New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1891-03-08
A GLIMPSE OF YUCATAN.
CONTRASTS OF WEALTH AND POVERTY.
WHY CoRTEs BURNED HIS BOATs-THE RUINED
RACES OF MEXICO-A FLOURISHIN6
CITY-GRATU1TOUS CONCESSIONS
VERSUS RECIPROCITY.
IYRoM STAFF CORRESPONDENT OF THE TBIBrSE.1

VERSUS RECIPROCITY.
| trRoMA STAFF CORRESPONDENT THE TRIBUNE,
Merida. January 81.
The traveller who does not riot In lux
| urous living with Raymond party In
| an overland vestbule train. but is content 10
| follow in the track of Cortes and the Conqulsa-
| dorcs from CUBA catches his first glimpse OF
| Mexico on the second morning after leaving
| Havana The yellow sand dunes OF fro2reso
| passed under the eyes Of the bodest ana mo'c
imaginative of Spanish adventures rs he was
sailing along the coast Of ancient 1ucatah to"al"
the Tabasco River and the site OF the Ken Cl'y
of the True Cross. II Is the same sunny DuC
;rcachcrOUs shore which is seen five miles out. as
the ship is rolling from side TO side IN the ground
| swell. With flying leap to tine stcani'lehuer
| alongside, and hodr's sail through n hghrun-
ming sea- the traveller is on Mexican SOIL seriously
impressed with the dangers of navigation on tiio
| inhospitable coast If lie returns to the ship
with equal difficulty and is compelled 10 "a'O
| forty-cieht hours before the cargo can be I'M
| loaded and the anchor raised, lac is prepared "
explain why Cortcs burned the galleys with a
! fierce northcr blowing and with $50 Spaniards
and from 200 to 800 Indians to land among inc
| reefs in n drenching surf, the great adventurer
must have been weary of salt water ana IN
| mood to register "A vow that he would never go
10 sea again. When il is remembered that steamers
are forced to stand out to sea and to walt III
the oning four or five days before landing pas
scngcrs and freight. n faint idea may he formed
Of the STRUGGLE which poor C0rtes must nave
had in bcachinQ his seven cannon, his ammuhi-
ton, his sixteen horses and his drcnchcd ana
| covering soldiers. One has only TO watch thc
tedious process of transferring passengers
and frci1It of the sard7bars of the
Mexican coast in order TO commend tac
Spaniard's sound Judgment in burning his
boats and deciding TO return to Europe, II at
all. by an overland route. Certainly If he ordcreu
marine survey rs one chronrler states, the leak
ing pall,vs after battling with the northers ana
the SURF would Eave been condemned rs ufSea'
worthy ana unfit for return voyage 10 'uo".
If the northcr, still blow and the sand-bar5
are shifting with every ebb of the tide. as they
were 400 years ago. So too there is little change
In the lower currents Of human existence III
Yncatan. The darlts6inncd coarse-hared, som
uoIcnt Nayos were there when COrteS sailed the
sc3s and they are still TO he seen lazily tlllln3
tbc fields and summing themselves in the morKer-
placcs Four centuries ago their great cities were
already in ruin.. and their massive causeWaSS
and temples were ovcrrrown with tropical vcrd-
urc They had been Il superior race, WIN Il
genius for architecture. mechanical art ana en-
cheering such aS the oVcr-ratcd A2tccs never
possessed: but they were in an advanced stage
of intellectual dccadcnce when the Conquis'adoreS
n,ssed along the coast Thcv still form the main
mass of tbc population of the peninsula; and when
one elanccS AT their stOlid faces he mas 1t
hard 10 believe that there has been any material
change in their social state or mental develop
mcnt. TIL, workmcn in the sisll fields ana the
market women doing IN their stalls hve very
much rs their swarthy ancestors lived generations
AGO. Fruit maize paste, beans and green peppers
form their diet. They sell their garden produce
or labor under n tropical sun only when they
ar, forced to do so by the necessity OF earning
croucb 10 buv supplies of food for a few days
If the sisal ahorer can make 80 cents uaS
n, is content lie is always IN debt 10 his en-
ploycr and never to be counted upon Tor serious
occupation twenty four hours after fcast-day
liz. means 70 him as little work as possible ana
, ,no>iru,, colisllmption of tortillas and friJoes
seasoned with chile As for religion. the priests
l.,ov, all that there Is 10 he known about IT. ana
, pulpuc dcbauch IS one Of the signs OF p'ty
when il Is wicked 10 work on q feast-day lhls
is The character Of the WORKING population OF
Nucatan To-day. according 20 the testmoh' OF
c,pcricnccd observers. Generations OF Mayas
have lived and died since the palaces OF falehque
and the temples of Chchcn were oVcr'hro"h' p"'
There has lccu no revival Of the primitive prestige
Of n wonderful racc-therc have been no signs oi
intellectual pro-rc>-.
one must b, lust. however. in his estimate oil
Spanish. American civilization IT there are III
Yucatan and adjacent States hundreds OF tnouSa""s
Of IN, descendants of the one.powcrul race
whose genius j. attcstc1 10y the elaborate sto"'
structures unclrthcd during recent years ny
,rcb,coIogsts II * because the conquest with all
its tyranny and mcrcilcss greed lcit 'he ha'i''s III
poS,os,ion Of thr coasts. fields and forests. IN
Anglo-SaNon invasion would have swept them mo
tLr Pacific Tie Indian tribes which witnessed
the settlement of jamestown. Manahatta ana
plyrnonib Rock have persisted from the face of the
o,r,b Tho Indians whom Cortcs found in lucatan
and Nrxico are still here and il is their labor un-
skilled and uncertain az it is, that makes the
wealth of thr country available for the require
mcnis of trade ii i.0O0.000 out OF l2,OOO,ooo,
which is the estimated population Of the country,
be- of pure Indian stock, the great mass OF what
remains at least OUO 900, is Al mixed blood; ana
the upper strata Of it have received the impress oi
Spanish civilization. Compare the Indian races
and mcstizos Of Mexico with the ahorlgines whom
AEglo-SaNcn progress has driven from meridian
70 meridian and from one reservation To another,
and is even now campaigning against in the Far
West. Spanish civilization may not have I'M
parted q progressive impulse TO the lndah Pop""-
ton, but it has not been barren policy OF en-
examinations The unmiAcl races remain III thclt
fallen cstatr-thc most interesting ruins to be
found in q land of ruins-but they have nj least
been left in possession Of their mountains and
forests. To these are added the races OF mixed
blood which Spanish civilization has crca'cd--thc
bone and sncw of the population. upon which all
hope for the future progress Of Mexico must he
based. If the Latin race had been like the Anglo
Saxon there would not have been these SIN
millions of mcstzos. Because the Spanlard does
not have the same race ainities ana antpathies
which influence the Englishman or the American,