194 MEXICO. 
ately before you, unrlcr the vast Gothic vault of the cave, rises a lofty 
stalagiTiiie pillar with a fringe falling from the top of it, formed of the 
brightest foam, congealed in a moment. A mimic pulpit springs from 
the wall, covered w^ith elaborate tracery, — and, hard by, an altar is 
spread with the fairest napkins, while, above it, depends a crystal curtain 
hanging in easy folds, each one of which flashes back the light of your 
torch as if carved from silver. 
We fastened the end of our twine to a pillar of the altar, and struck 
out westwardly, in the direction of the cavern. After a short distance we 
turned slightly to the south, and passing down a pile of rocks that had 
fallen from the roof, entered the second chamber. 
In the centre of tliis, a huge stalagmite has been formed. We called it 
the Tower of Babel. It is a lofty mass, two hundred feet in circum- 
ference, surrounded, from top to bottom, by rings of fountain-basins 
hanging from its sides, each wider than the other, and carved by the 
action of water into as beautiful shapes as if cut by the hand of a 
sculptor. An Indian climbed to the top of it, and firing a blue-light, illu- 
minated the whole cavern. By the bright, unearthly blaze, every nook 
and corner became visible, and the waters and carving of the fountain- 
tower stood out in wonderful relief. 
We penetrated to the third chamber. Here there was no centre column, 
but the effect was produced by the immensity of the vault. It appears as 
though you might set the whole of St. Peter's beneath it, with dome and 
cross. It is a magnificent cathedral ; the wall sheeted with stalactites, 
and the floor meandered by those arabesque troughs of pure white, and 
antique pattern, which we had seen at the Tower of Babel. 
An Indian fired a rocket, which exploded as it struck the top of the im- 
mense dome, and amid the falling stars, the detonation reverberated from 
side to side of the immense vault with the roar of a cannonade. A sheet 
of stalactite was struck, and it sounded with the clearness of a bell. Four 
Roman candles were lighted and placed on rocks midway up the temple 
sides, and they shed a faint illumination, like the twilight stealing through 
the fretted windows of an old cathedral. 
Beyond this chamber was a narrow path between the almost perpen- 
dicular rocks, and, as we passed, the guide crept through an entrance near 
the floor, and holding his torch alofl, so that the light fell as from an 
invisible source, displayed a delicious little cave, arched with snowy 
stalactites. In the middle rose a centre-table, covered with its fringed 
folds, and adorned with goblin nicknacks. It was the boudoir of some 
gnome or coquettish fairy ! 
Two rocks standing beyond this retreat, are the portals of another cham- 
ber, groined, like the rest, in Gothic arches with the tracery of purest sta- 
lactites, while its floor is paved all over with beautiful little globulai 
stalagmites. In a corner fountain, we found the skeleton head of a serpent, 
The path beyond this is nearly blocked up by immense masses that 
have fallen from the roof. Passing over these, you attain another vaulted 
