is intense and
the descent continuous, though irregular, like a series of hills and
dales, ladders being placed against the steepest places.

After an exhausting journey we reach a vast chamber, from which
crooked passages lead in various directions to wells, seven in all,
each named according to the peculiar kind of water. One, always warm,
is called _Chocoha_ (hot water); another, _O[c]iha_* (milky water), and
_Akabha_ (dark water). About 400 paces away from the chamber, passing
through a very narrow, close passage, there is a basin of red water
that ebbs and flows like the sea, receding with the south wind,
increasing with the northwest.

*Transcriber's note: [c] denotes upside-down 'c' in original.

To reach the most distant well, we go down yet one more ladder, the
seventh. On one side of it there is a perpendicular wall, on the other
a yawning gulf, so when one of the steps, merely round sticks tied
with withes, gave way beneath our feet, we tightly grasped the stick
above. Having reached the bottom of the ladder, we crawl on our hands
and feet through a broken, winding passage about 800 feet long, then
see before us a basin of crystalline water, and how thirsty we are!
This basin is 1,400 feet from the mouth of the cave, and about 450
feet below the earth's surface. Several hundred people during five
months in every year depend entirely on that source for all the water
they use. With their frail pitchers and flaring torches they wend
their way, gasping for breath, through the intricate passages, and
reaching the water, are so profusely perspiring that they must wait
before quenching their thirst. The way back is even harder, and they
are tired and loaded; yet these people are such lovers of cleanliness
that on their arrival at their poor huts, before tasting food, they
will use some of the water that has cost them so much, to bathe their
smoke-begrimed skin. As several women once fainted in the cave, men
generally fetch the water now.

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, and if we may judge by Yucatan, Pliny was ri