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Show p- yTY I Xi ' ' M . f jU fr iilffiftM" i i i rT i rTTOff i dUEStibgh !rlM" ft sMEersarmM swmueL y 'i i1 11 i TiMBPiBHiir mi i""-""" N tho Cnrlbbonn sea, about twelvo miles V from Yucatan across the channel of that H name, lies Mexico's most easterly outpost, JL "10 Island of Cozumel. Tho nnmo comes tmmmmm from the ancient Mayan and means "Tho A ij& IbIo of Swallows." It Ib included In tho jpnjjra northorn division ot tho territory of TPfj Qulntaua Hoo, tho capital ot which Ib jL Santa Cruz do Uravo, named for tho ruggod old warrior who, during tho Diaz roglmo, administered all that part of Mexico, mainland main-land nnd Island, which lies to tho east of Yucatan. Tho foreign port nearest to Cozumol Is Ilellzo, British Brit-ish Honduras, distant about 1CS miles southwest. Off to tho northeast, somo 210 miles away, lies Cuba. From oxtromo points north to south tho Island, which Is rhomboldal In form, measures a llttlo undor CO miles, and from enst to west about M miles. Cozumel occuplos a very prominent plnco In Mox-lean Mox-lean history. It wbb tho first land sighted by Hernando Her-nando Cortoz whon, In 1519, ho sallod westward from Cuba on that famous voyage which had for Its object tho qucBt ot gold and for Kb rosult the conquest of an jmplro. Cortoz, however, was not tho first Spaniard to set foot on Cozumel'a shores. Tho year boforo ho landed It was visited by UrIJalva, tho discoverer ot Tabasco; and Bancroft, Ban-croft, tho historian, montlonB others who touched there during tho earlier crulsos of tho Castlllans among tho Antilles. It Is a matter of record that from tho deck ot his "flagship" a llttlo vessel of less than 100 tons burthen Cortoz counted 14 towors on tho north and northwest coasts of tho Island. Those ho found, whon ho landod, surmounted as many tomplos, eroded for idolatrous worship. When ho disembarked with halt of his followers (all told tho expedition numbered only C17 men), leaving tho others on board his small Boot to repel posslblo attack, Cortoz' first act was to dismantle dis-mantle these temples. Fired wtth religious zoal, ho pushed his way through tho crowd ot Indians In-dians 'who had como down to tho .beach to receive re-ceive him, and, mounting the stops ot tho principal prin-cipal placo of worship, whoro tho high priest and his attendants wero grouped, ho harangued tho natives on tho sinfulness ot their Idolatry, using an Indian who had been captured off tho coast ot Yucatan by UrIJalva and who had acquired a working knowlodgo of Spanish In Cuba, as an Interpreter. After thUB giving vest to his ro-llglous ro-llglous fervor, and Cortoz' worst enemies could nover truthfully assort that ho was not slncero In his faith, ho ordcrod his soldiers to tear down tho altars dedicated to tho fa! so gods and In their place sot up a cross. No arguing, no reasoning. rea-soning. Prompt, nggresslvo action, without ro-gard ro-gard to oddB, aud such action was Cortoz' main characteristic at all times when dealing with th natives wherever ho went. Doubtless much of his remarkable success with them wob duo to It. Although tho Indians wero obviously docllo. tho Invaders wero )aklng big chances In thus desecrating tho sacred grovos. Hut nothing happened. hap-pened. Tho audacity of tho proceeding was sub-llmo, sub-llmo, nnd so great that it simply dazod the natives na-tives nnd loft them Incnpablo of protest. When Cortez was nt Cozumol the Island had apparently several thousand Inhabitants; but when Slovens, a prominent American nrchcolo-gist nrchcolo-gist nnd traveler, went there In tho early forties of tho last century ho found not n slnglo soul. Tho crowds seen by tho Spaniards wero probably prob-ably transients, for, ns a matter of fact, Cozumol never had a largo resident population. It wns a sacred placo to tho Mayas of Yucatan and Centre! Cen-tre! Amerlcn, their Mecca, nnd a vast number of pilgrims went periodically to worship at Its shrines During tho Intervals hotween pilgrimages pil-grimages the priests, with their sorvnnts nnd retainers, re-tainers, wero doubtless tho only residents. Whon tho Spaniards became llrmly established In Yucatan they forbado tho pllgrlmago to Cozumol, Cozu-mol, their reasons for this courso bolng that thov needed tho unit torrupto' services of tho Indians as Inborers. Tho church also took a hand In prohibiting festlvnls on the Island. They carried tho mind away from tho doctrlno which the mission mis-sion fathers wcro propagating, nnd although thn Indian had without vory great dllllcalty been Induced In-duced to accept tho cross In placo of tho graven Imago, ho would, whon visiting tho fnmlllar scenes, bo sure to nssoclato with them tho tenets of his old bcllof, still Mrong within him. Notwithstanding that tho religious peregrinations peregrina-tions censed, Cozumol was not entirely doscrted until long nftor tho Invasion Of courso, It Is moro than likely that thotc whoso homoa wero on tho Island continued to resldo tluro nfter tho main body stopped coming. For tho greater part (hoy wero spiritual councilors and medicine men, and It is very i robnb'.o fint thoy wore forbfdden to lea a It would Do decidedly to tho Interests if tho conqueror?., both lay and cUilcnl. to koep hem iiwuv from the masses of tho people Tint lioro uan a bq tloment. and that Sp .n lards lived lll',vViBJX ,.i, Jxsfyw .WllJHri1BBaBw I III '' 3lHa!BBBBBVan III "jffi!j!5!5fr A coconr g?omt oy th 'slaw L--gJf In it, Is proved oy tho ruined church an a burial ground ono sees a couplo of miles to tho north of San Mlgrel, tho principal town. Closo by the church ruins is tho alto ot an ancient village, now trnceablo only by Its stone foundations. Wbutovor tho couso may bavo been, It camo about in tho courso ot tlmo that tho Island ot Cozumel was abandoned as a placo of residence. It must have remained unoccupied for soveral generations, for when Stevens touched there with tho object of exploring Its ruined temples, ot which many nro known to exist, tho- entire sur-faco, sur-faco, with tho exception of two clearings, was covorod with a denso growth of dwarf but thick timber. Slovens satisfied himself that this forest covered tho wholo area. Ono ot tho open spaces referred to abovo was a clearing mado by a man nnmed Molas, a notorious no-torious character, halt political rcfugco, halt plrato, who had been exiled from Yucatan. Molas lived for many years In Cozumol, and doubtless would havo "died In his bed" tho end most do-sired do-sired by nil froobootors, wo oro told had ho never returned to tho mainland, for his cnomlos wero afraid to attack htm In his Btronghold. Ono fatal day, howovor, ho sailed his schooner across tho channol and landed near to whero tho Valla-dolld Valla-dolld trail cpmos down to thJ beach. Molas' two sonB wiio had voluntarily shared their father's fa-ther's oxllo accompanied him on this trip, having hav-ing in vain tried to dlssuado him from making it. Molas InBlBtcd that his sons should remain aboard tho schooner until ho gave tho signal that all was clear. Tho signal nover camo. Waiting Wait-ing so long for It that they felt suro all was not well, tho lads went ashoro at last to Investigate. Tho over-vlgllnnt too had scon Molas' boat making mak-ing for tho mainland. A short distance from tho beach, yot hlddon by tho Junglo, thoy found their father's mutilated body. Tho boys returned to the Island only to removo their personal belongings and what thoy could carry away ot tho family effects, and then went to llvo In a remoto part of Yucatan, as far removed re-moved from Cozumol and Its sad associations as thoy could get. Thus It camo about that tho "Islo ot Swallows" was again without human Inhabitants In-habitants Tho other clearing mentioned was tho deserted ranch ot a certain "Don Albino," as Stevens calls him without roveallng his surnamo. Stevens met Don Albino In Valludolhl, and heard from tho ranchman's own lips why ho loft Cozumel. In Vnllndolld n cotton mill famous In tho annals of tho town as tho first to bo erected In Mexico had started operations ami tho owner, an enter prising Spaniard, was palng high prices for tho raw material and offering enticing premiums to encourngo mora extcnsUo cultivation of tho plant. Now, Don Albino possessed no land, nor had ho tho means wherowlth to buy somo; nevertheless he yearned to protlt by tho mill owner's bounty. So hu conceived tho Idea of going over to Cozumol, Cozu-mol, which by that time was regarded as a sort of "No Man's Land," to ralso cotton Ho could easily convey the lint across tho channel In canoes, ca-noes, and nlthouga from tho coast to tho mill wns a Journoy of several days for pack mules there would bo sutllcient margin In tho price to Justify tho oxponso of transportation. Full ot enthusiasm, Don Albino gathered around him as many of tho moro destitute natives as ho could Induce by tho lavish uso of glowing promises to accompany him and set sail for Cozumel. Hut thu motley band soon tired of tho monotonous monoto-nous llfo on tho lonely lRland Thoy woro restless spirits, who had lived by whnt was really Ifttlo short of brigandage, tilling tho land only to the extent of being Buru of tholr stnplo Jood, maize nnd "frljoles" ( beans i Sullen under tho cravings crav-ings for the comparative excitement obtainable In their natlvo puohlos, they beforo long picked a quarrel with their "patron" and, solzlng the only canoo, returned to Yucatan Entirely alone, Don Albino could mako no headway head-way with his project of getting rich quickly and, taking advantago ot a passing vessel, went back to Valladolld. Tho cotton ho had succeeded in planting beforo his mozos desorted him was allowed al-lowed to grow wild, and tho island onco more was completely abandoned by man. It wob not until 1848 that Cozumol was again Inhabited. Tho revolution which caused Yucatan and Cnmpcchu to separato had deprived many citizens ot tho means of livelihood, and tor material ma-terial as well as political rcafbns It becamo necessary for them to seek pastures now. Tho federal government offered to help them, provided provid-ed thoy would leavo tho pcnlnsu'fi. But to whero could thoy bo transplanted? Doing YucatecoB, quick to resent tho paternalism ot tho government, govern-ment, and always suspicious of tho party In ottlco's bona fides, they wcro ot a spirit dlfllcult to keep under restraint nnd moro than likely to soon bocomo unruly again. Thoroforo to nllow thorn to mlgrnto to tho central statos, or ovon to tho rogloiiB bordering on tho Quit of Mexico, was out of tho question; It was Imperative that thoy bo kept npart from tho moro docllo peoples of tho republic lest thoy Inoculnto tho latter with tho political restlessness that had been their own undoing. un-doing. Finally It was agreed that thoy should bo taken to Cozumol. This nrrangemont wns duly consummated, and everything necessary to ennblo tho exiles to mako a good start was furnished gratuitously Dy tho government. Aftor vory mnny vicissitudes tho colony thus lnunchod gradually settled Itself Into placo, becoming at tho expiration of a decade or so tlrmly established, estab-lished, and Cozumol Is today tho "tlerra" or homeland of as hardy and Independent a set of Islanders hnlf farmers, half fishermen as can bo found anywhere In tho Antilles. Tho present population of Cozumol nurabors somo fourteen hundred souls. Tho capital, 8an Miguel, Is credited wtth 900 and tho vlllngo of El Ccdral has about 1C0; tho romnlndor nro scattered scat-tered among tho numerous ranches. San Miguel Is quite a thriving, wcll-formcd town. It has soveral wldo, clean streets; a plaza, a very prcsentnblo llttlo church, one Inrgo gen-eral gen-eral storo nnd several small ones, nn Inn. and municipal olllccs nnd customhouse; It nlBo boasts a sort of csplanado running along tho cntlro son front, nt ono end of which Is tho llghthouso nnd nt tho other a landing Jetty. Although most of tho buildings nro palm thatched cottages, thoro aro several strongly built stono houses nnd tho main street hns a two story brick houso and a modern bungalow. Tho only regular communication with tho out-sldo out-sldo world Is by government trunsport. Theso steamers call twlco each month to lenvo and collect mall when en routo with troops nnd supplies sup-plies to and from Vera Cruz and tho mllltnry stations sta-tions of Qulntann Roo Health conditions In Cozumel nro oxtro-ielv good, when tho troplcnl cllmato of tho Island Is taken Into account. Tho normnl rnto of mortality averages 14 per 1,000. Epidemics aro vory faro Indeed, prnctlcnlly unknown Tho grcnt ranjorlty of tho Cozuhiel Islanders nro poor, bo far as possessing a surplus of this world's goods Is concerned, bolng satlsllod with n hand to mouth cxlstenco. Among tho very tow nrtlclos oxportod from the Island nro sponges, but tho quantity Is limited and tho quality not vory flno Moro thnn ono at-tompt at-tompt bos been made by foreigners to fully exploit ex-ploit tho spongo business hero, but all efforts to mnko It prolitnblo on a largo scalo havo failed Thoro nro very many ruins on tho Island somo of which I saw nnd to tho extent of mv limited time nnd nblUty cxamlned-tlm nrrhlter jural beauty and goneral plan of which provide Irrefutable evidence that tho early inimhltiipi wero Intelligent nnd cultured to a .!.. '",. than surprising. |