3 6*0 
STALACTITES. 
and making with the glow of the purple from be- 
hind one continued immense sheet of amethysts. 
From the foot of this ladder we slided on our bellies 
through another shallow vault of green and white 
marble, about twenty feet; and at the bottom of this 
joined our guides. 
“ Here we all got together once again and drank 
some rum to give us courage before we proceeded 
any further. After this short refreshment, w 7 e pro- 
ceeded by a straight but somewhat slanting passage, 
of a rough, hard, and somewhat coarse stone, full 
of a thousand strange figures of snakes rolled round, 
and looking as if alive ; but, in reality, as cold and 
hard as the rest of the stone, and nothing but some 
of the stone itself in that shape. We walked pretty 
easily along this descent for near two hundred 
yards, where we saw two pillars seemingly made 
to support the roof from falling in ; but, in reality, 
it was no such thing, for they were very brittle, 
and made of a fine glittering yellow marble. When 
we had passed these about two hundred yards, we 
found ourselves at the brink of another very ter- 
rible precipice ; but this our guides assured us was 
the last ; and there being a very good ladder to go 
down by, we readily ventured. At the bottom of 
this steep wall, as I may call it, we found ourselves 
for some way upon plain even ground ; but after 
about forty yards walking were presented by our 
guides with ropes again, which we fastened about 
our middles, though not to be swung down by, but 
only for fear of danger, as there are lakes and deep 
