60 SEA FISH OF TRINIDAD 
is no record of its ever having been explored, altho’ it is 
popularly supposed that treasure was submerged here by 
the buccaneers during the Spanish tenancy of the Colony. 
Looking from where we stood at the bottom of the ladder, 
the first part that attracts our attention is the bit shown in 
the first picture. It is high noon (for it is absolutely neces- 
sary that the descent should be made at or about mid-day, 
when the sun is directly overhead), from the shaft overhead 
the sunlight comes straight down, lighting up the large pool 
of water, catching the reflection of the marvellous roof and 
walls, and throwing the colours of green, blue, and glistening 
white into its darkest corners. This pool is extremely deep, 
but the water is so clear that wherever the light strikes, the 
bottom can be seen most distinctly. Rocks of all sizes and 
shapes lie below that clear water; huge stalactites, presum- . 
ably unable to bear their own weight, have fallen in and lie 
like marble mammoths, still, for not a ripple disturbs that 
smooth, glistening surface, no living fish can be seen there, 
probably because the outlets to the sea are too small; no one 
knows exactly even where the outlets are, but I personally 
think there must be several, for close to the landing place 
there is a tiny one, and on the south side between La Bor- 
delle and Winn’s Bay, there are two outlets that I have 
reason to think are connected with the caves. That there is 
connection with the sea there can be no doubt, for the water 
is salt and pure, which latter quality it certainly would not 
possess if the pool were stagnant and not continually re- 
newed, and secondly, the depth varies with the tide. 
Caused doubtless by its formation and great size, sound 
is carried far through the great silence, for it is the silence of 
the dead, nothing to be seen or heard, not even the twittering 
of the birds overhead, for are we not 80 ft. to 100 ft. from the 
sunlight of the upper world? 
Some of the stalactites and stalagmites are of large size, 
and have acquired such different shapes that visitors from 
time to time have named them after objects to which they 
have seen a real or fancied resemblance, an example of which 
is a prominent feature in our second illustration, which goes 
under the name of “The Pulpit”; further down in the dark- 
