132 I N A G U A 



gave off a deep ecclesiastical tone somewhat like the reso- 

 nance of an organ in the shadowy lofts of a cathedral. By way 

 of experimentation I tried ranging a series in a row to see if I 

 could play a tune. With a big stick and by dint of much dash- 

 ing to and fro, for some of the pieces were too large to haul 

 conveniently, I managed to bang out the first five notes of 

 "My Country 'Tis of Thee" but I got stuck on the "sweet land 

 of liberty" part and could go no further. The slabs needed 

 tuning badly and the music sounded horribly flat, but it had 

 possibilities. 



The land beneath the surface must be honey-combed with 

 holes and caverns, for this hollow sound is common to many 

 parts of the island. Inagua, like many of the Bahamas, can be 

 compared to a gigantic stone sponge. In places the sea pene- 

 trates far underground. Ocean holes, clear blue ponds of salt 

 sea water which rise and fall with the tide, frequently occur 

 a dozen miles from the coast. They are quite different from 

 the shallow lakes of dull green or pinkish water which abound 

 everywhere. I found one of these holes several days later about 

 four miles from the beach on the north side of the island. It 

 was roughly sixty feet in diameter and was filled with the same 

 liquid blue water that washes the reefs. The sides were crusted 

 with red sponges and deep down below the surface I could 

 discern a few anemones and the white marks of barnacles. There 

 was no bottom. Although the water was so clear that the walls 

 were visible for a hundred feet the hole disappeared into in- 

 finity. Somewhere down in the dark a tunnel pierced its way 

 out to the ocean. I would have given much to have been able 

 to explore its fastnesses. Did it emerge beyond the reefs along 

 the edge of some towering submarine cliff or did it lead for 

 thousands of feet down into the black depths of the ocean? 

 What fantastic creatures lived in its dark passages; ghostly 

 white anemones, possibly, forever shut off from the light of 



