The Republican journal., 1896-07-02

| to disclose some tale of horror. Not far
from this place an enterprising capitalist
of New England has started an extensive
cocoanut plantation. On tract of ], 1000
acres purchased from the government
at the rate of about cents per acre),
he has set out 10, 600 trees; and expects
in due time to make princely fortune
therefrom. 1t requires six years for the
trees to begin to yield returns; and it is
estimated that in 10 years from the time
of planting, the grove will be worth at
| least a million dollars, on which it will
| yield an annual income of 10 per cent. A
| full grown cocoanut tree will mature
! from 60 to 100 nuts every year. Another
American is experimenting in this neigh
| borhood on ramie, or vegetable silk, and
declares that its cultivation is to become
| terials. Ramie is Il member of the bro
meiia family, here known as ''silk grass
and grows wild in the hot sands of the
coast. To-day it is worth 50 cents
pound in Manchester, England, where the
demand for it is immensely ahead of the
present supply.
Our objective point on this expedition
was the islands of Cozumel and Mujeres,
which lie in Caribbean waters, just be-
You'd the Yucatecan channel. Historical
| ly, CoZumel is one of the m ost interest
! ing spots on this side of the world 1t
was discovered by Juan de Grijalda, in
1918, and Cortez set sail for it in the fol-
| lowing year. Eight years afterwards
Montejo came with 400 soldiers and
took possession of the place by plant
| ing the Royal Standard and shouting
Viva Espana" We landed in exactly
tie same spot, (there being no other
place to landD and planted our trusty
camera for a standard. The island,
which is about 80 miles long, is now al
most uninhabited and covered with
dense growth of trees and tangled creep
ers. Its name, Cozumel, signifies, ''the
place of swallows in the Indian tongue
| The Spaniards boasted that on this island
they found populous city composed of
stone houses, white and lofty Bernal
i Dias says, There We're SO many such
stone edifices that they We're amazing,
and the greatest wonder was that, having
no use of any metal, the people were able
to raise such structures, which seemed to
have been temples, being full of hideous
idols, to which the Indians went in solemn
procession. " Many vestiges of the ancient
| inhabitants are easily accessible. Not
more than 200 feet from the sea, visible
above the tree tops from the decks of
passing vessels, is magnificent relic, a
structure Is feet square, standing on
terrace, with exterior of plain stone,
succeed. 1t has stone steps on four
sides, leading up to doorways that face
the cardinal points and open into narrow
corridors encOmpassing small room.
Near it is another similar structure, upon
Which the remains OF paintings are plain
ly visible under a queer triangular arch.
Doubtless the temples of which Diaz
wrote are buried in the deep woods, visit
ed only by Venomous serpents and song
less birds of gorgeous pumage, unknown
even to the lazy mongrel Indians of to-day,
who sometimes come to hunt turtles along
the shore, almost under the shadow of
these mighty works of their ancestors.
A little way north Of Cozumel, about )
miles from the coast of Yucatan, is Isla
de Mujeres woman Island tiny
speck in the Caribbean sea, only 6 miles
long by half as wide. But | will venture
to assert that more astonishing things are
crowded upon it, suggestive of strange
doings in far away centuries, than can be
found in any other place of eqnal size.
Cortez' S soldiers named it Woman S Island
because in the four great temples which
they found here all the idols represented
colossal female figures. Charney and
Stephens and LIE Plondeou and ODER have
written all about it, SO | will not add my
poor mite to their more extended re-
searches. We turned our camera upon
the remarkable ruins at the northern end
and picked up few broken bits of idols,
which will henceforth be cherished as
sacredly as by their ancient worshipers.
Let me quote you one paragraph from Mr..
Ober' S account of his visit here. He says:
"a happy confirmation of Diaz's state
ment that these people burnt incense was
made. Desiring to varnish some mega
tives in order to carry them safely home,
| put some live Goals into the bottom of
an incense burner, picked up near the
temple. | went into the shrine to protect
it from the wind; when, 10. slight
vapor arose from among the Goals, and
sweet, delicious perfume again filled the
antique shrine, as in the days of its splen-
dor, when devotees and pilgrims from
afar used to make their offerings and burn
the mixture, carefully prepared of styrax,
copal and other aromatic resins on the
altar OF the goddess"
| wish could picture to you the sngu-
lar beauty Of this bit of land encompassed
by the green blue sea. Mangrove and