VISIT TO CONGO GEOTTO. 
85 
curtains and flowery drapery, running into 
the elegant arabesques. All around the sides of 
the hall the lime has also taken grotesque forms, 
amongst which fancy may discover the high 
altar of a Roman- Catholic Church, decked out 
with all the paraphernalia of a high mass. 
Stalactites, resembling high and lofty cande- 
labra, cups and goblets, steps and censors appear 
in one direction; whilst, in another, is repre- 
sented a collection of elegant drapery, flowers, 
trees, and animals — one deposit bearing the ex- 
act resemblance to the head of a gigantic bull. 
Being continually saturated with water, the 
groups appear semi-transparent. The hanging 
and falling drops of water also, reflecting the 
torchlight, gave to the whole a dazzling and 
sparkling appearance. The spar, however, 
when broken off, dies, and loses all its transpa- 
rency — becoming a dull and opaque body. 
" Leading out of this hall are innumerable 
passages, the extent and termination of which 
it is impossible to determine. The walls are 
pierced, in every direction, with dark looking 
openings ; and, on entering any of them, it is 
immediately found that their sides are perfo- 
rated in the same manner, each passage leading 
into other caverns; thus making the whole 
mountain one vast subterranean net-work of 
caves, grottos, and caverns. We entered several 
