The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1903-11-22

| war northNard. In these expeditions
! within the last ten wears they have mas
sacred the people of Teaak. of TDnkaz,
of Vailadoiid and even Of the suburbs Of
! Merida, the capital.
| In Southern Yucatan the Mayas live in
! independence and absolute savagery. For
a hundred years no white man who pene-
| trated to the heart OF their country has
| returned to tell what he found there
What we know OF it comes through tho
uncertain channel Of domesticated Mays.
From them we learn the meaning of the
name Chan Santa Cruz. or Holy Cross
Fort which has been given to the Maya
stronghold in front Of which General Gar
cia met with his last apparently over
whelming defeat
The fort is situated on a high pleateau,
the sides of which are covered with we'll
nigh impenetrable forests. Here the Mayas
fought every inch of the ground behind
log breastworks. It IS said that so dense
was the foliage so adroit the savage war
riors, that throughout the campaign no
Mexican caught glimpse of his foe.
On the top Of the plateau it is reported
there is clearing in which the Mayas
have erected a great communal house,
whore the councils of war are held and
where in case Of the adverse fortune
which has never oyertaken them yet they
are prepared to make their last stand.
Here in caves. which are characteristic
of the country, is stored the dried corn
from their milPahs, and here are the
cavernous wells OF sweet water which
make it possible for the Mayas to with
stand a siege of almost any length.
Over the communal house there stands
a great wooden cross, which, according to
the story OF the domesticated Mayas, their
savage brethren carry with them upon all
their campaigns. The tradition is that
two centuries ago a devoted Spanish mis-
sionary left the settlements and threw his
fortunes in with these outlaws beyond the
pale
All that survives of his sacrifice and
noble teaching is the cross. without which
the heather would fear to make war upon
the Christian. Whatever of the teachings
OF Christianity he may have inculcated
has long since disappeared, as has the
beautiful flower creed which was their in
heritance.h Today they believe in witch
craft and medicine men. but most of all
in the repeating rife. Their morality is
Of the lowest and they are all cross-eyed
When this has been said the Information
furnished by the runaways of the tribe is
about exhausted.
How they obtain ammunition is a cues
ton over which many a Mexican general
has racked his brain. Five or six years
ago one source of supply was discovered
= Il 81 fa.Fs c4ff 10
was ascertained that the Maya chiefs had
an arrangement with the hardwood lum- /
bermen of British Belize For bunch of
logs with a thousand dollars
IN London they would give a rife. and
the trade in cartridges was on the same
eXtravagant scale.
BY treaty with the British authorities
the Mexican government put an end. Off
cially at least, to this contraband of war
Still the Mayas have not run out of am
and it would appear are not
likely to as long as they maintain posses
sion of the country they are so Taliantly
defending. BY the Bay OF Ascension their
territory runs down to the sea, and here
the munitions of war are
landed and the primitive barter takes /
place between the Mayas and the snug
gIers of the caribbean. who go in for
quick profits
And so the fight will go on until Mexico I
builds a navy and herself patrols the |
waters of the bay.
Second only to the savage bravery of the
SIayas as an obstacle to be overcome is
he apparently waterless condition Of the |
country through which the invading
armies must pass. 1 say apparently, be-
,ause in a secretive way the country is ;
extraordinarily well watered. But the sup
by is stored underground.
After each defeat. such as the one that
General Garcia has recently sustained, the
Mexican government has manifested
natural and probably a very wise inclina- :
ion to forget about the war; to allow I
inc to work it's cure; to leave the Mayas
done and in possession of their own.
Certainly there is no lack of land in /
Mexico. But then comes the fortune hun
er and the concessionnaire, the get-rich-
ruick men. the same today as when Mon
ejo held sway and came TO grief in Yu-
'atan.
The rumors OF treasure trove. of silver
and streams of golden sand.
circulate again. \ prospector is muir
Tered and the savage war with its bloody
'eprisals on both sides, is resumed and
oon again the half-tamed Indians Of the
Mexican army find themselves pitted
jgainst the wild Indians of the jungle,
With their traditions of invincibility.