Page:Here and there in Yucatan - miscellanies (IA herethereinyucat00lepl 0).djvu/94

 grimed skin. As several women once fainted in the cave, men now always fetch the water.

Yucatan is, and has been for ages past, quite free from earthquakes, while all surrounding countries are from time to time convulsed. This immunity may be due to the vast caverns and numerous great wells existing throughout the land. Pliny the Elder was of opinion that if numerous deep wells were made in the earth to serve as outlets for the gases that disturb its upper strata, the strength of the earthquakes would be diminished; if we may judge by Yucatan, Pliny was right in his conjectures. After him other scientists, who have carefully studied the subject, have expressed the same opinion with regard to the efficacy of large wells.