
RECREATION. 
Volume XX. 
JUNE, 1904 
Number 6 
G. 0. SHIELDS (COQUINA), Editor and Manager 
ANIMAL LIFE IN A CUBAN CAVE. 
AUGUST BUSCK. 
_ The entire Eastern end of Cuba is 
undermined by subterranean galler- 
ies, which often widen out into con- 
siderable chambers, constituting a 
wonderful world of darkness, which 
is only here and there connected with 
the world of sunshine above by air 
shafts. I had found 2 of these and 
had tried to gain an entrance to the 
caverns below; but both had been 
narrow and shallow and I had crawled 
on hands and knees through muddy 
galleries only to meet some obstacle 
which prevented further progress and 
forced me to retrace my crawling, 
backwards. 
One evening, just after sunset, we 
were riding along an elevated, nar- 
row path toward the charmingly situ- 
ated sea town, Baracoa, when I saw, 
about a mile from us, what, to my 
uninitiated companion, appeared a 
mighty column of black smoke, which 
gradually spread out like a cloud and 
dispersed in the evening shadows. 
From having previously observed 
similar phenomena, though never be- 
fore of such magnitude, I knew it 
was innumerable bats, which had is- 
sued from their quarters under 
ground for their nightly flight. To 
investigate such a bat cave was a par- - 
ticularly desired object for me, for 
entomological reasons. That evening 
we found in the neighborhood a na- 
tive who was willing and able, for a 
consideration, to conduct us to the 
entrance of that cave the following 
day. 
Early next morning a friend and I 
rode out to the native’s primitive 
palm hut, where we left our horses. 
397 
Then, led by our guide, who cut our 
way through the dense underbrush 
with a dextrous swinging of his ma- 
chete, we moved in under the humid 
shade of the tropical forest. After 
more than an hour’s difficult travel 
we reached a small clearing in which 
appeared the mouth of the cave, a 
large, nearly square, hole in the 
ground, some 30 feet in diameter and 
about 25 feet deep, with perpendicu- 
lar walls full of large and small cre- 
vices. At one side of this excavation 
was the real entrance to the cave pro- 
per, a deep, black, apparently bottom- 
less opening, about 15 feet square. 
I crawled down in the antechamber, 
which was comparatively easy on ac- 
count of the numerous holes, making 
good steps to descend by; but I 
stopped short and regained the sur- 
face quickly as my hand_ touched 
something moving, which, without 
taking time to look, I realized was a 
large snake. Then we took a closer 
look and found that every hole in the 
wall was the home of a beautiful, but 
not quite reassuring, large snake. 
There were hundreds of them in that 
half dark chamber. 
This was sufficient for my compan- 
ion, who hitherto had been anxious to 
follow me and help me explore the 
cave. He concluded he could see all 
he wished from above. The guide, 
however, was more courageous and, 
as I knew that no poisonous snakes 
are found in Cuba, he and I soon 
went down in the chamber, snakes or 
no snakes. They proved harmless, 
lazy fellows in spite of their size of 
4 to 10 feet. With some difficulty 
