314 



GREECE. 



great, that the relief and fullness of these natural hangings, were 

 as complete as the fancy could have wished. They were not like 

 concretions or encrustations, mere coverings of the rock ; they were 

 the gradual growth of ages, disposed in the most simple and majestic 

 forms, and so rich and large, as to accord with the size and loftiness 

 of the cavern. The stalagmites below and on the sides of the 

 chamber, were still more fantastic in their forms, than the pendants 

 above, and struck the eye with the fancied resemblance of vast human 

 figures. 



At the end of this great vault, a narrow passage leads down a wet 

 slope of rock ; with some difficulty, from the slippery nature of the 

 ground on which I trod, I went a considerable way on, until I came 

 to a place where the descent grew very steep, and my light being 

 nearly exhausted, it seemed best to return. On my way back, I found, 

 half buried in the clay, on one side of the passage, a small antique 

 Patera, of the common black and red ware. The encrustation of the 

 grotto had begun to appear ; but it was unbroken, and I was interested 

 in finding this simple relic of the homage once paid to the Corycian 

 nymphs by the ancient inhabitants of the country. The stalagmitic 

 formations on the entrance of this second passage, are wild as imagin- 

 ation can conceive, and of the most brilliant whiteness. 



It would not require a fancy, lively, like that of the ancient 

 Greeks, to assign this beautiful grotto, as a residence to the 

 nymphs. The stillness which reigns through it, only broken by 

 the gentle sound of the water, which drops from the point of the 

 stalactites*, the uS#f a-evawta of the grotto of the nymphs in the 

 Odyssey, the dim light admitted by its narrow entrance, and reflected 

 by the white ribs of the roof, with all the miraculous decorations 

 of the interior, would impress the most insensible with feelings of 

 awe, and lead him to attribute the influence of the scene to the pre- 

 sence of some supernatural being. 



* Distillantes quoquc guttce in lapides durescunt in antris Coryciis. Pliny, lib. xxxv. 



