The sun., 1908-01-26
MAYAS,..R RUINS. AND MySTESH
QUEER ETHENGS Down IN YtCA-
TAN. AND QUEER PEOPLE
with a History Rcaehlng Back Maybe 90
AaIslals ar the Garden Of Eden--hnA-
Drints OS LlEtIe DiIuDLsSi Hnnds to Build
ROEhApees, On--U Underground Rivers.

What r want. said the sunburned man
with his overcoat collar turned UP a. he
walked siivering out from the Ward Line
pier into South street. "is big hot Scotch
and old RUvers place behind the cast iron
stove.
@Yucatan's a-b-r-r-r--a darned won
derful country. but the hot peppers you
MUNICH down there and the siesta system
and the everlasting warmth take the iron
out % a white mans blood till he's about
az tough as a charlotte russo. Ever since
! got out Of white ducks and into hannels
I've been shaking my teeth out and looking
for a place TO get warm .
~No, it. isn't m-m- malaria. haven't
got any malaria. It's just Yucatan. Fine
country. Yucatan only when you go there
arrange to stay, or elss come back here in
July, when yo,'il have three or four months
10 train for cold weather"
The bartender in the first available saloon
grinned al the iiea Of a man calling for
hot Scotch with the Thermometer away
above freezing. but he stocked up the gas
boiler and after the second infusion the
man from Yucatan thawed out. He lighted
big Vera Cruz cigar and took on his over
coat.
This is something like" said he. "Of
course IL looks funny TO you 20 See a man
half frozen 10 death on "A day when you
feel like n rickey and n straw hat but it's
the bloOd When you've been a month
or two down in those gresser countries
your blood turns into warm water. aud yet.
good Lord, th}ee NucateCans cnn get
boil on theirs feat enough,
Il went 10 a bdile one night fs; before
] left the coast and there was a pretty Cl.han
girl there who was flirting FOR dear cc
with two young fellows. co sins or se,or q
cousins relations, anyway. sy friend and
] left early and walked to tho hotel
We sat there having a nigr'oap about
a quarter of an hour later whan ia came
another chap who had been ~ the ball
and said that Ramon had stabbed Pedrico
-'WhaU abolg?' says my friend
"'Oh. about that Cuban.
sand what did she do
"'She? Took sides with Ramon Of COURSE
Don't you know our spanish pro, rrb.
Always keep in the shade Of rh, rallcsr
tree" Now she'll have to behave TOR one
while
They're queer combination. the
Nucatecos. They have all th" ,iari,y
81 the Spaniard and the stoicisn Of IN,
Indian. but they're prettv good cross
for the kind. no matter what anybody tells
you.
The SpaniaTds that grandfalhered 'em
we're the scrappy kind. and as for the Ma, as
well, I've knock cd about bit, and they're
the neatest, cleanest race of people ever
set eyes on. I've read about how they
used to sacrifice ten thousand human victims
at a clip on the stone affairs, and figure il
out that they sacrificed the discards that
weren't any good. just the same az the
ancient Greeks used TO turn ont all the
cripples and weaklings on the mountains
for the bears to make away with
And III tell you for why The Nlaya-
right down to the present day show breed.
ing by selection. There's no trash. except
of course in the cities. Citiesu ruin any
race. But take 'em by and large they're
fine physical specimens.
They're little. It's big man among
them that weighs $50, and they don't show
muscle in coils and hummocks. but when
it gets right down to strength and endurance.
they're there with the goods
I've watched the little beggars loading
hundred and twenty-five pound pigs Of
lead into a ship for tifty-sx hours az
stretch, with no sleep and taking their
meals standing They remind YOU of a
Jap. only they don't make 80 much fuss
about t and aren't "a quarter so Chesty.
Il had a trunk that eighed about two
hundred and twenty-five pounds, and one
day about noon hired a little chan to bring
IL on board ship for me. He had a big
strap bucltied together lie put IL under
the trunk and over his forehead and bent
over. Up went the trunk.
He carried it over a quarter Of mile
through loose sand ankle deep out on a pier
about six hundred yards up a ladder. over
the deck of a Hghtship, down into a tug
boat and up on board our ship. The ther-
nometeT was over a hundred, and upOn
my soul when he set that cargo down there
wasn't enough preparation Oh mis- fore
head u moisten the palm OF his hand
He wasn't oven out OF breath He
pocketed his real. about II cents and didn't
seem TO think he'd done anything. But
I'd like 20 have seen a big two listed Irish
hotel porter tackle that job
And clean Honestly. men, women and
children. | never saw such clean people
You see. there aren't any surface streams
In Yucatan. Up, country they lcarry water
three or four miles in the night time, and
then use three-quarters Of it in scrubbinE
themselves.
They show it. too Their skins are
like old ivory. And the women! Say
houris beaten 70 death. Skin, hair, eyes
Lord. what eyes they We gOti-and little
hands and feet.
They all dSsss in pure white Just two
garments OF sort OF muslin, with a little
feather stitching on the edge, and--well
with sighl, never mind about that. |
was going to tell you about the water.
"You see, the archaeological sharks and
geologists have been busy for the Last
twenty years trying TO figure out the past
OF YuCatan. There are ruins down there
that cover miles OF territory, almost solid
masonry, and the most elaborate carvings
you ever saw-acres of 'em.
-Thc5e wise people read it that the ruins
date back before the island Of Atlantis was
sunk, and that was the Flood They saw
il was all dry land right across TO Spain and
the Indies are only the tops Of submerged
mountains.
They'll como pretty near making Won
believe it too. They II show you zig images
down in the inside Of the ancient pyramIds
carved out OF solid, snow white marble
and then they tell you there Isn't any marble
in Yucatan, and where did Il come from
except from the other slider Why, saw
they'll demonstrate 20 you that YucataT
was the original Garden OF Eden, the cradle
OF the human race.
They'll show you tho legend OF Cain
and Abel In the carvings. and Roodness
knows what else. And then the eeolo0ists
come in. with their demonstration of the
sinking OF the country, and that sounds
pretty reasonable too.
s,sA