CAVERN OF GUACHARO.

From the London Quarterly Review.

An object of great curiosity was pointed out to our travellers (Humboldt and Bonpland) at the head of the valley of Caripe; this was the grand cueva, or Cavern of Guacharro.

Mr Humboldt observed, that in a country where they love the marvellous, a cavern which gives birth to a river and is inhabited by many thousands of nocturnal birds, the fat of which is employed in the Missions for dressing food, is an inexhaustable subject of conversation and discussion.

There is nothing however very remarkable in this cavern, excepting its great length.

The entrance is about eighty feet wide, by seventy two high, and it preserves the same direction, the same width, and nearly the same height for one thousand four hundred and fifty eight feet, which is said to be not one half of its whole length.

The luxuriance of the vegetation near the mouth gave to it a character which, in a less favored climate, it would not have possessed; for, as our author very justly observes, it is with the openings of caverns as with the view of cascades, the character of the local scenery, and of the surrounding country, constitutes the principal charm.

The bird of night which inhabits the Cueva de Guacharo is more curious than the cavern.

It is a new genus, nearly allied to that of Caprimulgus, to which M. de Humboldt has given the significant name of Steatornis.

“It is difficult to form an idea of the frightful noise made by thousands of these birds in the dark part of the cavern.

It can be compared only to that of our crows, which, in the fir forests of the north, live in society, and build their nests in trees which meet at the top.

The shrill and piercing tones of the Guacharo reverberate from the arched roof, and echo repeats them in the depths of the cavern.

The Indians by fixing torches to the end of a long pole, pointed out to us the nests of these birds; they were fifty or sixty feet above our heads, in funnel shaped holes, with which the whole roof of the grotto is riddled.

The noise increased with our advance, and with the alarm of the birds at the flare of our copal torches.

When it ceased for a few minutes, we heard distant moans from other branches of the cavern.

The different flocks might be said to give alternate responses.

“The Indians go once a year into the Cueva del Guacharo, about mid summer, furnished with poles, with which they destroy the greater part of nests.

At this time many thousand birds are killed, and the old ones, as if to protect their broods, hover over the heads of the Indians, uttering the most dreadful shrieks.

The young that fall to the ground are ripped open immediately.

The peritoneum is thickly loaded with an unctuous substance, and a layer of fat runs from the abdomen to the anus, forming a kind of cushion between the bird’s thighs.

This abundance of fat in frugivorous animals, not exposed to the light, and having few muscular motions, reminds us of the inclination to obesity long observed in geese and oxen.

At the period commonly termed the oil harvest, the Indians construct little habitations of palm leaves close to the opening, and even in the mouth of the cavern.

We saw some remains of such still standing.

Here, over a fire of dry sticks, the grease of the young birds just killed, is melted and run into pots of white clay.

This grease, known by the name of Guacharo butter, or oil, (manteca or aceite) is semi-liquid transparent and inodorous; and so pure, that it may be kept more than a twelve month without becoming rancid.

At the convent of Caripe, no oil but that of the cavern was used in the monk’s kitchen, and we never found it give to the dish either a disagreeable taste or smell.”