The Cave of Swallows, also called Cave of the Swallows (Spanish: Sótano de las Golondrinas), is an open air pit cave in the Municipality of Aquismón, San Luis Potosí, Mexico. The elliptical mouth, on a slope of karst, is 49 by 62 m wide and is undercut around all its perimeter, further widening to a room approximately 303 by 135 meters (994 by 442 ft) wide. The floor of the cave is a 333 meter (1092 ft) freefall drop from the lowest side of the opening, with a 370 meter (1,214 ft) drop from the highest side, making it the largest known cave shaft in the world, the second deepest pit in Mexico and perhaps the 11th deepest in the world. A skyscraper such as New York City's Chrysler Building could easily fit wholly within it.
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Pale Winter draws away his white hands, loathed,
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—Philip Larkin (1922–1986)
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—Thomas Hood (1799–1845)