieties of cabinet and dye woods, including mahogany, ebony, lignum vitæ, cedar and logwood.
Still another tree, the ortegon, whose flowers are purple spikes a yard long, and whose wood is used for timber, is common on the high lands near the coast. And there are dye woods, mahogany and lignum vitae. Hence it is seen that the forests of Puerto Rico are generally beautiful, and strange in some of their features.
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