days, and still no announcement of
a boat. In a visit made to the bishop, to tell him of our kind reception
in Tekax and to make inquiry regarding books printed in the Maya, we
were again warned by the prelate to be most careful of our health; that
day, he told us, two of our countrymen, working at the electric-light
plant, had been stricken with yellow fever and would surely die. The
second day we were in town the boys met Don Poncio, one of the Spanish
comrades of the _padre_ at Tekax, who, with another of the household,
had run away, leaving the good priest alone, as the young fellow who had
been ill in the room next ours developed a full case of yellow fever the
day we left, and was dead before night.

One day we went to a _cenote_ for a bath. Passing through a house into a
rather pretty garden, we came to a stairway, partly natural and partly
cut in the solid rock, which we descended; we found ourselves in a
natural cave, with a pool of blue, transparent water. A paved platform
surrounded one side of the cave, and near its rear edge was a bench of
masonry, which was continued along the side of the pool by a similar
bench, cut partly from the living rock. The water was so clear that we
could see, by the light coming from above, to its very bottom, and
could detect little black fishes, like bull-heads, against the sand and
pebbles. The pool was irregular in shape, so that a portion of it was
out of sight behind the rock-wall, beyond which we found that there was
a paved floor and benching similar to that in the portion which we had
entered. We had a delightful and refreshing swim in this underground
pool, but it was noticeable that, after we came out into the air, there
was no evaporation of water from the body, and towels were absolutely
necessary for drying. Such _cenotes_ are found in many parts of Yucatan,
and form the regular bathing-places, and are often the only natural
supplies of drinking-water. Of streams above ground there are
practically none in the whole peninsula.

The last day of our stay in Merida we saw the _xtoles_. These are bands
of indian dancers who go from house to house during the carnival season;
they are dressed in costumes which reproduce some features of the
ancient indian dress. In the little company which we saw were fifteen
dancers, including the standard-bearer; all were males, but half of them
were dressed like females and took the part of such. The male dancers
wore the usual white