IMPORTANCE OF THIS WELL. 



35 



bashes on their shoulders, because, with the body 

 bent, they would strike against the roof or roll over 

 the head ; but the straps across the forehead were 

 let out so long that the calabashes rested below the 

 hips, and in crawling on the hands and feet their 

 loads did not rise above the line of the back. 



And this well was not, as at Xcoch, the occasional 

 resort of a straggling Indian, nor the mere traditionary 

 watering-place of an ancient city. It was the regular 

 and only supply of a living population. The whole 

 rancho of Chack was entirely dependant upon it, 

 and in the dry season the rancho of Schawill, three 

 miles distant. 



The patient industry of such a people may well 

 be supposed to have reared the immense mounds 

 and the great stone structures scattered all over the 

 country. We consumed a calabash of water in 

 washing and quenching our thirst, and as we rode 

 back to the rancho of Schawill, came to the conclu- 

 sion that an admission into the community of this 

 exclusive people was no great privilege, when it 

 would entail upon the applicant, for six months in 

 the year, a daily descent into this subterraneous well. 



We arrived at the rancho in good season. Mr. 

 Catherwood had finished his drawing, and Bernaldo 

 was ready with his dinner. We had nothing to de- 

 tain us, ordered carriers forthwith for our luggage, 

 and at half past two we were in the saddle again in 

 search of ruined cities. 



The reader has some idea of the caminos reales 



