OCR Text |
Show State of Yucatan Seat of High Civilization The state of Xucatan Is known to historians as the seat of one of tbe highest civilizations developed In the western world prior to Its colonization by Europeans, but other than some very ancient ruins of which but little Is understood there are no Indications of the old-time glory of the country. Although there were tbe remains of a highly developed civilization when the Spaniards arrived in 1517, the Mayas have left no record of their Institutions Institu-tions or of the causes of their decline beyond what may be deduced from their ruined structures. At present descendants of the Maya Indians comprise com-prise 50 per cent of the total estimated estimat-ed population of 858,000 persons. The Indians are Illiterate and have simple wants; they live on the large hene-quen hene-quen plantations and In the email country villages. Their principal occupations oc-cupations are the cutting of henequen leaves and the extraction of fiber. |