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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Excepting The
Megalonyx,* A Kind Of Sloth Of The Size Of An Ox, Described By Mr.
Jefferson, I Know Not A Single Instance Of The Skeleton Of An
Animal Buried In A Cavern Of The New World.
(* The megalonyx was
found in the caverns of Green Briar, in Virginia, at the distance
of 1500 leagues from
The megatherium, which resembles it very much,
and is of the size of the rhinoceros.) The extreme scarcity of this
geological phenomenon will appear the less surprising to us, if we
recollect, that in France, England, and Italy, there are also a
great number of grottoes in which we have never met with any
vestige of fossil bones.
Although, in primitive nature, whatever relates to ideas of extent
and mass is of no great importance, yet I may observe, that the
cavern of Caripe is one of the most spacious known to exist in
limestone formations. It is at least 900 metres or 2800 feet in
length.* (* The famous Baumannshohle in the Hartz, according to
Messrs. Gilbert and Ilsen, is only 578 feet in length; the cavern
of Scharzfeld 350; that of Gaylenreuth 304; that of Antiparos 300.
But according to Saussure, the Grotto of Balme is 1300 feet.) Owing
to the different degrees of solubility in rocks, it is generally
not in calcareous mountains, but in gypseous formations, that we
find the most extensive succession of grottoes. In Saxony there are
some in gypsum several leagues in length; for instance, that of
Wimelburg, which communicates with the cavern of Cresfield.
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