594 ANNUAL REGISTER, 1816. 



to attend them. We found tlie 

 opening of the chamber which we 

 now approached guarded by a 

 trench of unknown depth, and 

 wide enough to require a good 

 leap. The first Arab jumped the 

 ditcli, and we all followed him. 

 The ])assage we entered was ex- 

 tremely small, and so low in some 

 places as to oblige us to ciawl flat 

 on the ground, and almost always 

 on our hands and knets. The in- 

 tricacies of its windings resembled 

 a labyrinth, and it terminated at 

 length in a chamber much smaller 

 than that which we had left, but, 

 like it, containing nothing to satisfy 

 our curiosity. Our searcli hitlierto 

 had been fruitless, but the mum- 

 mies might not be far distant, 

 another effort, and we might still 

 be successful. 



The Arab whom I followed, 

 and who led the way, now entered 

 another gallery, and we all con- 

 tinued to move in the same man- 

 ner as before, each preceded by a 

 guide. Wt had not gone far be- 

 fore the heat became excessive ; — 

 for my own part I found my 

 breathing extremely difficult, my 

 head began to ache most violently, 

 and I had a most distressing sen- 

 sation of fulness about the heart. 



We felt we had gone too far, 

 and yet were almost deprived of 

 the power of returning. At this 

 moment the torch of the first 

 Arab went out : I was close to 

 him, and saw him fall on his side ; 

 he uttered a groan — his legs wei-e 

 strongly con\ul?ed, and 1 heard a 

 rattling noise in his throat — he 

 was dead. The Aiab beliind me, 

 seeing the torch of his companion 

 extinguislied, and conceiving he 

 had stumbled, past me, advanced 

 to his assistance, and stooped. I 



observed him appear faint, totter, 

 and fall in a moment — he also 

 was dead. The third Arab came 

 forward, and made an effort to 

 approach the bodies, but stopped 

 short. We looked at each other 

 in silent liorror. The danger in- 

 creased every instant ; our torches 

 burnt faintly ; our breatliing be- 

 came more dilRcult; our knees 

 tottered vmder us, and we felt 

 our strength nearly gone. 



There was no time to be lost — 

 the American, Barthow, cried to 

 us to " take courage," and we 

 began to move back as fast as we 

 could. We heard the remaining 

 Arab shouting after us, calling us 

 Caffres, imploring our assistance, 

 and upbraiding us with deserting 

 him. But we were obliged to 

 leave him to his fate, expecting 

 every moment to share it with 

 him. The windings of the pas- 

 sages through which we had come 

 increased the difficulty of our 

 escape; Ave might take a wrong 

 turn, and ne^er reach the great 

 chamber we had first entered. 

 Even supposing we took the 

 shortest road, it was but too pro- 

 bable our strengtli would fail us 

 before we arrived. We had each 

 of us separately and unknown to 

 one another observed attentively 

 the different shapes of the stones 

 which projected into the galleries 

 we had ])assed, so that each had 

 an im})erfcct clue to the labjiinth 

 A\e had now to retrace. We com- 

 pared notes, and only on one oc- 

 casion had a disjnite, the Ameri- 

 can differing from my friend and 

 myself; in this ddemma we were 

 determined by the majority, and 

 fo]tunately were right. Exhaust- 

 ed w'nh fatigue and terror, we 

 leaclied the edge of the deep 



trench 



