Chap. X. GEOLOGICAL REMARKS. 175 
take refuge on board our sloop before it burst over us in 
all its violence. The quantity of water pouring down was 
frightful. Drenched to the skin in a minute, we reached 
the sloop with some difficulty, where we tried to make the 
best of our situation, while our friends were in danger of 
being cut off from us. After the rain had continued for 
about an hour it began to overflow the plain at the foot of 
the hill, and in returning to the beach they had to wade up 
to their waists through the water. 
The scenery at the entrance of the cave is wild and 
romantic to the utmost. From the darkest shades of a 
tropical thicket, with a dense undergrowth of young palms, 
a perpendicular wall of silver-gray rock rises to the height 
of one hundred feet or more. Thick ropes of gigantic 
vines stretch over its surface from top to bottom, some of 
them straight, others wound in a spiral line. At the foot 
of this wall is the entrance to a large vault with stalactites 
hanging from its roof and the background lost in darkness. 
The soil of the savana was naturally swampy, and after 
this inundation several days would have been necessary to 
render it again passable. Without waiting, therefore, until 
another visit to the cave should become practicable, we 
returned to Belize. 
The country around Manati Lagoon is of a very 
attractive character. The soil is not rich, but this, in a 
tropical region with more than sufficient rain, is a recom- 
mendation rather than a drawback. With respect to the 
salubrity of the climate, I could obtain no information; 
our own experience^ however, short as it was, speaks in 
favour of it. The steep hills of this region are composed 
of a metamorphic limestone, which, where I had an oppor- 
tunity of a closer inspection, took the form of a crystalline, 
variegated marble, which seemed to have excellent quali- 
