THE CAVES OF WYNDLAWN. 87 
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When we emerged at the other side, words could not 
express our astonishment. Our Somali boys, usually abso- 
lutely indifferent to beautiful scenery, could curb their 
enthusiasm no longer, but with one accord broke out into 
a prayer, so thoroughly were they convinced that what 
they beheld was the work of God, and was intended to 
impress men with the greatness of his power. 
The river broke around a little group of rocks, and 
joining again made a short dash, as it fella couple of feet, 
and passed through the most superb archway it can be 
possible to imagine. The whole mountain appeared to be 
resting on a series of columns thirty to forty feet high and 
twenty to eighty feet apart, between which were spacious 
vaulted chambers, with their domes rising many feet higher; 
and then again many columns uniting formed long arched 
tunnels. Along the edge of the river, as it passed through 
the mountain, the columns occurred in masses, or occasion- 
ally only a few yards apart, their great bases forming a 
series of steps down to the water's edge. 
It was possible to enter the caverns through the large 
archway, but there was another entrance that could be bet- 
ter reached by climbing up a steep bank, and then passing 
between masses of rock to a hole in the mountain-side, like 
the opening to Rob Roy’s cave by Loch Lomond. This is 
the way the natives were accustomed to enter. You had 
to let yourself down carefully some twenty feet, until you 
found yourself in a large gloomy chamber, where natives 
had offered up sacrifices evidently for generations. There 
was an enormous fireplace on one side, over and about 
which were hung various offerings that had been made to 
Wak, consisting principally of wooden vessels, strings of 
cowry shells, sheepskins, and leather straps. 
Lighting candles, we passed a hundred yards through 
the various archways and chambers, and then found we 
