The Jasper weekly courier. [volume] (Jasper, Ind.) 1858-1922, 1901-04-05
MAYA Story Of Yucstan.


To leave no phase Of life uneA-
plored and unimagined, no country
or cline, no people or time not
written about seems to be the aim
OF our present day pen wielders.
The novelist is hard put these days
to find some spot to write about that
has not already been preempted.
Judge William Dudley Foulxe in
his new noyel, Maya story OF
Yucatan," has however found a
field, people and time in which no
novelist has yet thought to enter.
| was about to say where no novelist
had dared to enter, but this would
not be the proper word, for novelists
venture in where angels fear to
tread.
"Yucatan is a low flat land with
much Of the interior, as yet unex-
plored, as monotonous as Sahara
with stunted hills and stunted trees
with sun which hurls its rays
upon the eaith till all things hide,
or sinks behind a mass Of clouds al
sulen and somber as the land
with an air which stiles the throa,
that breathes it at noon day, and
brings the exhalation OF miasma
With the chill of night-with thick
cts impenetrable, filed with moi
some insects and venomous reptiles
bat with no shade or cheer"
The story opens at the begidnin:
of the year 1912 when the white
man had not yet set foot in Yuca
tan. Spain held Cuba and Sar
Domingo, and has sent Balboa OF
This voyage that results in the dis
covery Of the Pacific ocean ard thu
planting of Spanish settlement or
the isthmus of Panama. Balbo'
sends one Of his men, Valdivia, will
an expedition to San Domingo, tc
procure provisions, and to conve,
to the royal treasury a considerable
quantity Of gold. Near Jamaic'
the expedition is wrecked in
storm, and after various hardship
a remnant reaches the coast OF lu
catan. Valdivia and four OF hi
companions are fattened and sacri
feed to the heather gods. Other
, are condemned to a life Of slavery
} while one Of them, Sandoval, es
capes to the interior and is rescut'
by Maya. daughter Of the reignin
: king.
}, This Indian princess, who wa
destined by marriage to riva
chieitain who continually menace'
the security Of her fathers rule an
J the reace OF his people, fell in low
! with this fair and bearded foreigne
, and from a mistake made by he
: attendants when they first saw him
she conceived the plan OF palmin
! him off on her father and the peo
!. pie for a god and Of having him pr
: phesy evil things Of her intended
} husband, Canek, and demand he
lin marriage. This scheme she car
!, ried out in detail and with an inge
nu;ty " ,rthy of a diplomat. How
I, ever, the imposture Of this falls
. god was exposed by the disapyoint
Q ed chief, Canek, and he was save'
) from death only by the entreaty Q
) Maya, and the love and hope Of he
father for her unborn child. Sh
goes with him into exile in the al
} most forsaken city Of Uxmal. Her
elthey lived a happy life Of love, mar
8 red only by the death OF their child
until Maya herself died, the victir
q of poisoned arrow, sped by th
0 lvindictive Canek's bow. l. ite
Q Sandoval is discovered by the Span
e|iards who overran the country, an
$ went to live with them. Here, jus
n Jas he is about to be married
second time, in violation OF hi
D |early vow to Maya, he died unde
elcircumsf ances calculated to remov
e|from his memory all stain Of dis
s|loyalty to his one great love.
e 1t can hardly be said that I'll
Glove story is satisfactory, nor il il
r|end all that could bs desired, bl
a the author has genius with whic
& he suffuses his pages. Stron