THE CENOTES OF YUCATAN. 



151 



endless cliannels, while the whole liquid mass filters slowly in the direction of the 

 sea. Some of the labyrinthine underground streams are inhabited by crocodiles 

 as well as by the teh (inoiuotus), a sjDecies of bird with silken plumage and tail 

 made of two long feathers. 



The caverns, or ceuofcs, a word borrowed by the Spaniards from the Maya 

 language, increase in depth as the land recedes from the coast and rises to a 

 higher level above the se k At Merida they lie from 25 to 30 feet below the sur- 

 face, and each house has its well sunk far enough to tap the reservoir. Farther 



Kc 



65. — Teeminos Lagoon. 



Scale 1 : 1,400,000. 



t op breenwvcn 



Depths. 



to 10 

 Fathoms. 



10 Fathoms 

 and upwards. 



30 Miles. 



north-west of Merida and Valladolid, that is, in the direction of the sea, the basins 

 lie nearer to the surface, so that the distance from the coast may be estimated by 

 the depth to which the wells have to be sunk to reach the reservoirs. On the coast 

 itself the water bubbles up at the shore line, where it mingles with the tides amid 

 the mangrove bushes. This natural distribution of the water, so different from 

 what occurs in other regions, is the essential feature in the physical geography of 

 Yucatan, The fluid is nowhere to be seen, yet its effects are everywhere manifest 

 in the well-irrigated grounds and the sanitar}»- condition of the houses. Morning 

 and evening long processions of women pass up and down the steps leading to the 



