THE CAVERN OF ATARUIPE. 179 



beheld the singular aspect of the surrounding country. 

 The foamy bed of the waters was filled with an arclii- 

 pelago of islands covered with palm-trees. Westward, 

 on the left bank of the Orinoco, the wide-stretching 

 savannahs of the Meta and the Casanare resembled a 

 sea of verdure. The setting sun seemed like a globe of 

 fire suspended over the plain, and the solitary peak of 

 Uniana, which appeared more lofty from being wrapped 

 in vapours which softened its outline, all contributed to 

 deepen the majesty of the scene. Immediately below 

 them lay a deep valley, inclosed on every side. Birds of 

 prey and goatsuckers winged their lonely flight in this 

 inaccessible place. The travellers found a pleasure in 

 following with the eye their fleeting shadows, as they 

 glided slowly over the flanks of the rock. 



The most remote part of the valley was covered by a 

 thick forest. In this shady and solitary spot, on the 

 declivity of a steep mountain, the cavern of Ataruipe 

 opened to the view. It was less a cavern than a jutting 

 rock, in which the waters had scooped a vast hollow 

 when, in the ancient revolutions of our planet, they 

 attained that height. In this tomb of an extinct tribe 

 the travellers counted nearly six hundred skeletons well 

 preserved, and regularly placed. Every skeleton reposed 

 in a sort of basket made of the petioles of the palm-tree. 

 These baskets had the form of a square bag. Their size was 

 proportioned to the age of the dead ; there were some for 

 infants cut off at the moment of their birth. The travel- 

 lers saw them from ten inches to three feet four inches long, 

 the skeletons in them being bent together. They were 

 all ranged near each other, and were so entire that not a 

 rib or a phalanx was wanting. The bones had been 



