The Republican journal., 1896-04-30
,LIMPSE OF YUCATAN.


,,sl aed Progreso, The Old Port of thr New.
4rUa apltal of the YueateeOS.
correspondence of The Journal
ALnAA, YUCArAN, March 21st 1896.
l- aYS, when everybody goes to Mex
J-ily and comfortably, and almost
,. as from New DIRK to Chicago,
H.Ncr grows why so few people ever
visiting its most interesting
lucatan. On our way down
FL. lai American Republics, We have
ar4 ned to take another peep at our
.ta.- the Yucatecos, to see what
a-.- The southwark comse of Yankee
on has wrought among them
visit OF eight years ago. And
ERE permit me to enter protest
-.H-r he erroneous impression which
-. IN the North that these southern
should be carefully avoided
ar 1ur summer time. In equatorial
e.. rl~ where the thermometer registers
. Ne same from one years end 10
r.. one can have no choice between
a4 td cold, but simply between wet
a a little more dust or little more
ItY Of verdure. As a rule the
.su ports are at all times unhealth-
at hardly more SO at one season than
mother, and in almost every case there
eyated regions a short distance
where the important cities are
fl and the climate is as near per
a as one may expect to find on this
uane sphere. The rule holds good,
aly enough exceptions to prove
dghout Mexico, Central and South
and the islands of the Atlantic.
At.Uess the North American notion of
@l the tropics only in winter origi-
4.- u the same natural impulse which
the birds to migrate southwark
pc the rigors of the season at
But it seems to me that the rigors
Northern mid summer where the
"meter sudd 4nly jumps from 20 to 30
e-- above zero to perhaps hundred
sad more greatly to be dreaded.
r..r 70 yellow fever laid me low in
- in Vera Cruz:) but | have passed
lmmers near the equatorial line
experiencing oppressive heat,
4 My believe that even Brazil, Nene-
md Colombia are much pleasantel
which to spend July and August
a p isconsin, Minnesota and most of
rite 'reSorts. -
BeInal Daz, the bosom friend of
tAe conquorer, the special corie-
IT and liar Of his expedition, wrote
nish King concerning the dis
Iueatan, he began the account
u-: 1--WE sailed at hazard, toward
nlt of the horizon where the sun
's So we just 379 years later sailed
tn uta Cruz, in the Danish West In
Pes straight toward sunset as the ship
bee steered, with the spirit of adj
Nle though not of the cupidity, as
" upon us. Nothing is easier than
ucatan from almost any point
-t nited States, as it lies only TWO
" stance from New Y ork, or a few
@A- ue south across the Gulf of Mexi-
.ua Galveston or New Orleans. Ap-
nE the mysterious peninsula, the
l e1l OF Mexico's cornucopia, you see
{ line of white against the hori-
ether of surf or of sandy beach it
''SSible to say, with here and there
H suggestion of a ghostly palm tree
Na.1led in vapor This is the farthest
'- of the ancient continent, the sub
merged Atlantis, over which according to
nJH md Plato, and later authorities. one
.- once have walked dry shod to AT
the other side of the globe With
perhaps, there would have been no
>lleam; and that warm river of the
w.t. Inverted from our Northern shores,
"At have fertilized and vivitied other
'htles instead. Coming nearer, an
A4 Is east in sea as green as the green
muachite, ) or 6 miles from shore, to
N9'i dear of the shoals that render this
'S so dangerous.
tae Jnpretentious little town ahead
lNle nhocently Oh its own part-looms
" 'enarkably tall and stately out of the
vel stretching far as eye can see on
SIDE; nor is the false impression dis
t'I until one is fairly within it's shabby
-.r's. Passengers are landed in row.
4> md tenders, that dance uneasily
y lAe waves. Owing to adverse winds
''a1N the pull to shore occupies fully
ah hour, upsetting the stomachs of
'N' who have crossed the broad Allan
without qualm of sea sickness. At
ileayen be praised the narrow pier
oeep water. Climbing up it's uncer-
STAIRS, you cross the tarry planks
''' lie clustering in the sun, pass a blind
= stretch of unshaded whitewashed wall
n snowy beach, and find yourself in the
n AWAY of Yucatan's principal port
T., 'S'eso' Why on earth they gave it the
P"p'Sh name for progress, no human
ny can tell, for it is not likely to make
NJ 50 long as Mexicans shall possess
IVA, sA'co' And why, oh why i'm all these
'eSS tropical ports, where old Sol