BOOK II. CHAP. VIII. 153 



ftalaftic petrlfii^lions. In many parts of the mountains are found 

 limilar cavities, fome of which have adits defcending a very great 

 depth into the earth. It is poffible, they may have been originally 

 formed by earthquakes; yet, to judge from the appearance of moft 

 of them, they appear coeval with the ifl.ind itfelf. On going into 

 oneof thefe in the middle of the day to tlie depth of about forty 

 feet, the air, or v;ipour, grew fo hot and fuffocating, that it was 

 impoflible to proceed any lower. Thefe chafms, perhaps, have a 

 very extenfive fubterraneous communication ; and, whenever the 

 external air is highly rarefied, the vapours rufh upwards through the 

 aperture in a continued ftream ; on the contrary, when the ex- 

 ternal air is in a different flate, it probably defcends with fome 

 violence into thefe openings: at certain times therefore, as for ex- 

 ample in the early morning-hours, it may be pradicable to go 

 down very low into them without inconvenience or danger. In moft 

 of them are found large quantities of human bones, almofl con- 

 fumed by time, the teeth alone being in a tolerably perfe£l flate. 

 Some have conjedtured, that thefe places were either uled by the 

 Indians as ofluaries, or elfe as occafional retreats, to elude the fearcli 

 of an enemy. The moft probable account is, that the bones be- , 

 longed to thofe poor Indian natives who fell vidims to the barbarity 

 of their Spanifli conquerors ; for Efquemeling, who wrote in 1666, 

 and had feen great quantities of human bones lying in caves in the 

 ifland of Hifpaniola, tells us he was informed, by the inhabitants 

 of that ifland, that, when the Spaniards had refolved upon the ex- 

 tirpation of the Indians, they made ufe of dogs of a peculiar breed, 

 large, bold, and very fleet. The poor Indians having for fome 

 time been obliged to take refuge in their woods, thefe animals 

 were conftantly employed to hunt them out. The Spaniards by 

 this means caught a great number of them ; and were content at 

 firft to kill feveral, quartering their bodies, and fixing their limbs 

 on the moft confpicuous fpots /« terror em, that the reft might take 

 warning by their fate, and fubmit at difcretion. But this horrid 

 cruelty, inftead of intimidating or reducing to friendly terms, only 

 ferved to embitter them more againft their favage invaders, and' af- 

 feded them with fo inveterate an abhorrence of the Spaniards, that 

 they determined to fly their fight for ever, and rather perifli by 

 V^oL. II. X famine 



