After a climb down some steep rocks in semi-darkness,
we at length found ourselves in the largest cave of all, supposed to
be about five hundred and sixty feet in height.[14] It, too, had two or
three natural windows, through which the light penetrated. One of them
was on the top, in the very centre of the cave, and from down below
it looked like a distant star. This opening was on the very summit of
the Gomanton rock. This cave greatly resembled the smaller one I have
already described, except that it was of much grander dimensions. As in
the first cave, one could hear the roar of an underground torrent, and
the swallows seemed even more numerous. On the rocky walls I noticed
plenty of large spiders and a curious insect, with a long body and
long, thin legs, which ran very fast, and whose bite we were told
was very poisonous.
On the way back, when passing through some very low caves, the Hadji
got some of his men to knock down for me a few of the white nests from
the sides of the cave with long poles, and in another cave they got me
some black nests. The difference between these white and black nests
is this: they are made by two different kinds of swallows. The white
nest is made by a very small bird, but the bird that builds the black
nest is twice the size of the other.
Pages:
230
231
232
233
234
235
236
237
238
239
240
241
242
243
244
245
246
247
248
249
250
251