SMITHSONIAN-BREDIN EXPEDITION—-SCHMITT 421 
bottle is screwed onto its lower narrow, funnellike end. The light- 
attracted insects getting or falling within the cone are quickly over- 
come by the cyanide fumes and so are held until the trap is emptied 
the next morning. As this was an after-dark operation, Dr. Clarke 
spent more than one night ashore, mosquito repellent close at hand, 
He made overnight stays on Barbuda, Anguilla, and Redonda. 
EXPLORING ISLAND CAVES 
The first cave visited was Dark Cave on the island of Barbuda. 
From the town of Codrington, the seat of the local Barbudan govern- 
ment and the residence of the administrator of the island’s affairs, 
who is also postmaster, it was a horseback ride over some of the rock- 
iest, shrubbiest, and thorniest terrain that any of us had ever traversed. 
In my experience only the Galapagos cactus-acacia thickets are denser 
and more difficult and the lava-rock-strewn ground rougher and more 
dangerous. Had there not been a previously broken trail on Barbuda, 
obviously not too well tended, I doubt if we could have made the round 
trip ina day. As it was, the 8-mile trip by road and trail took us a 
full 21% hours each way. 
It was well after noon before we reached the entrance to Dark Cave. 
The descent was 40 feet or more obliquely downward in a tortuous 
passage, overhung by huge boulders that did not always appear to 
be too firmly affixed to the “roof” over our heads, and under which 
we had to stoop at times. At the bottom we found a sizable cavern, 
or rather several broadly connected chambers, with alcoves on each 
side. Some of these were at levels above the ground floor, others at 
or below it. We found the first of a series of five fresh-water pools 
at the foot of our downward trek, stretching back into utter darkness. 
Where we stood, on the “shore” of the first pool, the water was little 
more than ankle deep, increasing to a foot or two farther out. For 
the last and largest of the series, our guides claimed a depth of 10 feet, 
which one of them promptly demonstrated by plunging in and going 
straight down in the middle, feet first with his right arm extended 
up over his head. The water closed a good 2 feet above his fingers. 
Not the least ray of light filtered in from our crooked entrance 
passage. For illumination we had two gasoline lanterns and a flash- 
light apiece. The guides brought along also a ball of heavy cord, 
which one of them payed out as we went down and in. Lanterns can 
be upset or accidentally dunked in dark and unknown waters, and 
flashlights and batteries have been known to fail at times. Without 
that reassuring “lifeline” for guiding us back among the boulders over 
which we had to climb, crowd between, or crawl under, it is doubtful 
if we could have retraced our steps safely had our lights given out. 
Measured from the loop tied in the line at our last stop, the foreshore 
of that farthest-in pool, we found we had come 400 feet. 
