Scientific American Supplement, No. 508, September 26, 1885 | Page 8

country also presents great attractions for geologists and botanists, as well as naturalists, who there find rare and beautiful birds, insects, and reptiles.
There are no rivers on the surface of the land, but in many parts it is entirely undermined by extensive caverns, in which are basins of water fed by subterranean currents. The caverns are delightfully cool even at midday, and the fantastic forms of some of the stalactites and stalagmites are a never-ending source of interest. There are long winding passages and roomy chambers following one after another for great distances, with here and there some chink in the stony vault above, through which a sunbeam penetrates, enabling us to see to the right and left openings leading to untrodden places in the bowels of the earth. As few of these caves have been explored, the wildest accounts are given by the natives concerning the dark recesses where only wild beasts seek shelter. Before venturing far in, it is advisable to secure one end of a ball of twine at the entrance, and keep the ball in hand; nor is it safe to go without lanterns or torches, lest we step into some yawning chasm or deep water. The leader of one party suddenly saw a very dark spot just before him; he jumped over, instead of stepping on it, and told the others to halt. Examination proved the dark patch to be a pit that seemed bottomless.
Awe-inspiring as are the interiors of some of these caves, they are frequently most beautiful. The natural pillars are often grand in dimensions and sparkling with various hues, while stalactites and stalagmites sometimes resemble familiar objects with astonishing perfection. It is, however, not advisable to place implicit confidence in accounts of the natives, for the reality, no matter how beautiful, can hardly be equal to what the vivid imagination of the Indian has pictured. Anything bearing the least resemblance to a woman is called "a most beautiful Virgin Mary." Fantastic flutings become "an organ," and a level rock "an altar." Only once we were not disappointed, when, having been told to look for a pulpit, we found one that appeared as if man must have fashioned it, supported on a slender pyramidal base, the upper part very symmetrical, and ornamented with a perfect imitation of bunches of grapes and other fruit.
As I have already said, in these caves are sheets of water, some very large, others only a few feet in circumference, fed by subterranean currents. When the water is clear and sweet, it is peopled by a kind of bagre, a blind fish called by the natives tzau, also a species of Silurus. But there are likewise medicinal and thermal waters, by bathing in which many people claim to have been cured of most painful and obstinate diseases.
Strange stories are told of some of these waters. Of one it is said that those who approach it without holding their breath fall dead. People who live near the place swear it is so, and say the water appears to boil on such occasions. From the thermal 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