Walker Lake bulletin. (Hawthorne, Nev.) 1883-1926, 1916-08-26

OF THE COROZAL. CAVE
| healthful island, with warm climate
we'll tempered by the trade winds, and
well 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 it's scientific
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 off
by the graceful royal palms. Higher up,
the character of the ground or of 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-snd-
west backbone of the island, composed
of igneous rocks, there are broken sew
els and hills of limestone, full OF
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 bun
dreds of feet above their former level.
Where the rivers have worn against
them, they display stratified faces Of
especial interest to the geologist and
paleontologist.
Passing the great divide from north
to south, the mountains drop more
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 of the
moisture of the trades becomes more
marked, and IA semiarid region Fitb
it's characteristic cactus is enccun.
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 Guam
ca it supports little besides the assocf
alton of cactus plants.
The Corozal Cavern.
In the limestone regions, hundreds
of large and small caverns have been
excavated by underground streams.
One of these, near Corozal, Is wen
worthy of description. The valley Is
a beautiful wide basin, surrounded by
peculiar triangular white hills of lime
stone, and the cave mouth. about fsrty
feet in height, is reached by means oil
creepers and lodges on the very face oil
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
| 6acn WIN the uTl6u Tcudluo VI Tvs
casual collection Of prey. TreTding
inward and upward, the way narTows
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 clinx TO
its rough surfaces. On the walls
there are peculiar forms of insects
and huge arachnida, with long ueii
cate antennae which serve them I'D
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
the population naturally exhibits o
preponderance of the characteristics Of
that race. Only small section, how
ever, has retained its purity, of when
1t is Justly proud; for the most part
the people are mixtures of Spanish
negro and Indian characters. II ID
strange that so few are found Will
unmixed African features, although |"
certain settlements, they too, haso
preserved many of the customs as wen
% the physique of their ancestors.