CAVES OF KEREFTO. 
545 
of her own mighty chiselling, are smoothed by the hand of man 
to the height of about twenty feet, and indented with two lines 
of niches for a double row of lamps. A wide flight of a few 
steps, conducted us into a vast cavern or chamber, perfectly 
circular, and evidently finished in that form with the extremest 
care of manual art. Places for lights were here on all sides, 
and every part coal black with the fumes of their long extin¬ 
guished flame. The flickering glare of our six or eight candles* 
only catching here and there the shining surface of the wall, left 
the rest in a depth of darkness that seemed boundless, while the 
eye, following the dark shadows of the roof into similar elevation, 
felt how well all accorded with the overwhelming mysteries, 
which in times past may have there terrified the poor victim of 
profane imposture into the most repugnant and grossest idolatry. 
On measuring the cavern, I did not find it exceed sixty feet in 
diameter; the height, I could not even guess at. From this 
temple of gloom, branched five passages ; that to the right ran 
nearly in a straight line, terminating in a circular room, with a 
small window-aperture. I was prevented entering, not only by 
the current of air, which passed through the tunnel-like open¬ 
ing in the rock, putting out my candle, but from the constant 
flying about of whole clouds of bats and birds, whom my sud¬ 
den attempt had disturbed in their sleeping-quarters. Another 
passage answers to this, on the opposite side of the great cham¬ 
ber, and leads also to an apartment, which is square, and perfectly 
black. Leaving that on our left, we proceeded up the central ca¬ 
vern, to where the three other passages branched off. The center 
one pointed to the north, and those on each side to the north¬ 
west, and north-east. We entered the last, and found it winding 
and extremely intricate, from dividing, and subdividing, into 
VOL. II. 4 A 
