Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1893-08-03
SENOTES IN YUCATAN.
NATURAL WELLS WHICH ARE so IM-
PORTANT TO THE COUNTRY.

n Visit TO the Plantation of Father Pablo
Ancona-The Hidden Senote-How n,
Indian Woman Tried to Hide Her Pen
Pies Sec-et-Under a Sacred Tree.
Among the thousands of persons who
have visited Florida some have been inter
ested In the subterranean currents and ba-
SINS OF water il habited by blind fish of the
genus Silurus. They live in darkness. and
the lnactlon of the visual organ, if it ever
existed, has ended in its suppression. Dame
Nature is great economist, generally with
holoinS or witt drawing what is not strictly
necessary to her subjects.
As Florida stretches out. forming one
jaw of the Mexican gulf. which weventnre
to liken to a big mouth, so the southern or
lower jaw is formed by another peninsula,
famous for i1 ruins. Here, too, we find
onose same su oterranean currents and ba-
SINS, much more numerous; also enormous
natural wells open to the surface of the
earth. such sources of water greatly in
crease the value of land, there being no
rivers worth mentioning in any part of the
country.
In land where hospitality is an unwrit-
ten law, inns are regarded as unnecessary.
strangers are rare objects in the interior
and friends are ever welcome among their
acquaintances The convent doors stand
open to all strangers worthy of considera-
ton, as these buildings are now the dwell
ing place OF only the priest and his serv-
ants. Mexicos Indian president, Benito
Juarez, enacted laws in 1861 forbidding any
religious body to dwell in community.
1t was while enjoying the hospitality of
the Rev. Father Pablo Ancona that we
learned the story of a famous senote (the
name gwen to all subterranean water
sources) on his plantation, for the father
was land owner and did not scorn to Guilt
vate his property. Had he not done some
thing of the sort to replenish his ever open
purse his generous hospitality must soon
have come TO IN end, most of his parishion-
ers being poor, and he seldom insisting on
his fees. Don Pablo showed us his planta-
ton with its gardens of flowers, fruits and
vegetables, in which he took pride.
He pointed out for our particular admit
ration some truly enormous cabbages We
preferred the oranges, which for our benefit
he pulled from the richly laden trees They
were warmed through with the sun and
the sweetest we have ever tasted The
greater part OF the ground was monopoliZed
by hemp plan. About $50 bales were piled
up IN one room, representing some $1,000
Don Pablo took us through the engine
house, and then asked if we would like to
: know the story of his senote, which had
been the making of the estate Weenioyed
hearing him TIL it i'll his own way:
Near the engine house stood mound
built by the ancients. From it drew a
supply of nicely hewn stones. 1t appeared
to me that there had been rooms connected
with it. and this made me believe there
must be water not far OF | declared nv
intention of having ,Ie whole pile of ma
sOnry removed 10 see what we could find
One of my Indians, II young man, became
quite excited, imploring me to do nothing
of the sort because the mound ha,i spil <
keepers-dwartish creatures that were Of
ten seen. | laughed at him, vowing that if
his dwarfs lived under the mound we
would take good look ut them So had
the mound destroyed, but the fellow who
had tried to dissuade me would not help in
the work. He said | could whip him if |
| liked, bCt as lor taking part in the destruc-
ton he would not.
| This made me suspect that he knew
something about the spot and that he
must have learned it from his aged grand
| mother, with whom he lived | went to
see her, pretending to know that u hidden
senote existed, simply asking her to tell
| me its exact whereabouts. She would say
| nothing. | insisted, threatening to DENY
her absolution when her last hour should
come so she could not enter heaven The
poor old thing cried, begging for pity
Finally between threats and coaxing l
wrung the truth from her
'She said My father was the only one of
our family to survive a general massacre.
l was his only child. All the family Sc
crets We're cOn1ided To me- This part of the
land which You call yours and much more
! besides really belongs to me and mine. If
I 1ivulup SpCrptS II forfa;+ +l,a
| right, and when we come to live here again
| (they believe i'll reincarnation) we shall not
| be able to obtain the land. Because YOU
| are my confcssor | tell you, though YOU
| must not repeat it,
"She stopped there, and l had to do more
| coaxing and talking about the next world.
| till at last, being very infirm, she grew
| tired and consented to indicate the spot on
| condition that three aged women should be
| presented to the spirit of the senote. They
| were to be the first to enter. assented
| She declared that the water was under a
| ceiba tree. Clinging to last hOpeof keep
ing her secret, she pretended not to know
| just which one.
''The ceiba was sacred in Central Amer
| lea as the DO tree is in Ceylon. Looking at
| them attentively, l found a tree more beau
| tiful and vigorous than the others. This
| led me to suppose that the water was be-
| meath it. Sure enough, when the tree was
felled and removed we came upon hewn
| stones and ortar. In their thirst for the
| life giving fluid the roots had penetrated
| deep, twining about the stones and holding
| to them like a wise. We separated hewn
| from unhewn stones, using some of the
| former to build a stairway down to the wa
| ter 80 feet below the surface
1.-THE stones in the senote and mound
| cbouad that the DeOnle had demolished
| their own dwelling place to fill up the
cave, thus depriving their enemies of water
and shelter. In the mound we found very
| small dwarfs overwhelmingly clay fig
ures that regarded as toys, so gave them
| away to the children of the workmen. The
| poor old dame who so boldly laid claim to
| my estate is dead. Her hidden senote has