The Maya manuscript places the first discovery of Chichen within the epochs corresponding with the time between A.D. 360 and A.D. 432. From the words used, it may be understood that the discovery was then made of an actual existing city, but it is a fair construction of these words to suppose that nothing more is meant than a discovery of what the words Chi-chen import, viz., the mouths of wells, having reference to the two great senotes, the discovery of wells being, among all primitive people, and particularly in the dry region of Yucatan, an event worthy to be noted in their history. One of these senotes I have already mentioned; the other I did not visit till the afternoon preceding our departure from Chichen. Setting out from the Castillo, at some distance we ascended a wooded elevation, which seemed an artificial causeway leading to the senote. The senote was the largest and wildest we had seen; in the midst of a thick forest, an immense circular hole, with cragged, perpendicular sides, trees growing out of them and overhanging the brink, and still as if the genius of silence reigned within. A hawk was sailing around it, looking down into the water, but without once flapping its wings. The water was of a greenish hue. A mysterious influence seemed to pervade it, in unison with the historical account that the well of Chichen was a place of pilgrimage, and that human victims were thrown into it in sacrifice. In one place, on the very brink, were the remains of a stone structure, probably connected with ancient superstitious rites; perhaps the place from which the victims were thrown into the dark well beneath. CHAPTER XVIII. Departure from Chichen.--Village of Cawa.--Cuncunul.--Arrival at Valladolid.--An Accident.--Appearance of the City.--Don Pedro Baranda's Cotton Factory.--A Countryman.--Mexican Revolution.--The Indians as Soldiers.--Adventures of a Demonio.--Character of the People.--Gamecocks.--Difficulty of obtaining Information in regard to the Route.--Departure for the Coast.--Party of Indians.--Village of Chemax.--Fate of Molas the Pirate.--Discouraging Accounts.--Plans deranged.--The Convent.--The Cura.--Population of the Village.--Its early History.--Ruins of Coba.--Indian Sepulchre.--Relics.--A Penknife found in the Sepulchre. On Tuesday, the twenty-ninth of March, we left Chichen. It was still in the gray of the morning when we caught our last view of the great buildings, and as we turned away we felt that the few short months of our journey had been a time of interest and wonder, such as rarely occurs in life. At nine o'clock we reached the village of Kaua, six leagues distant, and at half past eleven the small village of Cuncunul, within an hour's ride of Valladolid, and there we determined to dine, and wait for the servants and carriers.