Sullivan republican. [volume] (Laporte, Pa.) 1883-1896, 1892-07-22
AN INTERESTING ISLAND
THE PEOPLE OF cozUMEL OFF THE
YUCUTAN COAST.
| They Were highly Civilized. and
SubdueI a Race of Pygmies, Also
| Advanced in Civilized Arts.

j" OLDTHWAITE'S Magazine con-
tains an article, by Eugene M.
Aaron, describing the people on
the island of Cozumel, east of
Yucutan, who HAD attained a marked adj
vancement in civilization, and whose
records were preserved in voluminous
documents and with great care. Most
of these records we're destroyed by the
Spaniards, but copies still remain and
are being deciphered. Stranger still is
the fact that these people su5dued an
other race, a race of pygmies, not more
than three feet high. These pygmies
were also advanced in civilized arts and
and have left their traces in houses and
temples in Cozumel, which are still to
be seen, most of them being too small
for men of present stature to occupy.
Such race would accord with theory
that the earliest men were of small
stature, not exceeding two or three feet
in height, and that man has developed
physically as well as mentally in success
sive ages.
The population which the Spauiards
found on Cozumel belonged to the
Mayas race, which was the predecessor
of the Aztecs in Mexico, and probably
of the Iucas of Peru. They were once
the masters of all Central America.
They lived in Cozumel in great sim.
plicity, but with indications of much
wealth. They made a paper from roots
and bark, and applied varnish to it
hat ,,rhttn Entch lt,StrAnc nc
fine note. This paper they used to in
scribe their records. The material was
almost indestructible, and it was pre-
pared in rolls of twenty feet or more,
which folded like Il fan. On these rolls
their priests wrote, and the Spanish
priests say that these Mayas had their
volumes of medicine, chronology and
theology, besides histories of their own
people, and their predecessors, with
accounts of other nations known to
them. The Spaniards concluded there
was nothing but deviltry in these books,
and burned them, much to the distress
of the natives. Four of these volumes
were preserved, sent to Spain with copy
of the alphabet, which is now the key
that remains to decipher these records.
These histories would probably throw
some light on the pigmy race which they
overcame, and whose traces are scattered
all over the island. At Que point near
San Miguel, the principal village, are
ruins that suggest an old temple, sur
rounded for several hundred feet Ivy a
stone pavement still to be traced, and
which indicated that paved thorough
fare orce extended to the sea a mild dis
tant. There are few inscriptions on
these ruins, but the interest and curiosity
is aroused by their size. A house, whose
exterior was only niue feet high, four
teen feet long, and twelve feet deep,
with doorway | feet wide, and three
feet high, would afford cramped accom-
modations to the average man OF to-day.
The monuments, kind of triumphal
arch, are only from eight to ten feet in
height. IL has been argued that these
were simply tombs or burial places,
which accounts for their small size, but
the monuments do not accord with
known burial customs. In addition to
this, there are numerous traditions Of the
survival of individuals of this race to
within recent period, aud their proba-
bic existence at the present time. Be-
sides other interesting chronological ques-
tons, the investigation on this subject
alone might throw light upon most
important problem.