l waters, in some
cases 100 feet below the soil, and without means of access except by
buckets let down through an opening in the rock, warm vapors issue at
early morn, but when the sun is high the water is cool and pleasant to
drink.

The name _senote_ is given to all these deposits of water, also to
some immense natural circular wells from 50 to 300 feet in diameter.
The walls are more or less perpendicular, generally covered with
tropical vegetation. The current in some is swift, but no inlets or
outlets are visible. The water is deliciously pure and sweet, much
better than that of wells opened by man in the same country. These
enormous deposits generally have a rugged path, sometimes very steep,
leading to the water's edge, but daring natives throw themselves from
the brink, afterward ascending by stout roots that hang like ropes
down the walls, the trees above sucking through these roots the
life-sustaining fluid more than a hundred feet below.

In the west part of Yucatan is a village called _Bolonchen_ (nine
wells), because in the public square there are nine circular openings
cut through a stratum of rock. They are mouths of one immense cistern,
if natural or made by hand the natives do not know, but in times of
drought it is empty, which shows that it is not supplied by any
subterranean spring. Then the people depend entirely on water found in
a cave a mile and a half from the village; it is perhaps the most
remarkable cavern in the whole country. The entrance is magnificently
wild and picturesque. It is necessary to carry torches, for the way is
dark and dangerous. After advancing sixty or seventy feet we descend a
strong but rough ladder twenty feet long, placed against a very
precipitous rock. Not the faintest glimmer of daylight reaches that
spot; but after a while we stand on the brink of a perpendicular
precipice, the bottom of which is strongly illuminated through a hole
in the surface rock more than 200 feet above. Standing on the verge of
this awful pit in the dim light, the rocks and crags seem to take on
most weird shapes. We go down into the great hole by a ladder eighty
feet high and twelve wide, and, reaching the bottom, are as yet but at
the mouth of the cave, which, by the bye, is called _Xtacunbi Xunan_
(the hidden lady), because, say the Indians, a lady was stolen from
her mother and hidden there by her lover. Now, to our right, we find a
narrow passage, and soon another ladder; the darkness