424 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1958 
and sinks are ample evidence of the water resources underlying the 
whole of this island. 
On one side of our amphitheater was a great rock wall rising 70 
feet above our heads. Undercut fully 30 feet, there was left just a 
perilously thin roof, projecting to form what might be described as 
the top of the proscenium arch of the amphitheater’s stage. Not 
until we were down inside did we appreciate our guides’ concern 
when they pulled us back from the upper rim of this cliff upon which 
we had dismounted to peer over and to photograph the striking 
jungle down below. 
Opposing the cliffside “stage” were tiers of “seats” of a rubble of 
broken slabs of rock that once formed the roof of the former cavern. 
Down this tumbled slope we descended as from a high-up “peanut 
gallery” to the “pit” below. Because of that 30-foot overhang, the 
“stage” was so shaded that it was wholly devoid of trees. Here we 
rested and ate our lunch, which was enjoyed with some qualms, for 
we could not avoid remarking upon the large blocks of rock that at 
one time or another had dropped from above. Between us and the 
“balcony seats” on the far side of the amphitheater, obscuring them 
from sight, was our dense rain-forest, mostly tall palms stretching 
upward toward the light. The forest floor was a thick mulch of dead 
and rotting palm fronds. Before us, from over the clifl’s rim, 
descended hawser-thick roots of mighty lianas, reaching down for 
moisture and nurture in the humus-rich soil underfoot. In a few 
places over the rim came the intermittent drip-drip of water, though 
we saw not the slightest trace of it when we were on top. These little 
bits of moisture were building up small stalagmites, none larger than 
a fist. We later found a startlingly large stalagmite 8 feet high and 
not less than 2 feet in diameter. This greenish-white, almost trans- 
lucent mass of limestone was so smooth, so solid and well formed, 
that I have yet to see its counterpart in any of the many caves I have 
explored along our eastern seaboard. In the lightly misted patches 
formed about the stalagmites, Dr. Clarke, in his search for insects, 
discovered tiny frogs hiding among adjacent broken stone and gravel. 
We also looked into other and more superficial caves, at sea level 
and above, in the cliffs under Flat Top Rock Point near Crocus Bay, 
Anguilla. These are well known locally as popular bat roosts. At 
night the bats skimmed the surface of the water. While we were 
hand-lining over the side and dip-netting for plankton under an 
electric light suspended at the surface of the water, one, indeed, took 
hold of the captain’s line. Before he could jerk the hook upward to 
impale it, the bat took off. It was to us a new experience. The cap- 
tain, however, recalled that he had, under similar circumstances, 
snagged a bat off Dominica one night the year before. He was sure it 
(=) 
was fishing at the surface. Try as we might, we never got another 
