Personal Narrative Of Travels To The Equinoctial Regions Of America During The Years 1799-1804 - Volume 1 - By Alexander Von Humboldt And Aime Bonpland.
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We
Found On The Banks Of The Subterranean Rivulet A Great Quantity Of
Palm-Tree Wood, The Remains Of Trunks, On Which The Indians Climb
To Reach The Nests Hanging From The Roofs Of The Cavern.
The rings,
formed by the vestiges of the old footstalks of the leaves, furnish
as it were the steps of a ladder perpendicularly placed.
The Grotto of Caripe preserves the same direction, the same
breadth, and its primitive height of sixty or seventy feet, to the
distance of 472 metres, or 1458 feet, accurately measured. We had
great difficulty in persuading the Indians to pass beyond the
anterior portion of the grotto, the only part which they annually
visit to collect the fat. The whole authority of 'los padres' was
necessary to induce them to advance as far as the spot where the
soil rises abruptly at an inclination of sixty degrees, and where
the torrent forms a small subterranean cascade.* (* We find the
phenomenon of a subterranean cascade, but on a much larger scale,
in England, at Yordas Cave, near Kingsdale in Yorkshire.) The
natives connect mystic ideas with this cave, inhabited by nocturnal
birds; they believe that the souls of their ancestors sojourn in
the deep recesses of the cavern. "Man," say they, "should avoid
places which are enlightened neither by the sun (zis), nor by the
moon (nuna)." 'To go and join the guacharos,' is with them a phrase
signifying to rejoin their fathers, to die. The magicians (piaches)
and the poisoners (imorons) perform their nocturnal tricks at the
entrance of the cavern, to conjure the chief of the evil spirits
(ivorokiamo). Thus in every region of the earth a resemblance may
be traced in the early fictions of nations, those especially which
relate to two principles governing the world, the abode of souls
after death, the happiness of the virtuous and the punishment of
the guilty. The most different and most barbarous languages present
a certain number of images, which are the same, because they have
their source in the nature of our intelligence and our sensations.
Darkness is everywhere connected with the idea of death. The Grotto
of Caripe is the Tartarus of the Greeks; and the guacharos, which
hover over the rivulet, uttering plaintive cries, remind us of the
Stygian birds.
At the point where the river forms the subterranean cascade, a hill
covered with vegetation, which is opposite to the opening of the
grotto, presents a very picturesque aspect. It is seen at the
extremity of a straight passage, 240 toises in length. The
stalactites descending from the roof, and resembling columns
suspended in the air, are relieved on a back-ground of verdure. The
opening of the cavern appeared singularly contracted, when we saw
it about the middle of the day, illumined by the vivid light
reflected at once from the sky, the plants, and the rocks. The
distant light of day formed a strange contrast with the darkness
which surrounded us in the vast cavern.
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