Herald and tribune. [volume] (Jonesborough, Tenn.) 1869-current, 1870-11-17
The cave Of Bellamar i'm Cuba.

! Whatever advantage, as to extent, other
caves may possess over Bellamar, surely
none in the world can surpass its wonder
Gus wealth of rare and exquisitely beauti-
full crystallizations. Nature seems to have
exhausted her fancy in producing these
myriads of quaint forms and curious COM
binations. The stalactites are singularly
capracious and beautiful. From the gigan-
tic mantle of Columbus" to the newly
formed delicate tubes and cones, scarcely
an inch in length, there exists every inter-
mediate variety of size Some are fat
and transparent, and will vibrate when
struck, with a sound as clear and melod :
Gus as a silver bell Others are tube-like,
hollow, twisted, or curved, sometimes
branching like coral, at others hanging like
hooks, or darting sharply upward. Ac-
cording to the accidents of their position,
they assume at times entirely different
forms. Now they are frozen dribblets
along the yellow surface of the rock again
they have worked themselves into gro
tesque fringes. or are scalloped into deli
cate frills; now they are ,like glittering
serpents flashing wildly in the torch-light !;
then the rock is coated as if with heavy
frost; and again, the shapes take the form
of crucibles, of cornicopiae. or of flowers
tinged with delicate colors and resembling
dahilas and roses.
In the complex web which they form it
is difficult at times to separate the stalac-
tites from the stalaginites. The latter
form, in some places, rich curtains of the
whitest and most quantity patterned lace !;
they hang like the rich drapery of silken
robes; or like motionless cascades of gilt
tering diamonds, they extend, wave after
wave, and fold after fold, from the ceiling
to the floor Sometimes they assume the
most grotesque forms and resemblances {:
here and there we see them about the floor
like devotees kneeling before fantastic idols
in silent and eternal alteration; again they
seem like weary travellers stretched out to
rest at noon on the cool grass by the way
side: or, perhaps again, like plumed and
naked savages gathered in dread circles
around the council fire to plot the war-path
or to plan the chase.
Aud all this is accomplished simply by
the combination of water with lime A
feeble stream of water penetrates the lime
stone above, and filters through it, carry
ing along some minute particles of lime in
solution. AS this water drops from the
roof of the cave, or dribbles along the
surface of its walls. it leaves behind it
these calcarious PARTICLES. which, in the
form of carbonate of lime, harden and are
crystallized, forming a thousand capricious
figures.
If tho dribblet of water, however, flows
along the surface OF rock, then it leaves
the lime behind it to mark its devious
path iii the form of delicate tracery and
fringes. If the quantity of water is large,
then the cascades and curtains and snow
drifts are formed. The roof of the cave,
Its walls, and its floor, are thus all, at the
same time, being ornamented through the
agency above described. Considering the
extreme slowness of the process, how many
ages it must have required to agglomerate
gigantic nlasies of capitalization like that
called the g Mantle of Columbus !" And
yet this, necessarily, is not so old as the
cave itself
Caves such as Bellamar are to be met
with on a smaller scale in all the calcare-
Gus formations on the island, where natur-
al bridges. tunnels, and subterranean rivers
are likewise found. The origin of the
Cave of Bellamar may be due to volcanic
action; but it is more probably owing to
the gradual erosion of yielding strata by
the action of water. The wonderful tun-
mel bored by the Cuzco River, in the east
ern part of the island, might suggest the
origin of cave like this of Bellamar.
The Cuzco is an insignificant and shellow
stream which, however, in the rainy sea-
son, becomes a powerful torrent. A lofty
ridge barred the course of Its ancient chan
mel, and through the heart of this ridge it
has carved a tunnel large enough to admit
of the passage of huge trunks of palms
and eriodendrons. After disappearing at
the base of the hill, several hundred feet
below the crest, it does not appear again
until it comes out at the other side of the
ridge, distance of nearly thre milese Any
volcanic action tending to alter the level
or bed of the stream might divert its wa
tiers into different channel; the former
one would be soon covered with a dense
vegetation, and all distinct traces of it be
lost. The tunnel, or cavern, itself proba-
bly, disturbed from its original horizontal
position, would remain to puzzle future
geologists GEN. friedrich Ca
YADA, in Harper's Magazinc for Novem-
Der.