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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He Had Measured Nearly 2500 Feet From The
Mouth To The Spot Where He Stopped, But The Cavern Extended Still
Farther.
The remembrance of this fact was preserved in the convent
of Caripe, without the exact period being noted.
The bishop had
provided himself with great torches of white Castile wax. We had
torches composed only of the bark of trees and native resin. The
thick smoke which issued from these torches, in a narrow
subterranean passage, hurts the eyes and obstructs the respiration.
On turning back to go out of the cavern, we followed the course of
the torrent. Before our eyes became dazzled with the light of day
we saw on the outside of the grotto the water of the river
sparkling amid the foliage of the trees which shaded it. It was
like a picture placed in the distance, the mouth of the cavern
serving as a frame. Having at length reached the entrance, we
seated ourselves on the bank of the rivulet, to rest after our
fatigues. We were glad to be beyond the hoarse cries of the birds,
and to leave a place where darkness does not offer even the charm
of silence and tranquillity. We could scarcely persuade ourselves
that the name of the Grotto of Caripe had hitherto been unknown in
Europe;* for the guacharos alone might have sufficed to render it
celebrated. (* It is surprising that Father Gili, author of the
Saggio di Storia Americana, does not mention it, though he had in
his possession a manuscript written in 1780 at the convent of
Caripe.
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