Northern Wisconsin advertiser. [volume] (Wabeno, Wis.) 1898-1925, 1916-03-31

healthful island, with warmscimsf
we'll tempered by the trade Winds; and
we'll cultivated almost everywhere.
With its splendid roads and natural
beauties, it is and will always be at
tractive to the casual traveller. as well
as to the investigator of its scientihc
character and resources.
In the interior Valleys plantations
of tobacco are laid out. The plants
are protected by sheets of cheese
cloth which, with their sharply-defined
borders, seem like incongruous fields
of snow upon the deep green OF the
hills. Even the steep slopes OF the
hills bear here and there their little
patches of tobacco or of other crops,
centering about native hut perched
precariously near the top, and. set of
by the graceful royal palms. Higher up,
the character of the ground or or the
region is unsuitable for tobacco yet
even here coffee and cocoa are grown
under the shade of specially planted
trees. Little remains of the larger for
est, for wood becomes scarce when so
many demand it daily for fires. Only
on the higher peaks of the great cen
trail mountains are there any relics OF
the primeval growth that once ex-
tended so widely. ..
On the TANKS of the main east-and-
west backbone Of the island, composed
of igneous rocks, there are broken lev
L. % FtnIl nF
marine fossils and other indications OF
their origin at the border of the ocean.
Since their formation the land has
risen so as to lift them many hun
dreds of feet above their former level.
Where the rivers have worn against
them, they display stratified 'faHts"of
especial interest to the geologist' and
paleontologist. " 80
Passing the great divide from nt,rth
to south, the mountains drop+ r1oro
rapidly to the foothills and to the
coastal plains. In the southeast the
ground is still suitable for sugar and
cocoanut groves; but coming west, the
effect of the heights in cutting off the
moisture of the trades becomes more
marked, and semiarid region with
it's characteristic cactus is encoun-
tered. Here the cane can be grown
only by extensive irrigation, which the
insular government has undertaken
with great success and profit. Toward
the southwest, the land becomes
typical desert, and about Lake Guani-
ca it supports little besides the associ-
alton of cactus plants.
>. The Corozal Cavern.
. In the limestone regions, hundreds
OF large and small caTerns have been
excavated by underground streams.
One of these, near CoroZal, is well
worthy of description. The valley Is
a beautiful wide basin, surrounded by
peculiar triangular white hills of lime
stone, and the cave mouth, about forty
feet in height, is reached by means or
creepers and lodges on the very face OF
the cliff. Once it is gained, the down
ward view is a striking and character
istic panorama of hill and field and
stream. On the sides of the entrance
there are hundreds of spider webs,
each with the dried remains Of its
casual collection of prey. Trending
inward and upward, the way narrows
until after four hundred yards or more
of walking and scrambling and creep
ing, one energies into daylight through
small hole on the other side OF the
hill. Thousands of bats hide in the
holes of the arched roof, or cling to
it's rough surfaces. On the walls
there are peculiar forms of insects
and huge arachnida with long deli
cate antennae which serve them in.
place of their virtually useless eyes.
BY way of contrast, the cave in the
hills above GALES is one with many
mouths, and huge vaulted chamber
with stalactites and stalagmites
above and below.
On account of the dominant Span
ish influence for so many centuries,
tie population naturally exhibits a
nr .ponderance of the characteristics OF
taa. race Only a small section, how
ever, has retained it's purity, OF which
| it is justly proud; for the most part
the people are mixtures of Spanish,
negro and Indian characters. IL is
strange that so few are found with
unmixed African features. although in
certain settlements, they too, have
preserved many of the customs as well
as the physique of their ancestors.