GEOLOGY. 687 



mid is perhaps the most beautiful marble plant in the 

 world ! " It was the error of a great genius. 



Although this celebrated grotto is very small, the Marquis 

 of Nointel, one of our ambassadors to the Sublime Porte, 

 took the fancy of celebrating midnight mass there on 

 Christmas Eve. He descended into the grotto accompanied 

 by a great number of persons of his suite, of merchants 

 and pirates, and then had 100 torches of yellow wax and 

 400 lamps lighted up, Avhich illuminated all the interior. 

 At the moment of the holy sacrifice of the mass, fireworks 

 and cannon, arranged at the entrance to the grotto, aroused 

 the echoes with their detonations, whilst the trumpets 

 sounded. This being over, the Marquis of Nointel did not 

 end there; he wished to sleep in the famous grotto to Avliich 

 he had taken such a fancy, and there he slept. 



Another cavern, the Mammoth Cave in the United 

 States, owes its renown not to the celebrity of those who 

 have visited it, but to its extent, which is perhaps greater 

 than that of any other existing cave. 



Although imperfectly known up to the present time, 

 it has been found possible to penetrate only about ten 

 leagues into it. The entrance is narrow and low, but after 

 progressing for a few minutes by torch-light through a 

 subterranean passage, the scene changes, and views of 

 the most gi^and and varied kind unfold themselves. On 

 one side is seen the magical splendonr of stalactite halls 

 decorated with pillars twisted in a thousand shapes, and 

 fantastic statues draped in their crystal mantles; on 

 another are seen regular churches formed of precious 

 stones, gleaming with different coloured lights, the splen- 

 dour of which dazzles the traveller. 



In this obscure labyrinth every spot has its historical 

 name. One is called the Chamber of the Spirits, or 



