218 M. Marsollier , s Description of the 



we reached the place where M. Lonjon caused a mine to be 

 sprung. The passage is so narrow that we are obliged to 

 creep, and it conducts to a small room which holds about 

 twelve persons. 



Behind three columns, there is a reservoir, the water of 

 which is salt and muddy, and a prodigious number of bats 

 occupied along with us that small space. Upon the rocks we 

 observed several crystallizations in the form of plants. They 

 were white and shining, and formed a fine contrast with the 

 dark ground to which they were applied. This chamber had 

 an opening on the side opposite to that at which we entered. 

 Before us we saw a space, the dimensions of which the eye 

 could not measure, and, in order to reach it, there was no 

 other path but over a precipitous rock fifty feet high. Over 

 this was the first stair by which we could descend. The rope- 

 ladder was brought, and fixed to a stalactite. We encou- 

 rage one another, advancing and drawing back, a fright- 

 ful precipice presenting itself on all sides. A stone thrown 

 down took a considerable time to descend, and we heard it 

 leaping and rolling from rock to rock till it was heard no 

 more. The slightest giddiness, and the slightest inattention, 

 might here decide the life of the spectator. 



A peasant of Ganges, as expert as he was bold, was the 

 first who ventured down. M. Brunet followed him, and, at 

 the end of three toises, the person who descended ceased to 

 be visible, and the time which they took seemed to be enor- 

 mous. At the depth of twenty feet, the rocks suddenly ceas- 

 ed, and the ladder, without any support, swung and turned 

 upon itself. The profound silence — the glimmering light — 

 which diminished without dissipating the darkness — the dread 

 which this profound solitude excited — the alarming noise of 

 some broken stalactites which fell from the roof and rolled 

 from rock to rock — every thing contributed to give to our 

 expedition a romantic character. We now directed our at- 

 tention to an immense space enriched and covered with stalac- 

 tites and stalagmites of every form, and of the most daz- 

 zling whiteness ; but we had still more than fifty feet before we 

 reached the bottom. Steep rocks so smooth that the foot 

 could not support itself, and where the hand could not be fix- 



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