OE, PLAIj* teaching. 



19 



over them, with sentimentality truly German, 

 ' The union of *wo hearts.' The resemblance 

 is certainly very striking. After passing * the 

 hearts,' we came to the ' ball-room.' It is 

 customary for the inhabitants of Adelsberg, and 

 the surrounding country, to come on Whit- 

 Monday to this grotto, which is brilliantly 

 illuminated, and the part called the ball-room 

 is actually employed for that purpose by the 

 peasantry. A gallery, very appositely formed 

 by nature, serves the musicians for an orches- 

 tra, and wooden chandeliers are suspended 

 from the vaulted roof. It is impossible for me 

 to describe minutely all the wonderful varie- 

 ties ; the * Fountains ' seeming, as they fall, 

 to be frozen into stone ; the ' Graves,' with 

 weeping willows waving over them ; the 5 Pic- 

 ture,' the * Cannon.' the ' Confessional,' the 

 * Pulpit,' the ' Sausage-maker's shop,' and 

 the * Prisons.' I must not omit mentioning 

 one part which, though less gi and than many 

 others, is extremely curious. The stalactites 

 have here formed themselves like folds of 

 linen, and are so thin as to be transparent. 

 Some are like shirt-ruffles, having a hem, and 

 looking as if they were embroidered ; and 

 there is one, called the ' Curtain,' which 

 hangs exactly in natural folds, like a white 

 and pendant sheet. Everywhere you have the 

 dripping as of a continual shower, showing 

 that the mighty work is still going on, though 

 the several stages of its progress are imper- 

 ceptible. Our attention was so excited, that 

 we had walked two hours without feeling the 

 le ist fdtigue, or being sensible of the passage 

 of time. We had gone beyond the point 

 where most travellers had stopped, and had 

 been rewarded for it by seeing stalactites of 

 undiminished whiteness, and crystals glittering, 

 as the light shone upon them, like unnumbered 

 diamonds." 



Caverns upon sea-shores are 

 chiefly produced by the action of 

 winds and waves upon rocks of 

 varying hardness. The effect of 

 water upon internal and unseen 

 parts is frequently exhibited by 



150. 



rocks, which stand boldly out, 

 and encounter the action of the 

 elements. Sometimes dense 

 masses of stone are worn through, 

 and arched rocJrs, Ck produced. 



The condition of the surface of 

 the land is liable, with the change 

 of seasons, to considerable varia- 

 tions. Great falls of snow lay 

 whole countries under a deep 

 mantle of congealed rain. Ava- 

 lanches, 7, produce disastrous re- 



151 



An inhabitant of Savoy, having acquired a 

 sum of money* in France, was returning home 

 with his family ; and, while crossing a defile of 

 Mount St. Bernard, an avalanche descended 

 from the mountain, and buried him. His 

 wife, seized with terror, remained for some 

 minutes motionless, when she saw her eldest 

 child fall dead with the cold. The despairing 

 mother perceived an alarm-bell, and, taking 

 her little son in her arms, fell on her knees 

 and pulled the rope, which, having rotted with 

 exposure to the weather, broke with the first 

 sound. 



suits in countries where immense 

 quantities of snow suddenly de- 

 scend from the mountains into 

 the plains. The countries where 

 they are most frequent are the 

 Tyrol, Switzerland, Piedmont, and 

 Savoy. Avalanches are distin- 

 guished by the name of drift 

 when the wind raises the light 

 flakes of snow, and bears it, loose 

 and powdery, to some distant 

 spot. JRolling avalanches are 

 those which are formed by de- 

 tached masses of snow assuming 

 a round form in their descent 



