THE EARTH. 



-21 



still deeper than any other part, we returned, 

 and being provided with a ladder, flambeaux, 

 and other things to expedite our descent, our 

 whole company, man by man, ventured into 

 the same opening, and descending one after 

 another, we at last saw ourselves alto- 

 gether in the most magnificent part of the 

 cavern. 



" Our candles being now all lighted up, and 

 the whole place completely illuminated, never 

 could the eye be presented with a more glit- 

 tering, or a more magnificent scene. The 

 roof all hung with solid icicles, transparent 

 as glass, yet solid as marble. The eye could 

 scarcely reach the lofty and noble ceiling; 

 the sides were regularly formed with spars ; 

 and the whole presented the idea of a mag- 

 nificent theatre, illuminated with an immense 

 profusion of lights. The floor consisted of 

 solid marble ; and in several places magnifi- 

 cent columns, thrones, altars, and other ob- 

 jects, appeared, as if nature had designed to 

 mock the curiosities of art. Our voices, upon 

 speaking or singing, were redoubled to an 

 astonishing loudness ; and upon the firing of 

 a gun, the noise and reverberations were 

 almost deafening. In the midst of this grand 

 amphitheatre rose a concretion of about fif- 

 teen feet high, that, in some measure, resem- 

 bled an altar; from which, taking the hint, 

 we caused mass to be celebrated there. The 

 beautiful columns that shot up round the al- 

 tar, appeared like candlesticks; and many 

 other natural objects represented the custo- 

 mary ornaments of this sacrament. 



" Below even this spacious grotto there 

 seemed another cavern ; down which I ven- 

 tured with my former mariner, and descended 

 about fifty paces by means of a rope. I at 

 last arrived at a small spot of level ground, 

 where the bottom appeared different from 

 that of the amphitheatre, being composed of 

 a soft clay, yielding to the pressure, and in 

 which I thrust a stick to about six feet deep. 

 In this, however, as above, numbers of the 

 most beautiful crystals were formed, one of 

 which particularly resembled a table. Upon 

 our egress from this amazing cavern, we per- 



ceived a Greek inscription upon a rock at the 

 mouth, but so obliterated by time, that we 

 could not read it. It seemed to import, that 

 one Antipater, in the time of Alexander, had 

 come thither; but whether he had penetrated 

 into the depths of the cavern, he does not 

 think fit to inform us." 



Such is the account of this beautiful scene, 

 as communicated in a letter to Kircher. We 

 have another, and a more copious description 

 of it, by Tournefort, which is in every body's 

 hands ; but I have given the above, both be- 

 cause it was communicated by the first dis- 

 coverer, and because it is a simple narrative 

 of facts, without any reasoning upon them. 

 According to Tournefort's account, indeed, 

 we might conclude, from the rapid growth of 

 the spars in this grotto, that it must every 

 year be growing narrower, and that it must in 

 time be choked up with them entirely ; but 

 no such thing has happened hitherto, and the 

 grotto at this day continues as spacious as 

 we ever knew it. 



This is not a place for inquiry into the 

 seeming vegetation of those stony substances, 

 with which this and almost every cavern are 

 incrusted : it is enough to observe, in gene- 

 ral, that they are formed by an accumulation 

 of that little gritty matter which is carried 

 thither by the waters, and which in time ac- 

 quires the hardness of marble. What in this 

 place more imports us to know, is, how these 

 amazing hollows in the earth came to be 

 formed. And I think, in the three instances 

 above mentioned, it is pretty evident, that 

 their excavation has been owing to water. 

 These finding subterraneous passages under 

 the earth, and by long degrees hollowing the 

 beds in which they flowed, the ground above 

 them has slipped down closer to their surface, 

 leaving the upper layers of the earth or stone 

 still suspended ; the ground that sinks upon 

 the face of the waters forming the floor of the 

 cavern ; the ground or rock, that keeps sus- 

 pended, forming the roof: and, indeed, there 

 are but few of these caverns found without 

 water, either within them, or near enough to 

 point out their formation. 





