St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1888-09-01
UNDERGROUND RIVERS.

Some Odd Sights and Natural Phenomena
In Yucataa.
Among other oddities We observed q
long procession OF female servants.
twenty-five or thirty Of them. drawing
water from two deep wells. reaching a
cenote by an endles chain Of sheep
skin buckets over a huge wheel. All
day this living machinery came and
went, each woman carrying a great
eantaro. or jar, steadied upon her hip
or shoulders. The water irrigates the
orange groves, pineapple patches and
coffee plantation, and the gardens
shaded by bananas, lines and cocoa
palms. Without it the sandy plain
would have remained . vast desert.
and with it the hacienda blossoms like
an oasis. as in reality it is.
There are no rivers in Yucatan that
flow above the ground. the people be-
ing wholly dependent upon the clouds
for their supply OF water. and upon
streams that run beneath the surface.
The entire peninsula is one vast table
coral rock. beneath which rivers
dow. At intervals these break
out into caverns, formed by
earthquakes, by the pressure Of the
streams, or by the infiltratiOn Of sur
face-water into natural grottos Of the
coral rock. Centuries ago the Indians
marked the courses Of the subterrarSan
rivers by heaps Of stones. and always
built their cities close by the water
caves. Wherever these rivers appear
to the light Of day the place is called a
cenotc-pronounced ce-note-a- There
are = great many scattered all over
Yucatan. and those near Merida are
utilized as public bath-houses. afford
inS the most refreshing resorts.
The cenote, near the hacienda Of
which write, Is cavern nearly fifty
feet deep. broken down at one side,
thus forming an arch of limestone.
Within it appear every form OF
stalagmite and stalactite. and its roof
Is perforated with holes. in which are
thousands of nests of birds and hornets.
A flight OF stone steps leads down to it
from the charming garden above. and
palms and aquacates growing at the
bottom thrust their verdant crowns
just above the level Of terra firma.
The water is perfectly clear, apparent
ly bottOmless, and contains many blind
fish (piscado cenote). like those found
in the Mammoth cave in Kentucky.
The overhanging roots of trees
fringe its broken arch, affording shelter
to numberless lizards and guanOs.
which dart along the lodges, while
above them countless swallows are con-
stantly circling in masses SO dense that
the whirring OF their wings produces a
dcafening noise. echoed from below in
hollow reverberatiOns.
Another novelty, to us, about this
hacienda. was its bee garden. 1t is
reached by going down the great cor
ridOr past the cattle-yard (all cattle
yards in Yucatan are in front of, or i'm
mediately adjoining the houses Of their
owners). past the well where the wom-
en- were drawing water, and through a
garden OF orange and lime trees. The
bee-hives were primitive, but COM
plete. being merely hollow logs cut
about two feet long, plastered up at
each end with mud, and piled in long
rows. Every six weeks they are emp
tied, and at certain seasons Of the year
the honey is SO odorous Of flowers rs
to scent the whole house. One ad-
in this industry Is that the
bees of Yucatan are entirely stingless,
and may be handled with impunity.-
Dbsl0dcI,,h;n Rr~ord