M. Hiimboldt on the Great Cavern of the Guacliaro, 88 
slip has remained in it. Five or six dozen will not require 
more than fifteen minutes in being formed. The moulds with 
their contents are then removed to a stove, placed on their side, 
and built one above the other. In a short time^ from the con- 
traction of the clay, the crucibles easily part from the moulds, 
and are removed by introducing the finger into them. The 
moulds are allowed to remain in their situation until the water 
they had absorbed is completely evaporated, when they are 
again ready for refilling, and will last for years. The crucibles 
remain in the stove until dry, after which they are burned in a 
kiln in the usual manner. 
The process is simple, and combines the advantages of forming 
them with great facility, and giving them the required shape, which 
cannot be accomplished at once on the potter’s wheel. One man 
and a boy are capable of making from ten to twelve hundred per 
day. The principle is peculiarly adajDted for the formation of a 
number of chemical apparatus, muffles, retorts, tubes, &c. 
Glasgow, May 1820. 
Art. XV.^ — Account of the Great Cavern of the Guacharo, By 
Baron Alexander de Humboldt 
"W" HAT gives most celebrity to the valley of Caripe, be- 
side the extraordinary coolness of the climate, is the great Cueva 
or Cavern of the Guacharo. In a country where the people 
love what is marvellous, a cavern that gives birth to a river, 
and is inhabited by thousands of nocturnal birds, the fat of 
which is employed in the Missions to dress food, is an everlast- 
ing object of conversation and discussion. Scarcely has a stranger 
arrived at Cumana, when he is told of the stone of Araya for 
the eyes ; of the labourer of Arenas who suckled his child ; and 
of the cavern of Guacharo, which is said to be several leagues in 
length ; till he is tired of hearing of them. A lively interest in 
the phenomena of nature is preserved wherever society may be 
said to be without life ; where, in dull monotony, it presents on- 
ly simple relations little fitted to excite the ardour of curiosity. 
Abridged from his Personal Narrative, vol. iii. 
f2 
