MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. 



4a: 



scarcely pass, the creeping plants 

 that covered the ground, rendered 

 this part of the road fatiguing. 

 We were surprised to find here, 

 at scarcely 500 toises of elevation 

 above the level of the sea, a cru- 

 ciferous plant, raphanus pinnatus. 

 It is well known how scarce the 

 plants of this family are between 

 the tropics ; they display in some 

 sort a northern form, and as such 

 we never expected to see it on 

 the plain of Caripe at so little an 

 elevation. Those northern forms 

 seem also to appear in the galiura 

 caripense, the Valeriana scandens, 

 and a sanicle not unlike the s. ma- 

 rilandica. 



At the foot of the lofty moun- 

 tain of Guacharo, we were only 

 four hundred steps from the ca- 

 vern, without yet perceiving the 

 entrance. The torrent runs in a 

 crevice, which has been hollowed 

 out by the waters ; and we went 

 on under a cornice, the projection 

 of which prevented us from see- 

 ing the sky. The path winds 

 like the river: at the last turning 

 we came suddenl)' before the im- 

 mense opening of the grotto. The 

 aspect of this spot is majestic 

 even to the eye of a traveller 

 accustomed to the picturesque 

 scenes of the higher Alps. I had 

 before this seen the caverns of 

 the peak of Derbyshire, where, 

 extended in a boat, we traversed 

 a subterranean rh-er, under a 

 vault of two feet high, I had 

 visited the beautiful grotto of 

 Treshemienshiz, in the Carpathian 

 mountains, the caverns of the 

 Hartz, and those of Franconia, 

 which are vast cemeteries * of 



* The mould, that has covered for 

 thousands of years the soil of the 



bones of tigers, hyenas, and bears, 

 as large as our horses. Nature 

 in every zone follows immutable 

 laws in the distribution of rocks, 

 in the exterior form of mountains, 

 and even in those tumultuous 

 changes, which the exterior crust 

 of our planet has undergone. So 

 great a uniformity led me to be- 

 lieve, that the aspect of the cavern 

 of Caripe woqld differ little from 

 what I had observed in my pre- 

 ceding travels. The reality far 

 exceeded my expectations. If 

 the configuration of the grottoes, 

 the splendor of the stalactites, 

 and all the phenomena of inor- 

 ganic nature, present striking ana- 

 logies, the majesty of equinoxial 

 vegetation gives at the same time 

 an individual character to the 

 aperture of the cavern. 



The Cueva del Guacharo is 

 pierced in the vertical profile of a 

 rock. The entrance is toward 

 the south, and forms a vault eighty 

 feet broad, and seventy-two feet 

 high. This elevation is but a 

 fifth less than that of the colon- 

 nade of the Louvre. The rock, 



caverns of Gaylenreuth and Muggen- 

 dorfin Franconia, emits even now 

 choke-damps, or gazeous mixtures 

 of hydrogen and nitrogen, that rise 

 to the roof of their caves. This fact 

 is known to all those who show 

 these caverns to travellers ; and 

 when I had the direction of the 

 mines of the Fichtelberg, I observed 

 it frequently in the summer time. 

 Mr. Laugier found in the mould of 

 Muggendorf, beside phosphate of 

 lime, 0- 10 of animal matter. (Cuvier, 

 Recherchessur lesOssemens fossiles, 

 T. 4. Ours, p. 14). I was struck, 

 during my stay at Steeben, with the 

 ammoniacal and fetid smell produced 

 by it, when projected on a red hot 

 iron. 



that 



