The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1900-09-02
New York SUM

(NeW York SUM
Reports of the recent battle between
the Mexican troops and the Yucatan
Indians draw attention to the war
which Mexico has had on her hands
with varying successes for fifty years.
At times the war has been fought with
all the fury the contending races could
put into il, the rebellious Indians push
ing their way TO the very walls OF Me-
rida burning destroying or maSSa-
ering; and again they have been
pushed back by the hurrying Mexican
troops to their UNEMPLOYED territory in
southeastern Yucatan, where undiS-
turbed, except by the occasional at
tempts of the Mexican government TO
reconQuer them, they rule their own
domain. The only effect the various
campaigns against them have had has
been to keep them from overrunning
their own territory and to keep up
their Warlike spirit.
These Indians are the Mayas, who
fought the early Spanish cOnquerorS
with fiercer and longer determination
than the TlaScolans. and, though at
last conquered, they refused TO ally
themselves with the white man as did
the other Indians of Mexico. Their
country was more rich in pOpulOuS
cities, beautiful temples and palaces
than any other part of the new world,
as their ruins testify at the present
day, and undoubtedly they had reached
a higher state of civilization. Though
their conquest was undertaken at first,
it was forty years later, during which
time Mexico had been conquered and
PizarrO had seized the sceptre of the
Peruvian IncaS, that these Indians sui
lenly bowed their head after an over
Whelming defeat in a great battle near
their ancient city of Tihao, upon the
site of which the present Merida was
founded What happened after that
is lost. 1t is certain that their kings
and priests and princeSSeS disappeared,
their cities were abandoned; their tenn
pies and palaces fell into decay, and
for 800 years they were as the lost
tribes of Israel.
Fifty years ago they rose again, and
they have bitterly fought people of
their own race who preferred Mexican
civilization to their own; they have
fought the Mexican soldiers, drawn
from every quarter of old Mexico; they
have fought the British, and they have
even fought Americans enlisted to war
against them, and still they hold their
own domain. and, as recently an
nounced, they have put to rout 5000
Mexican troops.
Somewhere within this domain is said
to exist that mysterious city, the story
of which was brought to this country
many years ago by the eminent travel
er and writer. John L. Stephens The
priest of Jericho told it to him and de-
clared that he himself had climbed to
the tOpmOSt ridge of the bordering 81
ezra and had looked down upon the
glistening walls of the city which pre-
served its ancient civilization and to
which no white man was allowed to
penetrate. 1t is said that the inhab-
itants of this city have never submit
ted to the Spaniards or other Chris
tan conquerOrs- The city is large and
pOpulOuS, and according to the ac-
counts of the Christianized Indians
bordering the country, no white man
has ever reached the city to return and
tell the tale. The inhabitants are aware
that the white man possesses the rest
of the world. and they keep up an
eternal vigilance to prevent him taking
or entering theirs.
So carried away has the writer been
with these accounts that several times
he has started out to explore, and, II
possible. find this city, but. resources
failing, has been forced TO turn back.
though he has Travelled the country
from lower Yucatan TO Chiapas,
through northern Guatemala to Peten
and across to British Honduras. Al
though the few scattered inhabitants
of those countries are usually willing
to tell the most wonderful tales regard
ing the mysterious city, their accounts
are always conflicting.
Camped upon the bank of the Belize
river an old negro told the visitor
that on a pig hunt he once lost his way
in the forests to the north and fell into
the hands OF the independent MayaS.
There WAS only a small party OF them.
but they nearly frightened him to
death The trail was narrow, sufficient
~ wide for them to march Indian file,
and while one went ahead leading his
horse the others marched behind him
They came to an open place, the forest
dropping away in the background, and
an Indian standing clear against the
sky sounded a prolonged blast upon a
conch shell. The party stopped and
only one of their number went for
ward. After waiting while another
conch blast sounded from a distance
beyond that of the first, and the party