THE ROMANCE OF NATURAL fflSTORY. 



from the tight of da v. nor does it disappear till a 

 distance of thirty or forty paces from the en- 

 trance. The party went forward for about four 

 hundred and thirty feet, without being obliged to 

 tight their torches. Where the fight began to mil. 

 they beard from afar the hoarse cries of the 

 tntacharo birds. He states that it is difficult to 

 form an idea of the horrible noise made by thou- 

 sands of these birds in the dark recesses of the 

 cavern, whence their shrill and piercing cries strike 

 upon the vaulted rocks, and are repeated by the 

 echo in the depths of the grotto. He observes 

 that the race of puaeharo birds would probably 

 have been extinct long since, if several circum- 

 stances had not contributed to its preservation. 

 The natives, withheld by superstitions tears, sel- 

 dom dare to proceed tkr into the imams of the 

 Humboldt had great difficulty in per- 

 to pass beyond the outer part of the 

 cave, the only part of it which they visit annually 

 to collect the ofl : and the whole authority of the 

 Padns was necessary to make them penetrate as 

 far as the spot where the floor rises abruptly, at 

 an inclination of sixty degrees, and where a 



In the minds of the Indians, tins cave, 



ideas, and they believe that in the deep recesses of 



the cavern the souls of 



They say that mam 



enlightened neither by the sun nor the 



to go and join the guacharoes." means to rejoin 



their fathers i n short, to die. At the entrance of 



their exorcisms, to conjure the chief of the evil 



222 



