hundred million gallons per day; Manatee Spring discharges a less
volume, but is noted for the presence of the sea-cow (_Trichecus
muriatus_); Santa Fé, Econfinna, Chipola and Oscilla are rivers which,
like classic Acheron, descend and disappear with a full head--lost
rivers, as they are aptly named. Pass to the marine world, and
south-west of Bataban, in the Gulf of Xagua (Cuba), a river-fountain
throws up a broad white disk like a flower of water on a liquid
stem, visible on the violet phosphorescence of the Caribbean Sea. Its
impetuous force makes it dangerous to unwary crafts; and, to add to
its recognizable characteristics, in its pure waters is to be found
the sea-cow--found there and in Manatee Bay and Spring alone. To
the geologist such rivers are not mysteries. The lower strata of the
limestone formation are hollowed out into vast cavernous channels
and chambers, through which rolls for ever the hoarse murmur of
multitudinous waters. It would require the conception of a Milton or
the stern Florentine who pictured Malebolge to depict those hollow
passages and lofty galleries, wrought into fantastic shapes by carbon
chisels, and all pure snow-white, yet unrecognizable in the sublime
horror of great darkness.

It is to the animal and vegetable coral the sea owes its arborescent
and floriform scenery, the counterpart of the forest and phaenogamous
beauty that adorns the land. The home of these wonderful creatures
must be visited to realize the beauty of their dwellings and the
wonderful structures they produce. A diver who explored the serene sea
about the Hayti banks gives a beautiful description of the splendors
of the under-world. The white, chalky bottom is visible from the
surface at a depth of one hundred feet. Over that brilliant floor the
filtered sunshine spreads a cloth of gold continually flecked with
sailing shadows and fluctuating tints. The singular clearness of