482 HUNTINGTON— GUATEMALA AND THE [April i8, 



highest native American civiHzation grew up in one of the worst 

 physical environments of the whole western hemisphere. Close at 

 hand, in the Guatemalan highlands on one side, and in the dry strip 

 of northern Yucatan on the other, far more favorable environ- 

 ments were occupied by closely allied branches of the same race, but 

 the greatest civilization grew up in the densely forested, highly 

 feverish, and almost untillable lowlands of Peten and eastern 

 Guatemala. 



The explanation of this peculiar state of aflfairs appears to lie 

 in one or all of three things; first, the character of the Maya race; 

 second, the relative abundance and virulence of various diseases ; 

 and third, the nature of the climate and its effect on forests, dis- 

 eases, and agriculture. It is possible to adopt the usual unexpressed 

 assumption of historians and to suppose that the original Mayas 

 were stronger and more virile than any other race which has 

 entered the torrid zone, and that because of some unexplained 

 stimulus whose nature it is hard to surmise they flourished greatly 

 for many centuries in a habitat in which modern races can barely 

 subsist. The theory that the Mayas were different from other races 

 has a good deal to commend it. They certainly were a remarkable 

 people. The only question is how remarkable. The nearest ana- 

 logue to their achievements is found in the ruins of Indo-China, 

 Java, and Ceylon. In none of these cases, however, was the degree 

 of success anything like so great as among the Mayas. The Asiatic 

 races appear to have been like the Spaniards, invaders who did not 

 develop a new civilization but brought their ideas with them from 

 other places where we can still see remains of the parent culture. 

 Moreover they did not rise to the height of inventing a method 

 of writing, and, in Indo-China and Java at least, they appear to have 

 had the advantage of tools of iron. Nevertheless, when their history 

 is finally understood, we shall perhaps find that their civilization 

 and that of the Mayas arose under similar conditions because of 

 similar causes. This, however, is aside from the question. The 

 important point is that no matter how capable we suppose the 

 ancient Cingalese, Indo-Chinese, and Javanese to have been, the 

 ancient Mayas were far more capable, for not only were the achieve- 



