Rocky Ford enterprise., 1915-11-05


regime. administered all that part of Mexico. main
land and island which lies to the east of Yucatar
The foreign port nearest to Cozumel is Belize Brit
ish Honduras. distant about 165 miles southwes,
Off to the northeast, some 2l0 miles away, lie
Cuba. From extreme points north to south th
island which is rhomboidal in form. measures
little under 50 miles. and from east to west about
miles.
Cozumel occupies very prominent place In Mex
lean history. 1t the first land sighted by Her
nando Cortez when, in 1919. he sailed westwar
from Cuba on that famous voyage which had for IL
object the quest of gold and for its result the
conquest of an empire. Cortez however, was not
the first Spanard to set foot on Cozumels shores.
The year before he landed it visited by
Gri1alva. the discoverer of Tabasco; and Ban
croft. the historian. mentions others who touched
there during the earlier cruises of the Castilians
among the Antilles.
1t is matter of record that from the deck
Of his "fagship"-a little vessel of less than 100
tons burthen-Cortez counted IA towers the
north and northwest coasts of the island. These
he found. when he landed, surmounted many
temples. erected for idolatrous worship, When
he disembarked with half of his followers (all
told the expedition numbered only Gil men),
leaving the others board his small teet to
repel possible attack. Cortez' first act was to dis
mantle these temples. Fired with religious zeal.
he pushed his way through the crowd Of In
dians who had come down to the beach to re-
ceive him. and. mounting the steps OF the prin-
cipal place of worship. where the high priest and
his attendants grouped. he harangued the
natives the sinfulness of their idolatry, using
an Indian who had been captured off the coast
of Yucatan by Grijava and who had acquired
working knowledge of Spanish in Cuba as an
interpreter. After thus giving vent to his re.
ligious fervor, and Cortez' worst enemies could
never truthfully assert that he was not sincere
in his faith. he ordered his soldiers TO tear down
the affairs dedicated the false gods and in
their place set up cross. No arguing, no rea-
soning Prompt. aggressive action. without re-
gard to odds. and such action was Cortez main
characteristic at all times when dealing with the
natives wherever he went. Doubtless much or
his remarkable success with them was que 10
it. Although the Indians were obviously dociie.
the invaders taking big chances IN thns
desecrating the sacred groves. But nothing nap
pened The audacity of the proceeding was sub
lime. and great that it simply dazed the ma
tives and left them incapable OF protest
When Cortez Cozume the island had
apparently several thousand Inhabitants: but
when Stevens, a prominent American archeolo
gst and traveller, went there in the early iorties
of the last century he found not single SOUL
The crowds by the Spaniards we're prop
ably transients. for. a matter Of fact. Cozumei
never had a large resident population II was
sacred place to the Mayas of Yucatan ana Cen
trel America, their Mecca and vast numoer OF
pilgrims went periodically to worship at its
shrines During the intervals between Pill
grimages the priests. with their servants anu re-
taners. were doubtless the only residents.
When the spanards became firmly established
in Yucatan they forbade the pilgrimage to Cozu-
mel their reasons for this course being that thev
needed the unir terrupte- services OF the inoians
as ,laborers. The church also took mana III
prohibiting festivals on the island they carried
the mind away from the doctrine which the mis-
sion fathers propagatinG. and although the
Indian had without very great diihcdLty oeeh III
duced to accept the cross in place OF the craven
image. he would. when visiting the iamiiiar
scenes be sure associate with them the 'ehets
of his old belief. still .trong within him
Notwithstanding that tic religious pereg.ina-
tions ceased Cozumel WAS not entirely deserted
until long after the inyasion OF course, IT Is
more than likely that thoLc whose homes were
on the island continued to reside there alter the
main body stopped coming. For the greater part
they were spiritual councillors and medicine men,
and il is very ,rcbabie Llat they were iorbidGen
to leave 1t would be decidedly TO the interests
of the conquerors. both lay and clerical 10 Keep
them away from. the masses of tho people. That
there was a se,tement and that Sp' p'.Hards lived