Maya words _chi_, mouth, and
_chen_, well, and signifies the mouth of the well. Among the ruins are
two great senotes, which, beyond doubt, furnished water to the
inhabitants of the ancient city. Since the establishment of a hacienda
and the construction of a well, these had fallen into disuse. Doctor
Cabot had undertaken to open a path in one of them down to the water,
for the purpose of bathing, which, in that hot climate, was as
refreshing as food. We came upon him just as he had finished, and,
besides his Indian workmen, he had the company of a large party of
Mestizo boys from the village of Piste, who were already taking
advantage of his labours, and were then swimming, diving, and perched
all about in the hollows of the rocks.

On our journey from Peto, the particulars of which I was obliged to
omit, we had entered a region where the sources of the supply of water
again formed a new and distinctive feature in the face of the country,
wilder, and, at first sight, perhaps creating at stronger feeling of
admiration and wonder than even the extraordinary cuevas, aguadas, and
senotes we had formerly encountered. These, too, are called senotes,
but they differ materially from those before presented, being immense
circular holes, from sixty to two hundred feel in diameter, with
broken, rocky, perpendicular sides from fifty to one hundred feet deep,
and having at the bottom a great body of water, of an unknown depth,
always about the same level, supposed to be supplied by subterranean
rivers. We had seen ranchos of Indians established near these senotes,
with a railing on one side, over which Indian women were drawing up
water in little bark buckets; probably the two great senotes at this
place were the inducements to the foundation of the ancient city.

The engraving that follows represents this senote among the ruins of
Chichen. Though wild enough in its appearance, it had less of that
extraordinary regularity than the others we had seen. Those were all
circular, and it was impossible to get access to the water except by
means of a rope. This wae oblong, about three hundred and fifty feet in
length and one hundred and fifty wide. The sides were between sixty and
seventy feet high, and perpendicular, except in one place, which was
broken so as to form a steep, winding descent to the water. The view is
taken from the edge of the water. The path is evidently, to a certain
extent, artificial, as we saw in one place the ves