The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1901-06-16

kindly treatend and are never required TO
either carry heavy burdens or work in the
field.
Corn is the staple agricultural product of
the Chan Santa Cruz commonwealth.
They clear the forest to plant the corn,
and go to and fro between the city and
their fields every day. The city is made
up of we'll constructed frame houses. The
Mayas manufacture their own cooking
pottery.
OF late years the Mexican government
has been more or less theoretically pur-
suing the conquest of the Independent
Maya country. They have resorted to
many schemes and met with many fail
ures. Last year their army, invading the
country from the north, was repulsed and
put to rout Then the government be-
gan determined campaign. The gum
boat Saragone conveyed troops and sup
plies to the old city of Bacalar. the pop
ulation of which was massacred by the
Mayas some forty years ago. and with
this as a base the troops began an inva-
sion of the Maya country from the south.
The country is covered with a dense
tropical forest, through which the Mayas
had maintained only the narrowest of
foot paths for their own convenience and
protection. These paths the Mexicaus
have had to widen into roads, with their
enemies even lurking in ambush to take
their lives whenever they could do so.
Persstently have the Mayas disputed the
advance, their only arms being the cheap
guns they were able to purchase from
the English in Honduras before this
source of supply was cut Off and few
rifles captured from the Mexican soldiers.
But the Mexicans have steadily pushed
on, their objective point being Chan SAM
ia Cruz. the stronghold.
Now that city has fallen. Many OF the
inha bitants have been killed in its de-
Tense and the survivors who have not
been captured have retreated farther
into the wilderness or have sought refuge
in British Honduras. What secrets of
ancient civilization the city may have
revealed is not yet known. The Mexi-
can government is preparing an archae-
illogical expedition to go there.
That relics of the ancient Maya civil
ization apd art OF great value and inter
est will be found seems almost certain.
Wherever explorers have penetrated the
wilds of Yucatan discoveries of this kind
have been made. Owing to the destruc-
ton of their books and the laying waste
and rifling of their cities not as much is
known of the Maya Indians as ethnolo-
gists crave; but enough of their works
have defied time and the conqueror to
evince their superiority over all other
American Indians. even the Aztecs and
Incas.
The Mayas were not nomadic. They
lived in cities and derived sustenance
chiefly from the cultivation of land. Their
private dwellings were substantial and
permanent, and in the midst of each set
tlement was a massive temple with in
Vulnerable apartments, like vast tene-
ment houses, supposed to be places OF
safety in times of war On these struc-
lures all the ingenuity of the builder
and the talent of the artist and sculptor
were expended. On the left bank of the
River de la Passion, near the City of
La Libertad, very fine city of the an
cient Mayas has been excavated. From
surface indications II extended over nine
square miles and from appearance was
the most populous and prosperous of all
their cities.
In Guatemala. of a total population OF