334 THE MOUNTAINS OF CALIFOKNIA 



the grandeur of the many crystal chambers within. 

 Lighting our candles, which seemed to have no illu 

 minating power in the thick darkness, we groped 

 our way onward as best we could along narrow 

 lanes and alleys, from chamber to chamber, around 

 rustic columns and heaps of fallen rocks, stopping 

 to rest now and then in particularly beautiful 

 places fairy alcoves furnished with admirable va 

 riety of shelves and tables, and round bossy stools 

 covered with sparkling crystals. Some of the cor 

 ridors were muddy, and in plodding along these we 

 seemed to be in the streets of some prairie village 

 in spring-time. Then we would come to handsome 

 marble stairways conducting right and left into 

 upper chambers ranged above one another three or 

 four stories high, floors, ceilings, and walls lavishly 

 decorated with innumerable crystalline forms. 

 After thus wandering exploringly, and alone for a 

 mile or so, fairly enchanted, a murmur of voices 

 and a gleam of light betrayed the approach of the 

 guide and his party, from whom, when they came 

 up, we received a most hearty and natural stare, as 

 we stood half concealed in a side recess among 

 stalagmites. I ventured to ask the dripping, crouch 

 ing company how they had enjoyed their saunter, 

 anxious to learn how the strange sunless scenery of 

 the underworld had impressed them. "Ah, it 's 

 nice ! It 7 s splendid ! " they all replied and echoed. 

 "The Bridal Chamber back here is just glorious! 

 This morning we came down from the Calaveras 

 Big Tree Grove, and the trees are nothing to it." 

 After making this curious comparison they has 

 tened sunward, the guide promising to join us 



