135 



species of plants, the form, colour, and aspect 

 of which had been changed by the absence of 

 light. Those traces of organization amid dark- 

 ness forcibly excited the curiosity of the natives, 

 in general so stupid, and difficult to be moved. 

 They examined them in that silent meditation 

 inspired by a place they seemed to dread. It 

 might be thought, that these subterraneous 

 vegetables, pale and disfigured, appeared to 

 them phantoms banished from the face of the 

 Earth. To me the scene recalled one of the 

 happiest periods of my early youth, a long 

 abode in the mines of Freiberg, where I made 

 experiments on the effects of blanching (etiole- 

 ment )*, which are very different, according as 

 the air is pure, or overcharged with hydrogen or 

 azot. 



The missionaries, with all their authority, 

 could not prevail on the Indians to penetrate 

 farther into the cavern. As the vault grew 

 lower, the cries of the guacharoes became more 

 shrill. We were obliged to yield to the pusil- 

 lanimity of our guides, and trace back our steps. 

 The appearance of the cavern was indeed very 

 uniform. We find, that a bishop of St. Thomas of 

 Guiana had gone farther than ourselves. He had 

 measured nearly 2500 feet from the mouth to 



* Humboldt, Aphorismi ex Physiologia chemica Plan- 

 tarum (Flora Friberg. subterranea, p. 181). 

 i 960 varas* 



