CAVE OF CACAHUAWAMILPA. 195 
cathedral, bright as the rest with flashing stalactites, while its floor is 
covered knee-deep with water. The dark lake, lit up by the blaze of a 
dozen blue-lights and Roman candles and reflecting the flashing walls 
of the cavern, the torches of the party, and the tribe of attendant In- 
dians — would have made a picture for Martin. 
We had now penetrated nearly five thousand feet in the interior of the 
earth, and the guides said that the chambers were still innumerable be- 
yond. Persons have slept here and gone on the next day, but no termi- 
nation has yet been discovered. Some years since, in exploring beyond 
the usual limits, a party of travellers discovered the skeleton of a man ; 
his bones were white and dry, and the Indian guides, afl;er placing them in 
a heap, erected a cross on the top of it, with which they consecrated the 
whole cavern as the grave of the unknown dead. Whether he was a 
lost traveller, an absconding debtor, a suicidal lover, or a wretched mur- 
derer seeking concealment from vindictive pui'suers, no one can tell ! 
From this chamber we returned to the ezitrance by the clew of our 
twine. I scarcely remember anything so beautiful as the view, when we 
caught the first glimpse of daylight, shining, like a gray dawn, through 
the green drapery of vines that mantled the mouth of the cavern and re- 
flected on the lake-like pool. 
We returned to the foot of the hills, where we found our servants and 
horses, and refreshed ourselves from the fatigue produced by the incessant 
exercise and exertions of the last three hours. Retreating through the 
glen to Don Miguel's rancho, and paying him liberally for his entertain- 
ment, we bade farewell to this part of Mexico, and turned our faces 
eastward. 
We were obliged to return to-night to the village of Tetecala, and as 
the afternoon was already far advanced, we obtained a guide who knew a 
nearer cut over the mountain, than the road by which we reached the 
rancho on yesterday. 
Night came upon us before we had half finished our journey, and I 
know no more of the road from actual observation. It was pitchy dark, 
and there were a number of ravines and barrancas to pass ; but such 
is the unerring sure-footedness of animals of Mexico, that I reined my 
horse as near the guide as I could conveniently get, and followed the 
lead of his sagacious mule. From the manner in which the beasts climbed 
and slid over rocks, in the utter darkness, I have no doubt that the path 
was beset with many perils. After passing the mountain, we had to swim 
a river near thirty yards wide, which was considerably swollen by the late 
rains, so that, what with fatigue and danger, I was glad enough to reach our 
destination ; where the first salute from our entertainers, when they heard 
