to be cool. These are not, but they are well worth all the perspiration it
costs to see them. They are a show place, and guides are always available.
In size, the caverns are not comparable with the caves of Kentucky and
Virginia, but they far excel in beauty. They are about three miles in
extent, and their lower levels are said to be about five hundred feet
from the surface. The rock is white limestone, in which are chambers and
passage-ways, stalactites and stalagmites innumerable. These have their
somewhat fantastic but not unfitting names, such as the Gothic Temple, the
Altar, the Guardian Spirit, the Fountain of Snow, and Columbus' Mantle.
The place has been called "a dream of fairyland," a fairly appropriate
description. The colors are snow-white, pink, and shades of yellow, and
many of the forms are wonderfully beautiful. There are many other caves in
the island, like Cotilla, in the Guines region not far from Havana, others
in the Cubitas Mountains in Camaguey Province, and still others in Oriente,
but in comparison with Bellamar they are little else than holes in the
ground. The trip through these remarkable aisles and chambers occupies some
three or four hours.

Cuba is not big enough for rivers of size. There are innumerable streams,
for the island generally is well-watered. The only river of real importance
is the Cauto, in Oriente Province. This is the longest and the largest
river in the island. It rises in the hills north of Santiago, and winds a
devious way westward for about a hundred and fifty miles, emptying at last
into the Gulf of Buena Esperanza, north of the city of Manzanillo. It
is navigable for small boats, according to the stage of the water, from
seventy-five to a hundred miles from its mouth. Numerous smaller streams
flow to the coast on both north and south. Some, that are really estuaries,
are called rivers. Very few of them serve any commercial purposes. There
are a few water areas called lakes, but they are really little other than
ponds. On the south coast, directly opposite Matanzas, lies a vast swamp
known as the Cienega de Zapata. It occupies an area of about seventy-five
miles in length and about thirty miles in width, almost a dead flat, and
practically at sea-level. Here and there are open spaces of water or
clusters of trees, but most of it is bog and quagmire and dense mangrove
thickets. Along the coast are numerous harbors, large and small, that are
or, by dredging, could be ma