Paris. 437 



cautiousness the minds of his unruly charge ; for the party 

 consisted chiefly of English, and most of them young. 



The great caverns here, have been produced by the 

 quarrying or mining of thick beds of sandstone, for the 

 supply of building-stones to Paris. They extend to a 

 great distance below ground, passing under no inconsider- 

 able part of the fauxbourgs of St Jacques and St Germain, 

 and even under the Seine. Huge columns are left at regu- 

 lar distances for supporting the roof. The floor has been 

 levelled, at least in those places to which strangers are 

 usually conducted ; so that not the slightest difficulty oc- 

 curs in this gloomy walk, The only thing necessary to 

 be attended to, is to keep within sight of the conductor's 

 lights ; for it would be very difficult for a lonely stranger 

 to thread the mazes. A strong black line of painting on 

 the roof, however, marks the route ; so that, while a light 

 can be kept alive, there is no real danger. It has been al- 

 ready mentioned (p. 347.), that the bones from the ceme- 

 tery of the Innocents were deposited in the extensive stone 

 chambers which we were now visiting. Human osseous 

 remains from some of the ancient churches of Paris were 

 also deposited in these caverns. The title of Catacombs was 

 now bestowed on them on account of their supposed re- 

 semblance to the repositories of the dead among such of 

 the ancients as did not practise cremation.. This is now 

 probably the vastest charnel-house in the world, and it is 

 certainly the best arranged. Inscriptions here and there 

 present themselves : some of them are far from being plea- 

 sing or sooihing ; one recording only the number of square 

 yards occupied by a continuous heap of bones, and another 

 pretty plainly intimating that these mortal remains are here 

 destined to eternal repose,— possibly because the writers of 

 the inscription had no wish for other prospects. A consi- 

 derable number of diseased bones has been culled out, 



