152 



INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL. 



time Albino was the only attendant left. This long 

 ladder was laid on a narrow, sloping face of rock, 

 protected on one side by a perpendicular wall, but at 

 the other open and precipitous. Its aspect was un- 

 propitious, but we determined to go on. Holding 

 by the side of the ladder next the rock, we descend- 

 ed, crashing and carrying down the loose rounds, so 

 that when we got to the bottom we had cut off all 

 communication with Albino; he could not descend, 

 and, what was quite as inconvenient, we could not 

 get back. It was now too late to reflect. We told 

 Albino to throw down our torches, and go back for 

 Indian^ and rope to haul us out. In the mean time 

 we moved on by a broken, winding passage, and, at 

 the distance of about two hundred feet, came to the 

 top of a ladder eight feet long, at the foot of which 

 we entered a low and stifling passage ; and crawling 

 along this on our hands and feet, at the distance of 

 about three hundred feet we came to a rocky basin 

 fuU of water. Before reaching it one of our torches 

 had gone out, and the other was then expiring. From 

 the best calculation I can make, which is not far out 

 of the way, we were then fourteen hundred feet 

 from the mouth of the cave, and at a perpendicular 

 depth of four hundred and fifty feet. As may be 

 supposed from what the reader already knows of 

 these wells, we w^ere black with smoke, grimed with 

 dirt, and dripping with perspiration. Water was 

 the most pleasant spectacle that could greet our 

 eyes; but it did not satisfy us to drink it only, we 



