48 A NATURALIST IN MEXICO. 



distance of two miles was level, and bordered fields of hene- 

 quen; it then ascended at a moderate angle until we reached 

 an abrupt opening, circular in outline, fully sixt}- feet in cir- 

 cumference, seeming a magnificent entrance to a great tem- 

 ple for the worsh p of the god of nature. We first des- 

 cended by a succession of short ladders laid against the face 

 of the wall of the cavern, and entered a large, vaulted cavern 

 about sixty feet in height, lighted from the mouth. In this 

 chamber were many weird and gigantic stalactites incrusted 

 with the disintegrated earth, which gave them a brownish 

 tinge. From here we entered a second chamber about twenty 

 feet below, in which was a mcst beautiful display of stalactitic 

 growth; here were gigantic columns of pure, white calcite, 

 reaching from the floor to the roof above. We had been 

 told of numerous figures and objects of domestic utensils 

 used by the ancient inhabitants, which were to be found in 

 this cave, but as was most usually the case we were doomed 

 to disappointment, for the so called figures were nothing 

 more than the huge stalactitic columns before us. 



From this chamber we journeyed on by a downward, 

 shelving path, and entered another of surpassing weirdness; 

 it was fully three hundred feet in diameter, and lighted from 

 a circular hole in the roof, eighty feet above, through which 

 streamed the sunlight. At one end of this large chamber 

 was a smaller one, about as large as a good sized room. 

 Against the wall of this apartment was a most delicious 

 fountain of clear, cold water, bubbling up from a hollow stal- 

 agmite. When emptied of its contents this fountain slowly 

 filled again, but did not run over. The exact temperature 

 we were, unfortunately, not able to determine. 



From this small chamber several dark passages 

 branched to right and left, but they had not been explored, 

 and the guides would not enter them. Recrcssing the 

 large cavern we entered a dark passage, fifty feet in height, 



