00 



NOCTURNAL BIRDS. 



Superstitious 

 fears. 



Extent of 

 Uie cave. 



CHAP. VIII. t|i(. convent of Caripe it was used in tlie kitchen of the 

 monks, and our travi'Uers never found that it communi- 

 cated any disagreeable smell or taste to the food. 



The fjuacharoes would have been Ion;:,' ago destroyed, 

 had not the superstitious dread of the Indians prevented 

 them from penetrating far into the cavern. It also 

 appears that birds of the same species dwell in other in- 

 accessible places in the neighbourhood, and that the 

 great cave is repeopled by colonies from them. The 

 hard and dry fruits which are found in the crops and 

 gizzards of the young ones are consi<iered as an excellent 

 remedy against intermittent fevers, and regularly sent 

 to Cariaco and other parts of the lower districts where 

 such diseases prevail. 



The travellers followed the banks of the small river 

 which issues from the cavern as far as the mounds of 

 calcareous incrustations permitted them, and afterwards 

 descended into its bed. The cave preserved the same 

 direction, breadth, and height, as at its entrance, to the 

 distance of 1548 feet. The natives having a belief that 

 the souls of their ancestors inhabit its deep recesses, the 

 Indians who accompanied our travellers could hardly 

 be persuaded to venture into it. Shooting at random in 

 the dark, they obtained two specimens of the guacharo. 

 Having proceeded to a certain distance, they came to a 

 mass of stalactite, beyond which the cave became 

 narrower, although it retained its original direction. 

 Here the rivulet had deposited a blackish mould resem- 

 bling that observed at Mugendorf in Frauconia. The 

 seeds, which the birds carry to their young, spring up 

 wherever they are dropped into it ; and M. Humboldt 

 and his friend were astonished to find blanched stalks 

 that had attained a height of two feet. 



As the missionaries were unable to persuade the 

 Indians to advance farther, the party returned. The 

 river, sparkling amid the foliage of the trees, seemed 

 like a distant picture, to which the mouth of the cave 

 formed a frame, llavinff sat down at the entrance to 



Inner 



recL*>cs 



i;l".uit, of 



Uie party. 



