M. Duvaucel on the Great Cavern of Boobon. 53 



direction, as if impelled by a current of air. I imagined from 

 this that the cavern had a second opening, and by dint of en- 

 treaty I prevailed upon the Cossyahs who accompanied me to 

 go a little farther ; but I was wrong in my conjecture, and af- 

 ter an hour's search for the new opening, I retraced my steps, 

 and had no proof of its existence. 



The route which we followed in this gloomy labyrinth was 

 divided by narrow paths, which led to deep precipices. I had 

 the curiosity to examine one of those, the approach to which 

 seemed the most practicable, and after having tied two lan- 

 terns to the end of a ladder of rope, I let drop twenty fathoms 

 in the interior of the hole. The entrance, as far as the fourth 

 fathom, was sufficiently narrow to allow me to touch the rocks 

 either with my hands or my feet ; but towards the fifteenth 

 fathom, the pit appeared to widen considerably. At sixty feet 

 I perceived nothing but a frightful abyss, in spite of the oscil- 

 lations of my ladder from the violent shakes ; and arriving at 

 the ninetieth fathom, I found myself suspended over the top 

 of an immense vault, which appeared to me to be formed like 

 a reversed cone. The feeble light of my two lanterns did 

 not allow me to see the bottom of this frightful precipice ; but 

 I believe it to be of very great depth, beause I heard the fall 

 of a stone which I threw down at the end of twelve seconds. 



The atmospheric air of this abyss differed very little from 

 that of the cavern, which was but one degree less than the ex- 

 ternal air, and where the temperature of the water was itself 

 only two degrees below that of the air. 



When I had ascended to the large cavern, I struck the 

 ground with force in several distant places. I heard a sonorous 

 noise, which made me conclude that the whole cave, and per- 

 haps the mountain itself, rested upon a subterraneous place ; 

 and if my idea is correct, the cavern of Boobon, already so ex- 

 traordinary from its vast extent, is still more so from the sin- 

 gular circumstance or phenomenon of its having one part form- 

 ed by the primitive fire, and the other part formed by the plu- 

 vial waters ! They find near these places basaltic fragments, 

 and stones filled with black points of a vitrified substance, which 

 are volcanic productions ; but these without doubt are convey- 

 ed thither by the waters of a small river in the vicinity of the 

 mountain. 



Mountains of Cossyah, \*dth October 1821. 



