Travelers' Original Accounts: 1 801 -1 840 



and the blinding spray, nearly all the touring gentlemen, and 1832 

 even many of the pretty ladies, find their way. But here I Troll °P e 

 often saw their noble daring fail, and have watched them 

 dripping and draggled turn again to the sheltering stairs, leaving 

 us in full possession of the awful scene we so dearly loved to 

 gaze upon. How utterly futile must every attempt be to describe 

 the spot ! How vain every effort to convey an idea of the sensa- 

 tions it produces ! Why is it so exquisite a pleasure to stand for 

 hours drenched in spray, stunned by the ceaseless roar, trembling 

 from the concussion that shakes the very rock you cling to, and 

 breathing painfully in the moist atmosphere that seems to have 

 less of air than water in it? Yet pleasure it is, and I almost 

 think the greatest I ever enjoyed. We more than once 

 approached the entrance to this appalling cavern, but I never 

 fairly entered it, though two or three of my party did. I lost 

 my breath entirely; and the pain at my breast was so severe, 

 that not all my curiosity could enable me to endure it. 



What was that cavern of the winds, of which we heard of 

 old, compared to this? A mightier spirit than /Eolus reigns 

 here. 



Nor was this spot of dread and danger the only one in which 

 we found ourselves alone. The path taken by " the company 

 to the shantee, which contained the " book of names " was 

 always the same ; this wound down the steep bank from the gate 

 of the hotel garden, and was rendered tolerably easy by its 

 repeated doublings; but it was by no means the best calculated 

 to manage to advantage the pleasure of the stranger in his 

 approach to the spot. All others, however, seemed left for 

 us alone. 



During our stay we saw the commencement of another stair- 

 case, intended to rival in attraction that at present in use; it 

 is but a few yards from it, and can in no way, I think, con- 

 tribute to the convenience of the descent. The erection of the 

 central shaft of this spiral stair was a most tremendous opera- 

 tion, and made me sick and giddy as I watched it. After it 



185 



