Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1888-04-28
In YUCATAN.
MATTERS OF INTEREST IN SOUTH.
EASTERN MEXICO.
A New Workers. Mistaken Enter
prise-Cocoaput Culture and
Other Industries.

lSpeclaI correspondence OF the REcOBD-UNIoS.
MERIDA, Yucatan, April Is, 1888.
Expecting some acquaintance on an in
coming vessel, made trip to the coast
short time ago, and found myself stand
ing on the very spot where white men first
landed on this continent, weighted with
swords and lances and clad in their pom
derous armor. Out ON the gulf was
steamer, tossed by the same restless waves
that bore hither the fifteenth century
galleons. But then it was the black velvet
banner of Spain that foated over the decks
from which Numbered the tire-god 50
dreaded by the Indians, and on the up
lifted prov 5warmed handsome, hardy
and brilliant race, from court like fairy
land, with stern coed nailed to a crucifx-
representatives of an army Of crusaders
and navy that controlled the Mediter-
ranean.
Sea and sky, sands and hills are still the
same-yet how changed the scene! Now
it was an American steamer, over which
hoated flag unknown during the con-
quest of Yucatan and over its buIwarks
peered a race which had no place in the
roll-call of the nations till long afterwards.
With all our arrogance, so new are we of
the United States.
The first question the Spaniards asked
on landing was the name Of the country
they had come to subiugate TO their King
and the Catholic Church; and the Won
dering natives replied NdtkoacubiatoR-
I'VE do not understand you"-exactly as
the Mexican Of to-day would shrug his
shoulders and say q1tien sabe or no intende
But the Spaniards accepted the reply as an
answer to their question, and being I'M
pronounceable TO European tongues,
Naturalization soon became mixed with
Yacattepen "a pearl), and finally degener-
ated into the word Yucatan.
In some respects this peninsula is not
behind the rest of the world in the march
of progress, and in others it is dead past
all hope of resurrection. Officially, Yucca
tan Is set down as containing seven cities
besides Merida, the capital, and Progreso,
the seaport; also 10 towns, AS villages, Is
abandoned settlements, 62 ruined cities,
and 334 haciendas. But many Of the So
called "cities are falling to decay, the
towns are mere collections Of matched
huts, and the haciendas are enormous
estates, for the most part comprising miles
of uncultivated territory, whose owners
live elsewhere. Though on the map Yu-
catan Is dotted with evidences of civiliza-
ton, in truth it is mainly desert wilder
ness, with even less territory developed
than when Don Cordova landed here, or
when Montejo conquered the few aborig-
ines caught along shore, and falsely de
clared that he had subjugated the country.
But the settled portion Of the State is
booming as never before. The total
budget for last year was nearly $500, 900
of which the officials absorbed as much as
they pleased. Within the last decade
there has been great rise in real estate
Business of all kinds is surprisingly active,
and prices are about the same as in
Havana. There are 227 schools in Yucca
tan, which annuity cost the Government
S72,120. There is also a Literary Insti-
tute, which has an invested capital of
S90,4S5, and whose profit averages over
$1,000 year. The School of Correction
also has invested capital to the amount of
Sl9,59O, ON which it annually realizes
about 1900. Both these institutions
pay richer dividends than many
mine In sunny Mexico The
School of Pharmacy and Jurisprudence has
six professors. There is also prosperous
medical college, a conservatory of music,
and several public libraries.
In Merida is splendid museum of an
tiquities-or rather the building is very
fine which the MUSES. Yucateco occupies
1t is a noteworthy fact that though the
sum of SS6020 % was expended last year
for internal improvements in the State Of
Gucatan, but $500 of it has been set aside
for the museum. This peninsula is richer
in archaeological resources than any other
known portion of the continent, vet such
is the profound Indifference of the people
that the wonder is they should ever have
established 4 museum at all. The Museo
Is neither large enough nor well conducted.
Among It's few poorly-arranged and indif-
ferently-cared-for specimens is many rare
aud unappreciated prize which would en-
rich the finest museums of the world
In Gucatan every man between the
ages of q and so is subject to military
duty and may be drafted at any time. He
then receives the munifcent salary of sir
cents day and finds himself in food.
There is no commissary department what
ever, and at that rate Mexico can certainly
afford to maintain . standing army.
As for railroads in this remote region,
There Is the Merida q Peto line, passing
by Ticul and Tekax, chartered about ten
years ago and given 4 subsidy of Sc, 600 per
kilometer; the Merida, Kalkini & Celestrm
Railroad, chartered eight years ago and
promised an equal subsidy; the Merida &
Nalladolid Railroad, chartered same year
with same subsidy-all yet under construc-
ton. The Progreso & Merida road was
chartered in 1874, with a subsidy of S22.-
000 and has long been in full operation.
The Valladolid & San Carlos road, char
tered six years ago, is projected from Val
ladolid to San Celso, on the Caribbean Sea.
All these are in Northern Yucatan and
the great body of the peninsula is still
virtually inaccessible. The New York,
Havana q Mexican Mail Steamship Com
pany's vessels call at Progreso during every
trip, and the steamship line of Bulnes
Brothers send ships to the same port on
their trips up and down the Gulf
Though the cultivation of sisal hemp,
or henequin, is, as before stated, the main
industry of Nucatan, it is by no means the
only one. In the opinion OF many the
day Is not distant when manila hemp
Husd R0sacsa), the same now grown in
the Philippine Islands, will entirely sup
plant the indigenous sisal, ard monopolize
the trade of the world The sisal or hen
equIA Nd9Ire UcQtdNGl, seems particularly
adapted to the WORKOUT soil of this PENN
sula and the lazy habits Its people, while
manila, to thrive here, needs considerable
attention. But manila IS by all odds the
strongest and best fiber grown, and will al
ways command the highest price in market,
and it has been demonstrated that with
proper care it viii grow here as well as in
Asia, its original home.
Sisal is best propagated by cuttings, the
young plants being allowed 10 grow at
will until three years old, after which
they are transplanted into fields, set out
In regular rows They are of slow growth,
but will last for many years From time to
time, as they mature and lengthen, the
leaves are cut from the ground up. A
queer instrument, called corba--a cross
between a sickle and dagger-is used in
cutting them. In arid soil and upon the
uplands the stalk seldom reaches more
than n foot above the ground, the coarse
thick leaves-six or eight inches wide
clustering around it. On the lowland:
the leaves are much narrower, but grow
from three to six feet long and produce
better fiber If allowed to remain on the