80 THE CAVE OF SOULS. 



part whicli tliey annually visited to collect the fat. The 

 wliole authority of the monks was necessary to induce 

 them to advance as far as the spot where the torrent 

 formed a small subterranean cascade. The natives con- 

 nected mystic ideas with this cave, inhabited by nocturnal 

 birds ; they believed that the souls of their ancestors so- 

 journed in the deep recesses of the cavern. " Man," 

 said they, " should avoid places which are enlightened 

 neither by the sun nor by the moon." " To go and join 

 the guacharos," was with them a phrase signifying to 

 rejoin their fathers, to die. The magicians and the poi- 

 soners performed their nocturnal tricks at the entrance 

 of the cavern, to conjure the chief of the evil spirits. 



At the point where the river formed the subterranean 

 cascade, a hill covered with vegetation, which was oppo- 

 site to the opening of the grotto, presented a very pic- 

 turesque aspect. It was seen at the extremity of a straight 

 passage, one thousand four hundred and fifty feet in 

 length. The stalactites descending from the roof, and 

 resembling columns suspended in the air, were relieved 

 on a background of verdure. The opening of the cavern 

 appeared singularly contracted, when the travellers saw 

 it about the middle of the day, illumined by the vivid 

 light reflected at once from the sky, the plants, and the 

 rocks. The distant light of day formed a strange con- 

 trast with the darkness which surrounded them in the 

 vast cavern. They discharged their guns at a venture, 

 wherever the cries of the nocturnal birds and the flap- 

 ping of their wings led them to suspect that a great 

 number of nests were crowded together. After several 

 fruitless attempts Bonpland succeeded in killing a couple 

 of guacharos, which, dazzled by the light of the torches, 



