. HISTORY OF MAURITIUS. 
493 
In order to descend into this abyss you must first provide yourself with wax lights 
and flambeaux : 'when you have gone down a dozen Steps on the rocks which 
form its mouth, you then find yourself in a vast subterranean place, the vaults of 
which are of black rock, in an elliptical form. It is about thirty feet wide, and 
twenty high ; the bottom is very close, and is covered with a fine earth, which the 
rain-water has deposited there. ; 
On each side of the cavern, round the upper part, is a kind of large bead and mould¬ 
ings, which probably have been formed by the dripping of water in the' rainy seasons, 
The natives think that it is the aperture of a volcano; it has, however, more the 
appearance of having been the bed of a subterraneous river. The vault is covered 
with a shining and dry varnish, formed by a kind of stony concretion which spreads 
itself over the projections, and in some parts of the floor: there is also ferruginous 
incrustations, which crackle beneath the feet like ice. 
After a considerable length of passage, the ground becomes perfectly dry, except 
at about three hundred paces from the entrance, where the vault has fallen in, and 
the external water filters through the earth, and forms some humid spots.. 
From thence the vault continues lowering, till there is no proceeding but on the 
hands and feet: a stifling heat is found to prevail. There is a strange kind of plant 
found here, which is full of a milky juice: it resembles a root about the thickness of 
one’s finger, and upwards of ten feet long, without branches or leaves, or the least 
appearance of having ever had any, although it is entire at the two extremities. 
This cavern is capable of being formed into superb magazines, by building wall? 
to prevent the water from entering into it. 
