The Young Llanero: A Story of War and Wild Life in Venezuela

by William Henry Giles Kingston

The Indian had, in the meantime, formed a bundle of torches of some resinous wood which he cut with his machete. “We shall require these,” he observed; “for the light of day cannot penetrate beyond a quarter of the length of the cavern.”

As soon as our provisions were cooked, the doctor almost bolted his share, and then proposed setting off. Gerald and I were soon ready; and the Indian, who evidently felt a pride in the cavern, said that he would lead the way. He took a couple of torches himself, and divided the rest among us; inquiring of the doctor whether he had the means of producing a light.

“I am never without these,” was the answer; “lead on, my friend, and we will follow.”

Our astonishment was increased when we found that the vegetation extended far away into the depths of the cavern, growing on both sides of the stream which proceeded out of it,—even palms, arums, and other plants reaching to the height of fifteen or twenty feet.

“Hark to the sound which proceeds from the inner part of the cavern,” said our guide.

As he spoke, strange suppressed cries issued from the interior, but so low that we did not at first remark them, almost drowned as they were by the noise of the rushing waters. From the immense size of the entrance, and the direct course the cavern took into the interior of the mountain, daylight penetrated for a great distance, and we were accordingly able to proceed for upwards of four hundred feet before we found it diminishing to any extent. As we advanced, the sounds we had at first heard so indistinctly increased; and Kanimapo told us that they were produced by birds, which had taken up their abode in the cavern in thousands. The shrill and piercing cries of these denizens of the cavern, striking on the vaulted rock, were repeated by the subterranean echoes till they created such a wild din as is difficult to describe. Well might an ignorant native, entering for the first time, have supposed that they were the shrieks of departed souls.

The farther we went, the louder and more horrible was the noise. Entering a region of darkness, we were at length compelled to light our torches; when, holding them up, we could see birds flitting about in all directions, their long nests fixed in the roof and sides of the cavern.

We walked on slowly and cautiously, to avoid the risk of falling into any hollow which might exist in the ground; but generally it was tolerably smooth and level, covered everywhere with herbage of a pale hue,—evidently, as the doctor observed, the produce of seeds dropped by the birds.

Though not so wide as at the entrance, the magnificence of the cavern was greatly increased by the countless stalactites which hung from the roof; some reaching to the ground, and forming pillars with arches of the most delicate tracery, which often shone brilliantly as the light of our torches fell on them. The farther we got, the more fantastic were the forms they assumed,—till, with a little aid from the imagination, we might have fancied ourselves in some wonderful temple of an Eastern region. So numerous were the columns, we could with difficulty make our way between them—sometimes having to descend into the bed of the river, which was nowhere more than two feet deep, though from twenty to thirty feet wide. All this time the shrieks of the birds sounded in our ears. Occasionally, those near us were silent; and sometimes the noise around us ceased for a few minutes, when we heard at a distance the plaintive cries of the birds roosting in other ramifications of the cavern. It seemed as if different groups answered each other alternately.

At last, after continuing on for a considerable distance, a still more curious and beautiful spectacle than we had yet seen burst on our view. The ground suddenly sloped upwards at a sharp angle, thickly covered with vegetation, in the midst of which the river came rushing over a ledge of rock, forming a cascade which sparkled as the light of our torches fell on it; while the brilliantly white stalactites which descended from the roof were seen against the foliage of the trees.