water furrowed the straits, and myriads of dead fish floated on the surface and accumulated on the shores. Even in the open sea the saltness diminished by one-half, and in some places the fishermen drew their drinking-water from the surface of the sea as if from a well. It is affirmed by all those who witnessed this remarkable inundation of the subterranean river that, during more than a month, it discharged at least as much water as the Mississippi itself, and spread over all the strait, 31 miles wide, which separates Key West from Florida. On the coasts of Yucatan, the fresh waters which take a subterranean course down to the sea do not appear to flow like rivers which have a narrow bed and attain considerable speed, but more in the form of a wide sheet of liquid with a nearly imperceptible current. _Cenotes_ open here and there over the surface of the country; they are a kind of natural draining-well or hole, not very deep, into which the inhabitants descend to draw spring water. At Merida and in the environs the subterranean water is found at a depth of 26 to 30 feet; but the nearer we approach to the sea the thinner the layer of rock becomes which covers the liquid veins; on the seashore fresh water is found nearly on a level with the soil. The height of the veins varies several inches, according to the quantity of rain; but in every season the mass of water descending from the plateau of Yucatan is poured into the sea through innumerable outlets. Over a great extent of the shore of the peninsula, these hidden springs furnish collectively a mass sufficiently large to counterpoise the waters of the sea. Under the pressure of the marine current which runs along the coast, there is formed, between the open sea and the liquid mass which has made its way from the land, a littoral bank like those barriers which the waves construct before the mouths of rivers. This embankment, which protects the coasts of Yucatan like a breakwater, is not less than 171 miles long, and is cut through by the sea at two or three points. The channel, which stretches like a wide river between the bank of alluvium and the Yucatan coast, is, not without reason, designated by the inhabitants by the name of stream or _rio_.