The people of Puerto Rico are extremely fond of music. Strolling bands
of guitar and mandolin players are numerous; and at evening time the air
is filled with music.
Each peasant makes his own guitar. It is a very curious instrument. This
guitar music is usually accompanied by music from another instrument
called a guida. This is made from the great curve-necked gourd. The
music or sound is made by passing a piece of umbrella wire up and down a
series of notches cut from end to end on the outside curve of the gourd.
The sound produced is much like that made by rubbing together two pieces
of sandpaper. We would not call it music at all, but the natives seem to
like it. No orchestra is complete without it, and one can hear the
scratching of this instrument almost any time, at any home in Puerto
Rico.
Sunday is a day not of rest, but of merry making. During the early
morning hours the Puerto Ricans go to church. After church, they hurry
away to the cockpit or to the bull ring in the suburbs of the town.
Very early in the morning we see numbers of roosters staked out by short
strings to pegs driven in the sidewalks. These are the game-cocks which
furnish to the Puerto Rican his favorite amusement and opportunity for
gambling.
They seem to realize their importance and keep up a great crowing,
sending challenges of defiance back and forth to each other. Their
owners take good care of them and endeavor to keep them in good
condition for fighting.
In the market places we see these fowls in wicker coops. Many venders of
food and other articles have game-cocks tied by strings to their stools
and stations.
When their owners have nothing else to do, they devote themselves to
training these birds; or they try to find some one willing to match them
in a contest.
The buildings where these fights take place are to be found in every
town and village. They are considered next in importance to the
cathedral and the town hall, and more important than the schools.
The cock fights are usually held on Sundays and holidays, and last the
greater part of the day. On the day set for these fights, the birds are
taken to the arena, descriptions given and amounts wagered. One fight
follows another, and large sums of money are lost and won.
BURDEN BEARING.
If a country is without good roads, it must employ human
burden-carriers; and many of these we see in Puerto Rico.
