The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1888-03-15
In Central America.
YUCATAN AND TIE YUCATECAS. SOMETHING
OF EARLY DAYS IN THE PENINSULA. A
QUEER COUNTRY AND QJEERER PEOPLE.


MERIDA. YUCATAN. 1SSS. Saws that ancient
auhor, Herrera, l'crnal Daz del Castillo i.
the best that ever writ of the conquest OF
Mexico, as having been an eyewitness to all
The principal actions there; and has an air OF
sincerity. This bosom friend of Don Cortez
and special correspondent of his expedition
wrote TO the Spanish King, in the year 15l7, in
tan-"We sailed at hazard toward that part
of the horizon where the sun set
SO we sailed due westwar,l-from Cuba
but not at hazard. and came upon the same
low. sandy coast of the mysterious peninsula,
Just $40 years later with the spirit of discovery
no less strong upon us.
DESPITE all their pretensions. the aforesaid
handful of greedy adventures were not the
true di>covcrers of Yucatan. The stories of
that celebrated band of cut-throats and rob-
berS.-under their velvet banner with its
biood-rcd cross, appropriately embr oidered in
the midst of red and blue blazes above the
Latin motto. LET us follow the cross and in
thlt sign we shall conuuer'-muSt be taken
with great deal Of allowance. In all their
dark career Of crime and murder, they seem to
nave been true to nothing but that sign Of the
bloody cruciiN and their own greed Of gold ;
Tor III every case they carried the sword and
stake with the Christian emblem, offering the
innocent and wondering natives the alternative
OF death or the cross, and giving them both.
Right here Il small scrap Of history may not
be amss. as leading to better understanding
of this queer country of the I0catec0$. The
very first Spaniard who saw an Indian of Yu-
catan was Ferdinand Columbus, when lin
l302) being driven by adverse currents out of
his suuthcr'y course, he sighted group of Is
lands of Honduras and captured huge canoe.
The latter is described as ''wide as a galley and
eighty feet long. formed of the trunk Of single
tree"
'In the middle was an awning of palm
leaves. not unlike those of Venetian gondolas,
under which We're the women and children
and all their goods. The canoe was directed
10y % Indians. who wore cotton coverets and
-Gmis without sleeves, dyed of various colors
and curiously worked. and Il covering for the
lons of similar material. The females wrap
ped themselves in large mantles, like the Moor
iSh women Of Grenada. The men wore lon.
swords. with channels on each side OF the
blade. edged with sharp flints that cut the
body a> well As steel. They had copper hatch
et> for chopping wood. belts of the same ma
tcrial. and crucible> in which to melt it. For
provisions they carried such roots and grains
As the natives of lli>panola NIavtil eat, be-
sides sort of Wine made of maize. and great
quantities Of almonds of the kind used for
money BN tllt people OF New SPAIN.
The canoes described 50 long ago are pre-.
ci>ely like the cholupas seen to-day on the
\iga canal. leading from the City of Mexico
ont to the far-famed Floating Gardens; the
dress of the Indians is the same as that worn
in luratan at the present day; and among the
poor of Central America the seeds of the cacoa
are still used for small change.
Had the grcat Admiral only sailed IL little
farther to the westward. how much better
would it have been for himself and for the
long->utlering people of ali this section. In a
day or two he would have reached Iucatan;
the discovery Of Mexico and the other opulent
countries OF New Spain would necessarily have
followed: the southern Ocean would have
been disclosed to him: and the succession Of
splendid discoveries would have she'd fresh
glory Oh his declining years, instead of the
neglect and disappointment into which he
sank.
Writing of this peninsula, Mr.. Fred Ober
says: "Easternmo>t land of Mexico. it pre-
scnt> the farther front of that ancient conli-
nent that may once have extended to Cuba and
beyond-to Atlantis. to Africa. Without it.
perhaps there would have been no Gulf
stream: and that warm river of the sea divert
cl from our northern shores. would have fer
tilted and viNihed other countries instead.
Had it not stood so boldly out, melting those
reckless SranardS to conquest and plumber,
Mexico might have remained till now as the
aboriginal }"inN and the world of to-day he
ton.
But what lucatan might have been. had it
been different. or left to the people who ruled
it four hundred years ago, we may better
speculate upon after we have seen it.
Before the conquest. the country now known
spoken of by the natives among themselves,
who TO this day speak the ancient MAYA Lam
gnaye.
Yuratan must have been much more popll-
lou> in those early times than at present; yet,
beyond little strip at the north and spot
here and there around the edges. nobody
knows anything definite about the mconquer
ed tribes who still retain possession of the
greater portion of the peninsula Certainly
the Mayas of the old days had more civiliZa-
ton. wealth and regular industry. They had
larger towns and cities. and We're highly skill
ed in the arts of civilized life.
In his -1acjcHt -Hmericd Baldwin tells us
that near the ruins of lucatan are frequently
found the remains of many nely-constructed
artificial lakes the bottoms of which were
made of flat stones laid in cement. several lay
cr> deep. Numerous traces of very ancient
paved road have also been found, raised above
the graded level of the ground and made very
smooth. 1t ran north and south, and prob
ably led to many cities yet undiscovered in the
region now covered by the unknown wilder
ness.
In the settled portion of Yucatan north of
the great forest the remains of ancient cities
are abundant. NJ. Nharney states that he
found the country covered with them from
north to south.' In the preface of his wcrk
OH the peninsula, Stephens states that he visit
ed forty-four ruined cities, most of which
were unknown to white men, even to those i'll
habiting the country,-and in all of them were
wonderful remains.
We have not space to dip into history very
deeply. According to Maya chronicles, the
downfall OF the nation occurred in the year
xarho Nav .nr,ifa loff f1n ,ln,,,
was destroyed. For many centuries before
that period the Peninsula had been the seat Of
an important feudal monarchy, which doubtless
arose after the Toltec overthrow of the very
ancient Kingdom of Xibaba. 1t was broken
up by a rebellion of the fcudal lords, about
hundred years before the arrival of the Span
iarls
After the Conquest, ''New Spain" was divi,l-
ed into ten districts, viz: the Kingdoms of
Mexico. Leon and New Gai4ia the Colony of
New Santander; the Provinces of the two
CALIFORNIA;. Texas, New Mexico, New Biscay,
Coahuila and Sonora. Subsequently the coun-
try was partitoned into twelve intendancies,
of which Yucatan. then called Merida), was
one; and there were also three provinces-Ncw
California, Old California and New Mexico.
Now the Mexican Republic is divided into p
States, one Territory, QLower California;, and
one Federal District-thc latter containing the
national Capitol.
Since the State of Yucatan has never been
thoroughly surveyed, its area and population
are mere guess-work on the part of the MeXi-
can authorities; but they are officially set down
the former as $3.50 square kilometres. and
TIE latter as 3O2,3l5. The unconquerable tribes
of the interior neither know nor care what
prctensions of government may be set up over
them, so long as it exists but in name-as at
present-.lnd the power that assumes to con-
troll them keeps at respectful distance.
Looking on the map, you will see that were
it not for the small State of Campeche on the
west Yucatan would be surrounded on three
sides by water. On the north is the Gulf Of
Mexico, the sea of the Antilles on the east, and
on the south the Central American Republics,
Belize and Guatemala. The eastern and south
ern portions are traverSed by those unknown
mountains called the Sierra lie Yucatan, and a
range of low hills occupies the northwestern
parts.
About all that is known of the topography
of the state is that the Rio IOndo forms the
boundary line between it and Belize, and that
IL few other nameess streams empty into the
Noya, Jatanopolch and Ocon near the center
of the State. and the Lagumas dc Bacalar and
Agnadulce in the south.
The length of Iucatan from north to south
is supposed to be about $50 miles, and mean
breadth 200 miles. 4 lofty ridge occupies the
center, which has the character of desert,
often. when rains fail, leaving the natives ell
tirely without means of subsistence and pro-
lucing frightful mortality. 1t may be a wise
provision Of nature which keeps forever occu-
pied the most uninviting portion of the globe,
from Sibcrias' snow-tiells to the desert wastes
of Patagonia, and leads people to return again
their homes have been repeatedly swallowed
m hx nr pa Ia