The Most
Remarkable Object Is A Natural Column, Which Rises Up Something
Like The Trunk Of An Enormous Oak, As
If for the purpose of
supporting the roof; it stands at a short distance from the
entrance, and gives a
Certain air of wildness and singularity to
that part of the cavern which is visible, which it would otherwise
not possess. The floor is exceedingly slippery, consisting of soil
which the continual drippings from the roof have saturated, so that
no slight precaution is necessary for him who treads it. It is
very dangerous to enter this place without a guide well acquainted
with it, as, besides the black pit at the extremity, holes which
have never been fathomed present themselves here and there, falling
into which the adventurer would be dashed to pieces. Whatever men
may please to say of this cave, one thing it seems to tell to all
who approach it, namely, that the hand of man has never been busy
about it; there is many a cave of nature's forming, old as the
earth on which we exist, which nevertheless exhibits indications
that man has turned it to some account, and that it has been
subjected more or less to his modifying power; not so this cave of
Gibraltar, for, judging from its appearance, there is not the
slightest reason for supposing that it ever served for aught else
than a den for foul night birds, reptiles, and beasts of prey. It
has been stated by some to have been used in the days of paganism
as a temple to the god Hercules, who, according to the ancient
tradition, raised the singular mass of crags now called Gibraltar,
and the mountain which confronts it on the African shores, as
columns which should say to all succeeding times that he had been
there, and had advanced no farther. Sufficient to observe, that
there is nothing within the cave which would authorize the adoption
of such an opinion, not even a platform on which an altar could
have stood, whilst a narrow path passes before it, leading to the
summit of the mountain. As I have myself never penetrated into its
depths, I can of course not pretend to describe them. Numerous
have been the individuals who, instigated by curiosity, have
ventured down to immense depths, hoping to discover an end, and
indeed scarcely a week passes without similar attempts being made
either by the officers or soldiers of the garrison, all of which
have proved perfectly abortive. No termination has ever been
reached, nor any discoveries made to repay the labour and frightful
danger incurred; precipice succeeds precipice, and abyss succeeds
abyss, in apparently endless succession, with ledges at intervals,
which afford the adventurers opportunities for resting themselves
and affixing their rope-ladders for the purpose of descending yet
farther. What is, however, most mortifying and perplexing is to
observe that these abysses are not only before, but behind you, and
on every side; indeed, close within the entrance of the cave, on
the right, there is a gulf almost equally dark and full as
threatening as that which exists at the nether end, and perhaps
contains within itself as many gulfs and horrid caverns branching
off in all directions.
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