182 THE CLIMATIC FACTOR AS ILLUSTRATED IN ARID AMERICA. 



equatorial regions a relative lack of rain seems to be beneficial, while elsewhere it is usually 

 detrimental. At any rate the most progressive parts of the tropics appear in general to 

 be comparatively dry, while the most progressive countries of the temperate zone are in 

 general located in regions of comparative moisture, or else have been recently settled by 

 people from regions of that sort. The dryness of the little strip of northern Yucatan where 

 civilization now centers seems to be almost the only feature of the geographic environment 

 which is distinctly favorable. 



THE ANCIENT MAYA CIVILIZATION. 



Among the noteworthy characteristics of Yucatan, we have seen that none is more 

 interesting than the contrast between the civilization of the past and of the present. In 

 spite of the slowness and inefficiency of the inhabitants as compared with the people of 

 Europe, Yucatan compares favorably with other tropical lands, and enthusiastic travelers 

 have sometimes claimed that Merida is the richest city in the world in proportion to its 

 size. That the country has an uncommonly prosperous air is certainly true. This is 

 partly due to the fact that the henequen or sisal fiber industry has proved most lucrative, 

 especially during the period when the supply of Manila hemp, its chief rival, was cut off 

 by the Spanish-American war. Without the sisal Yucatan would rank well among the 

 countries of the torrid zone, but would by no means be so conspicuous as is now the case. 

 The prosperity of to-day, however, is but a slight incident compared with that of the past. 

 The present prosperity is in danger of being ephemeral. Much of it would vanish if 

 another fiber as good as henequen should be discovered in places where it could be raised 

 more cheaply than in Yucatan; and even if the prosperity should last, it is an extraneous 

 matter. It is due to the demands of the United States and other countries, it is fostered by 

 their steamship lines, and its benefits are chiefly reaped not by the Indians and Mestizos, 

 but by people of Spanish blood, most of whom have not been in the country more than a 

 generation or two. Moreover, its effect upon the country as a whole is slight outside of 

 Merida. It has not stimulated the native population to any special activity, nor has it 

 caused the construction of buildings whose ruins will endure to commemorate it. In 

 Merida, to be sure, it has led to the erection of many stone buildings which will give to the 

 archeologist of the future an idea of considerable prosperity, l)ut there the matter ends. 

 If the present inhabitants were to be suddenly removed and the country left desolate, 

 the archeologist of 3000 a. d. would find few traces of the present civihzation except small 

 heaps of stones in the countrj- districts, and the remnants of a number of mediocre buildings 

 in the little provincial capital. There would be nothing to arouse his enthusiasm; the ruins 

 of almost any county seat of 60,000 inhabitants in the United States or northwestern 

 Europe would present far greater evidences of a high civilization. It would be almost 

 obtrusively evident that Merida in its prime was merely a feeble imitation of a civilization 

 whose real center was far away. 



Turning now to the past, we find an entirely opposite state of affairs. The ruins of 

 scores of superb temples and other structures scattered in the bush, jungle, and forest of 

 all parts of Yucatan and the adjacent Maya lands proclaim unmistakably that the country 

 once possessed a civihzation which, for its period and continent, was the highest in existence. 

 Here, not elsewhere, was the center, and here that civilization not only developed but 

 persisted for century after century. The ruins, while not a tithe as beautiful as those of 

 Athens, make upon the traveler the same impression of wonderful power and originality 

 in their builders, the same sense of having been built by a people who were masters of their 

 art and who gloried in their skill. Any detailed description of the ruins would be out of 

 place in this volume, but a httle discussion of them is needed in order to show how high the 

 ancient civilization actually was and wherein lay some of its chief elements of greatness. 



