62 HISTORY or 



flated, but upon the whole amusing. " Having been informed," 

 s;iys he, " by the natives of Paros, that in the little island of An- 

 tipjuos, which lies about two miles from the former, of a gigantic 

 statue that was to be seen at the mouth of a cavern in that 

 place, it was resolved that we (the French consul and himself) 

 fjhould pay it a visit. In pursuance of this resolution, after we 

 had landed on the island, and walked about four mQes through 

 the midst of beautiful plains and sloping woodlands, we at 

 '/ength came to a little hiU, on the side of which yawned a most 

 horrid cavern, that with its gloom at first struck us with terror, 

 and almost repressed curiosity. Recovering the first surprise, 

 however, we entered boldly ; and had not proceeded above 

 twenty paces, when the supposed statue of the giant presented 

 itself to our view. We quickly perceived, that what the ignor- 

 ant natives had been terrified at as a giant was nothing more 

 than a sparry concretion, formed by the water dropping from 



rhinit." " Wliatia Fhinn ?" said we. " Fhinn Mac CouJ, whom the trans. 

 Intor of Ossian's work has called Fingal." How fortunate, that in this ea-^e 

 we should meet with the remembrance of that chief, whose existence, as 

 well as that of the whole Epic poem, is almost doubted in England. 



The following are the dimensions of the cave. 



Length of the cave from the arch without, . . . 371 feet 



From the pitch of the arch, 260 



Breadth of the arch at the mouth, 53 



At the farther end, 20 



Height of the arch at the mouth, .... 117 



Height of the arch at the end, 79 



Height of an outside pillar, 39 



Of one at the north-west corner 51 



Depth of the water at the mouth, , . . ~ . . 18 



At the bottom, 9 



In volcanic regions there are many caves, formed by the blisters of the 

 lava which flows during the eruption of volcanic mountains. The following 

 is a. description of one of that kind by Sir George M'Kenzie, which he met 

 with during his travels in Iceland, in the year 1810, in"a valley near Haviie. 

 foird. " We proceeded to a cave (says Sir George,) about two miles to the 

 eastward. It was nothing more than an extensive hollow, formed by one 

 of those blisters or bubbles, hundreds of which we have walked over. Many 

 of these are of considerable depth and great length. The bottom of this was 

 covered with ice, and numerous icicles hung from the roof. Having lighted 

 our lamps, we went to the end of the cave, the distance of which, from the 

 entrance, we found to be fifty-five yards, the height not being in general 

 more than seven or eight feet. The inside was lined with melted matter, 

 disposed in various singular forms." 



