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Show THE GUACHARO, OR OIL BIRD. ALEXANDER VON HUMBOLDT discovered the guachura in the year 1799 in the ?? caverns of ?? Later travelers have found it in other rocky clefts, such as are frequently found in the Andes. The knowledge which we have obtained of ?? ?? bird is tolerably complete but there remains yet much to describe. ?? ?? account is compiled of the ?? statements of Humboldt ??. Humboldt says the caverns of the Guacharos do not lie in the valley of ?? about three miles from the monastery toward the west south west. On September 18 we set out for ?? of Guacharo accompanied by ?? and the most of the monks from the cloister. A narrow path ?? for about half an hour southward ?? bountiful turf covered plains; then we ?? westward up to a small river where ?? forth from a cavern. For about one quarter of an hour the way lead upward, sometimes in the water which not deeply and sometimes between the river and a rocky wall the ground being very slippery and marshy. Numberless ?? and the trunks of trees lying around over which the mules make their way with difficulty, render this part of the way very wearisome. Standing at the foot of the high Guacharo mountain not more than four hundred paces from the mouth of the cavern no place of entrance can be seen. The river runs through a gorge which the water has dug out for it, and the road passes under an overhanging rock, so that the sky cannot be seen. The road winds with the river and at the last bend one stands before the immense mouth of the cavern. The view is magnificent even to eyes familiar with the picturesque scenery of the Alps, for the luxuriant growth of tropical plants invests the mouth of these caverns with a peculiar character. The Guacharo caverns open directly upon a perpendicular rocky wall. The entrance is turned to the south; there is an arc, twenty-five meters broad and twenty-two meters high. Gigantic trees stand upon the rocks over the grotto. The mamey and the genipa tree with broad glittering leaves stretch their branches straight toward the heavens, while the courbaril and erythrima spread themselves out and form a thick green arch. Oxalis and orchids of rare species grow in the crevices of the rock while climbing plants swinging in the wind twine themselves together before the entrance to the cavern. But the growth of plants not only adorns the outside of the arches, they penetrate into the interior of the caverns. These plants extend into the caves of Caripe as in the deep rocky crevices of the Andes and only cease thirty of forty paces from the entrance. We travelled a long distance before it was necessary to light the torches. The daylight penetrates so far because the caverns have only one passage, which extends from southeast to northwest. When the light begins to disappear the hoarse cries of the nocturnal birds are heard. One can hardly conceive of the fearful noise which thousands of these birds produce in the depths of the caverns. The piercing, penetrating cries of the guacharaos resound in the rocky arch and from the depths of the caverns the echo comes back. The Indians showed us the nests of these birds while they fastened their torches to a long pole. The roof, twenty three meters above our heads, with funnel shaped perforations, swarms with the nests. The deeper one penetrates into the caverns the more birds are frightened up by the light of the torches, and the greater the tumult. The guacharo leaves the cavern at the approach of night, especially when the moon shines. He eats very hard seeds and fruit, and the Indians assert that he never eats insects, and it is only necessary to compare the bills of the guacharo and the goat suckers to see that their habits of life must be quite different. The quantity of oil which the Indians prepare every year bears no proportion to the number of birds massacred. They obtain only about one hundred and fifty or sixty flasks of entirely pure oil. The oil remaining, which is not so clear, is preserved in earthen vessels. It was with great difficulty that the Indians were induced to pass over the front part of the cavern, and it needed all the authority of the priests to prevail upon them to go as far as the place where the ground suddenly rises sixty degrees and the river forms a subterranean fall. The roof sinks down, and the cries of the guacharos become so piercing that no persuasion could induce the Indians to penetrate further into the cavern, and we were obliged to give up to the cowardice of our guide and return. These caverns of the nocturnal birds are horrible, mysterious places for the Indians. They believe that the souls of their ancestors hold their gloomy state in their innermost recesses, and, when they hear at night a loud wailing cry, set it down at once as proceeding from some wretched spirit longing to resume its body and lamenting its sad doom. To die is often called by the Indians "joining the guacharos."-Scientific American. |