You know that we saw in the first chapter, that Spain owned another large island some miles east of Cuba--an island called Porto Rico. This island was sighted by Columbus on November 16, 1493, and, three days later, he anchored in one of its bays. In 1510, and again a year later, Ponce de Leon visited the island and established a settlement, to which he gave the name of San Juan Bautista. Spain did not always hold it peaceably, however, for at different times the Dutch and the English tried to take it from her. The people of the island used to be terribly annoyed by pirates and buccaneers, but that was a long time ago. The Spanish used to call San Juan the "Rich Port of John the Baptist," and it was a great source of profit to them for nearly four hundred years. Ponce is the largest city in the island, but San Juan has the advantage of a large, protected harbor. Like Havana and Santiago, San Juan has its Morro Castle, and within its walls are the buildings of a small military town,--houses for troops, a chapel, bake-house, and guard-room, with dungeons down by the sea, and underneath it. [Illustration: Palace and Sea-wall, San Juan, Porto Rico.] The city of San Juan lies upon an island connected with the mainland by a bridge and a causeway. The streets are narrow, the houses are low, mostly of a single story, and are built in the old-fashioned Spanish style, with thick walls around the courtyard. The fronts are ugly and are painted all sorts of brilliant colors--pink, blue, purple and yellow. There are heavy shutters in the windows for protection, but there are no panes of glass in the town. Behind the gloomy walls are splendid gardens and courtyards, with splashing fountains, shaded by palms. The city contains a cathedral, a theatre, a city hall, the Governor-General's palace, and several fine churches, and in the center is quite a large park, with concrete walks and seats, as with us. There is no turf, however. All around this park the market women gather every morning, selling poultry, eggs, vegetables and flowers, and in the evening there is music by a military band. It was thought that the Spanish fleet, which had caused our Government so much anxiety, might go to San Juan, the capital of the island, and so, before the Oregon arrived, and before any of the Spanish ships had been seen, Admiral Sampson took some of his vessels from Cuba to Porto Rico in hope of meeting Admiral Cervera, the Spanish commander, and his fleet. Our ships reached San Juan in the evening of May 11th, but could see nothing of the Spanish ships. Next morning our ships fired upon the forts guarding the harbor, to try the strength of the enemy. But finding the forts stronger than he thought they were, Admiral Sampson drew off his fleet. He could not spare the time, or spend his powder and shells, upon San Juan then. The important thing to do was to find the Spanish fleet. So Admiral Sampson again sailed toward Havana.