448 ANNUAL REGISTER, 1818. 



that surmounts tlic grotto, is co- 

 vered with trees ofgigantichclght. 

 Tl)e mamnicc-tree, and the gc- 

 iiipa* with large and shining 

 leaves, raise their branches ver- 

 tically toward the sky; while 

 those of the courbaril and the 

 ei'ythrina form, as they extend 

 themselves, a thick vault of ver- 

 dure. Plants of the family of 

 pothos with succulent stems, oxa- 

 lises, and orchidex of a singular 

 structure, t rise in the driest clefts 

 of the rocks ; while creeping 

 plants, waving in the winds, are 

 interwoven in festoons before the 

 opening of the cavern. We dis- 

 tinguished in these festoons a 

 bignonia of a violet blue, the 

 purple dolichos, and for the first 

 time that magnificent solandra,:}: 

 the orange flower of which has a 

 fleshy tube more than four inches 

 long. The entrance of grottoes, 

 like the view of cascades, derive 

 their principal charm from the 

 situation, more or less majestic, 

 in which they are placed, and 

 which in some sort determines the 

 character of the landscape. What 

 a contrast between the Cueva of 

 Caripe, and those caverns of the 

 north crowned with oaks and 

 gloomy larch-trees! 



But this luxury of vegetation 

 embellishes not only the outside 

 of the vault, it appears even in 

 the vestibule of the grotto. We 

 saw with astonishment plantain- 

 leaved beliconias eighteen feet 



* Caruto, genipa americana. The 

 flower, at Caripe, has sometimes five, 

 sometimes six stamens. 



t A dendrobium, with a golden 

 ilowcr, spotted with black, three 

 inches lonp;. 



J Solandra scandens. It is the 

 gousaticha of the Chaynia Indians. 



high, the praga palm-tree, and 

 arborescent arums, follow the 

 banks of the river, even to those 

 subterranean places. The vege- 

 tation continues in the cave of 

 Caripe, as in those deep crevices 

 of the Andes, half excluded from 

 the light of day ; and does not 

 disappear, till, advancing in the 

 interior, we reach thirty or forty 

 paces from the entrance. We 

 measured the way by means of a 

 cord : and we went on about four 

 bundrcd and thirty feet, without 

 being obliged to light our torches. 

 Daylight penetrates even into 

 this region, because the grotto 

 forms but one single channel, 

 which keeps the same direction, 

 from south-east to north-west. 

 Where the light begins to fail, we 

 heard from afar the hoarse sounds 

 of the nocturnal birds ; sounds, 

 which the natives think belong 

 exclusively to those subterraneous 

 places. 



The guacharo is of the size of 

 our fowls, has the mouth of the 

 goatsuckers and procnias, and the 

 portof those vultures, the crooked 

 beak of which is surrounded with 

 stiff silky hairs. Suppressing, with 

 JNIr. Cuvier, the order of picae, we 

 must refer this extraordinary bird 

 to the passeres, the genera of 

 which are connected with each 

 other by almost imperceptible 

 transitions. I have noted it under 

 the name of steatornis, in a parti- 

 cular monography, contained in 

 the second volume of my obser- 

 vations on Zoology and Compa- 

 rative Anatomy. It forms a new 

 genus,* very different from the 



* Its essential characters are : 



rostrum validum, lateribus compres- 



sum, apice aduncum, mandibula, su- 



goat-sucker 



