Judsonia weekly advance., 1915-11-03

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 rugged old warrior who, during the Dia regime, administered all that part of Mexico, mai land and island. which lies to the east of Yucata The foreign port nearest to Cezumel is Belize Bri ish Honduras, distant about 165 miles southwes Off to the northeast some 210 miles away, lis Cuba From extreme points north to south tt island, which is rhombodal in form, measures little under 50 miles, and from east to west about miles.
 Cozumel occupies very prominent place in Me ican history It the first land sighted by He nando Cortez when. in 1519, he sailed westwal from Cuba on that famous voyage which had for i object the quest of gold and for it's result the conquest Of an empire. Cortez however, was not the first Spaniard to set foot on Cozumels shores. The year before he landed it was visited by Grijalva the dscoverer of Tabasco: and Ban croft the historian, mentions others who touched there during the earlier cruises of the Castilians among the Antilles.
 It is a matter of record that from the deck of his "fagshp"-a little vessel of less than 100 tons burthen-Cortez counted IA towers on 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 617 mem, leaving the others board his small feet to repel possible attack, Cortez first act 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- .C61YG cipal place of worship. where the high priest and his attendants were grouped, he harangued the natives on the snfuness of their ldolatry, using an Indian who had been captured off the coast of Yucatan by Grijalva 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 truthfuy assert that he was not sincere in his faith. he ordered his soldiers to tear down the atars dedicated to the false gods and in kI,o ,x!ao co< 0rnC 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 due to lit Although the Indians were obviously docile, the invaders were taking big chances in thus desecratng the sacred groves. But nothing nap ,pened The audacity of the proceeding was sub lime and so great that 1t simply dazed the na. lives and left them incapable of protest
 When Cortez was at Cozumel the island had apparently several thousand inhabitants; but when Stevens a prominent American archeolo- rist and traveller went there in the early fortles of the last century he found not single soul. The crowds seen by the Spanards were prop ably transients, for as a matter Of fact, Cozumei never had large resident population It was sacred place to the Mayas of Yucatan and Gen. tre America their Mecca, and a vast number of pilgrims went periodically to worship at its shrines During the intervals between pill grmageS the priests, Wltn tneif seTVdntS anu " tainers were doubtless the only residents
 When the Spaniards became firmly established in Yucatan they forbade the pilgrimage to Cozu- mel their reasons for this course being that they needed the uni1 terruptes services of the Indians as laborers. The church also took hand Tn prohibiting festivals on the island They carried the mind away from the doctrine which the mis- sion fathers were propagating. and although the Indian had without very great difficulty been in- duced to accept the cross in place of the graven imaee. he would, when visiting the familiar scenes. be sure to associate with them the tenets of his old belief still strong within him.
 Notwithstanding that the religious peregrina- t,ons ceased Cozumel was not entirely deserted unril long after the invasion. Of course, it is more than likely that thoLe whose homes were on the island continued to reside there after the rnain body stopped coming. For the greater part they were spiritual councillors and medicine men, and # is very probable that they were forbidden to leaye would be decidedly to the interests ef the conquerors, both lay and clerical. to keep them aVay from the masses of tho people. That there was settlement. and that SDsniards lived