THE PENINSULA OF YUCATAN. 



177 



season. The water stands in pools for a while, and by so doing tends to dissolve the 

 hollows to a deeper level. Only rarely does the water of one hollow run over into another, 

 and even then not in suflficient amounts to make real, running streams. Such being the 

 case, the drainage of the country is confined to underground channels which exist in large 

 numbers. Often the concealed waters dissolve large caves whose tops, in many cases, 

 have fallen in, exposing the water at a depth of anyAvhere from 20 to 100 feet, and thus 

 giving rise to the openings known as "cenotes." These broken-down caves are highly im- 

 portant to the inhabitants, for they are almost the only places where a permanent supply of 

 water is naturally obtainable throughout the whole year. At the time of the coming of 

 the Spaniards all the native inliabitants, the Maya Inchans, as they are called, are said 

 to have been clustered around them or else around the few "aguadas" or natural hollows 

 which contain water during most of the year, although, unlike the cenotes, they sometimes 

 dry up. Having no iron tools, the primitive Mayas were unable to dig wells, although 

 to-day these can be dug almost everywhere with full assurance of striking an abundant and 

 unfailing supply of water. The only difficulty is that in the hilly regions the wells have 

 to be sunk to a depth of from 100 to 200 feet, and the labor involved is suflicient in many 

 cases to prevent the inefficient people of the tropics from making the attempt. "Wliere 

 ground water lies at a depth of only 20 or 30 feet, as in most parts of the plain, wells are 

 numerous. In many cases the water is raised by windmills, which seem to rise like a forest 

 when one looks from a distance at such a town as Merida, the capital. During recent 

 years, when Yucatan has grown rich from the henequen or sisal fiber industry, pumps run 

 by gasoline or steam have in many places appeared. 



Climatically, as well as in other ways, Yucatan is relatively simple. It lies in the 

 trade-wind belt from 19 to 21 degi-ees north of the equator. In winter the brisk winds 

 from the ocean pass over the land without giving up much moisture. The sky is clear a 

 large part of the time, and although some rain falls in every month the amount in the 

 northern parts of the country is insignificant. Farther south, however, or where the hills 

 begin to rise, the rainfall increases rapidly, and showers are frequent. The temperature 

 in winter is agreeable, being rarely extremely warm and never cold according to the ideas 

 of people from the north. In spite of this there is considerable variety, especially when 

 the so-called northers blow. These appear to be connected with the cyclonic storms of 

 the United States. The wind blows violently from the north and reduces the tempera- 

 ture to the lowest points ever reached. The minimum, however, is rarely below 10° C. 

 (.50° F.), while the maximum, even in winter, is usually above 30° C. (86° F.), and may 

 rise above 40° C. by the end of March. In summer, as might be expected in this latitude, 

 the zone of equatorial rains exerts its accustomed influence and gives rise to heavy tropical 

 showers. How greatly the summer rainfall exceeds that of winter may be seen from 

 table 9, which gives the average monthly rainfall (in inches) for the 15 years from 1890 

 to 1910 inclusive at Merida. 



Table 9. 



The seasonal variation of rainfall is no more striking than its variation from region 

 to region. In the north the rainfall is slight, being at a minimum on the coast in the 

 neighborhood of Progreso. Here, in 1911, the only year for which statistics are at hand, 



13 



