﻿CAVES OF CUBA. 



193 



at the bottom. In most cases 

 the roof is very thin ; that is, 

 the dome is just beneath the 

 surface, the room being high. 

 More rarely the roof is thick 

 and the cave correspondingly 

 low. In one case the roof is 

 intact and a narrow tunnel 

 slopes down to the cave from 

 the side. In several cases a 

 vertical shaft leads down at 

 the edge of the cave, in other 

 cases a smaller or larger open- 

 ing or openings occur near 

 the middle of the dome, while 

 not infrequently more than 

 half of the roof has fallen, 

 forming a slope down one 

 side, while at the opposite 

 side the overhanging walls 

 still stand (fig. 70). The 

 latter is the Ashton type 

 found in several of the caves 

 on the Finca Ashton. In all ^'°- "">■ °'^«"" °' ^'^'''^ ^^'"■ 



the caves visited there was a pool of water. (There are said to be dry caves, but 

 we had no time to visit them.) In one case the pool forms a simple sheet of water; 



Fig. 70. Diagram of Ashton. Hypothetical Outline of Cave before Fall of Right Part of Roof is indicated by Dotted Lines. 



