WHOLE VOL. THE WEST INDIES VAZQUEZ DE ESPINOSA 211 



593. There are some caves of remarkable size and extraordinary 

 character in the valley where the city is built. At the point where 

 the rivers go underground, at the foot of a high mountain, there is 

 one cave which will hold more than 200 men ; and where one of these 

 rivers originates, there is another which will hold over 1,000. There 

 is another which is entered by a hole in the ground and inside there 

 is room for 1,000 persons. There is another one which from the 

 entrance looks like a large lake. Among the Quelenes, near the 

 village of San Bartolome, there is a wide opening like a well ; if 

 one throws a small stone in, it makes a loud noise and then a blast 

 like thunder, fearful and awe-inspiring, and the reports can be heard 

 far away from the cave. There is another near the village of Quiche- 

 mucelo with a large level expanse inside and at one side it has a 

 lake of water so transparent and still that the eye is deceived by 

 it, taking it to be sand. In that same district there are four others 

 with narrow entrances but so wide inside that two coaches or carts 

 could go abreast, and one even resembles a forest with signs and 

 cross paths. Near them in a high, bright location is another with a 

 very wide mouth, and inside, a sort of altars and places for sacrifice, 

 with many human bones and skulls, and by the entrance there is a 

 spring of good clear water. 



594. Three leagues from Chiapa there is a very deep recess cutting 

 into a cliff ; it will be over 10 fathoms wide and many parrots and 

 other birds breed there. In the valley of Comitlan among the Quelenes 

 there is another very large cavern, the home of other birds which 

 are so shy that no one has ever found or seen their nests. Two 

 leagues from this there is another very wide and deep, which is 

 bathed in sunlight all day long. Nearby is the Rich Ravine (Quebrada 

 Rica), from which quantities of gold have been taken; there are rich 

 mines there of silver, iron, tin, lead, copper, and copperas (copper 

 pyrites ?) . Near the village of Tapalapa in the Province of the Zoques, 

 there is another mine, of stuff that looks like amber ; and there are 

 other remarkable things, which I shall describe in the following 

 chapter. 



Chapter V 



Of the Strange Snakes, Serpents, and Worms To Be Found in 

 This District. 



595. Within the jurisdiction of this Diocese there are many species 

 of serpents, vipers, and snakes, whose bite is fatal. Some are dark 

 gray and look like a rotten stick, with four openings at the nostrils ; 

 if they bite any animal, it sweats blood at every joint and dies within 



