Page:Here and there in Yucatan - miscellanies (IA herethereinyucat00lepl 0).djvu/27

 uneven that it is tiresome to walk, much more so to carry a load. A great extent of the interior of the island is taken up by a most picturesque lake that opens on the south side of the bay by a narrow channel through which the water of the ocean enters. The lake is consequently subject to tides, and it is navigable for the majority of the canoes used by the fishermen.

The channel is crooked and scarcely more than nine feet wide, having dense thickets of mangroves on each side. It takes about half an hour to go through it, then the lake suddenly opens to our view, truly a charming scene! It is surrounded by banks twenty feet high, covered with verdure; seagulls soar overhead, filling the air with discordant screams, while pelicans, herons and storks, are perched here and there, half hidden among the foliage, motionless, wistfully watching the water, to catch the unsuspicious fish that venture within their reach.

The lake is nearly three miles long; its southern end reaches to within a hundred yards of the salt pit; thus the labor of transporting the salt is made comparatively easy.

During our stay at the village Dolores, we examined a curious old manuscript, written in very