Page:Here and there in Yucatan - miscellanies (IA herethereinyucat00lepl 0).djvu/90

 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 already said, in these caves there 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, called by the natives tzau, also a blind fish of the silurus species. 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 not to be reached 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 senotecenote [sic], from the Maya word ɔonot, is given to all these deposits of water, also to some immense natural circular wells from 50 to 300 feet