199 The flamingo quadrille 



ably at a point on the western shore of the island, but for an un- 

 determined length of time it has been landlocked, and its shal- 

 low depths have been supplied by a series of underground tunnels 

 that reach to the sea and are known locally as "ocean holes." 

 Gilbert Klingel, who wrote a fascinating book about his experi- 

 ences after being shipwrecked on Inagua in the late 1930s, has 

 had much to say about these tidal openings. They are one of the 

 peculiarities of the island, which is unusual in other respects, as 

 it is composed largely of coralline rock and dolomitic limestone, 

 yet is on the edge of the volcanic region that rises from the sea 

 in the towering bulk of Hispaniola, immediately to the south. 

 The foundations of Great Inagua must be honeycombed with 

 caverns and channels and underground pools, all linked beneath 

 its surface with the surrounding sea. Some of these Stygian tun- 

 nels are certainly miles in total length. 



On the surface of the island all that one sees is a great shallow 

 lake bed, much of it dry, its waters supplied by periodic tidal 

 gushings and the flow from networks of lesser rivulets that trickle 

 from the crevices that riddle its floor. Most of the ocean holes 

 that are open and active lie toward the eastern end of the lake, 

 and as the prevailing winds are from the east, the accumulated 

 flow is carried westward in a steady movement. Near the head 

 of the big lake I saw one opening that measures three by five 

 feet across, with the sea pouring out of it as from an artesian well. 

 Others, smaller in size, may spout like miniature geysers, but the 

 greater number of holes one comes across are choked with sand 

 and shell. They are barely wet when the tide is running full, and 

 quite dry at low tide. Smaller and somewhat deeper bodies of 

 water, the Upper Lakes, are scattered across the island to the east 

 of the big lake, now called Lake Windsor in honor of the Duke, 

 who was once governor of these islands. In these smaller lakes the 

 ocean holes may be very large, and we saw good-sized fish in some 

 of them, including tarpon and bonefish. 



These water sources are vitally important to the flamingo. They 

 are the avenues and the threads of life to everything that lives in 

 the lakes. The bed of Lake Windsor is so capacious, for the 

 amount of water it must normally hold, that it is in effect a huge 



