ony waves recall
forcibly to the mind the heavy swell of mid-ocean. It seems as if, in
times long gone by, the soil was upheaved, _en masse_, from the bottom
of the sea, by volcanic forces. This upheaval must have taken place many
centuries ago, since isolated columns of _Katuns_ 1m. 50c. square,
erected at least 6,000 years ago, stand yet in the same perpendicular
position, as at the time when another stone was added to those already
piled up, to indicate a lapse of twenty years in the life of the nation.

It is, indeed, a remarkable fact, that whilst the surrounding
countries--Mexico, Guatemala, Cuba and the other West India Islands--are
frequently convulsed by earthquakes, the peninsula of Yucatan is
entirely free from these awe-inspiring convulsions of mother earth. This
immunity may be attributed, in my opinion, to the innumerable and
extensive caves with which the whole country is entirely honeycombed;
and the large number of immense natural wells, called Senotes, that are
to be found everywhere. These caves and senotes afford an outlet for the
escape of the gases generated in the superficial strata of the earth.
These, finding no resistance to their passage, follow, harmlessly, these
vents without producing on the surface any of those terrible commotions
that fill the heart of man and beast alike with fright and dismay.

Some of those caves are said to be very extensive--None, however, has
been thoroughly explored. I have visited a few, certainly extremely
beautiful, adorned as they are with brilliant stalactites depending from
their roofs, that seem as if supported by the stalagmites that must have
required ages to be formed gradually from the floor into the massive
columns, as we see them to-day.

In all the caves are to be found either inexhaustible springs of clear,
pure, cold water, or streams inhabited by shrimps and fishes. No one can
tell whence they come or where they go. All currents of water are
subterraneous. Not a river is to be found on the surface; not even the
smallest of streamlets, where the birds of the air, or the wild beasts
of the forests, can allay their thirst during the dry season. The
plants, if there are no chinks or crevices in the stony soil through
which their roots can penetrate and seek the life-sustaining fluid
below, wither and die. It is a curious sight that presented by the roots
of the trees, growing on the precipituous[TN-1] brinks of the _senotes_,
in their search for wate