At a distance you again just saw the smoke of the
cottages, and then the cottages themselves; and as we ascended we
saw the boys still playing around the hewn trunk, till at length the
reddish purple stripes in the sky faintly appeared through the mouth
of the hole; yet, just as we came out, the sun was setting in the
west.
Thus had I spent nearly the whole afternoon till it was quite
evening in the cavern; and when I looked at myself, I was, as to my
dress, not much unlike my guide; my shoes scarcely hung to my feet,
they were so soft and so torn by walking so long on the damp sand,
and the hard pointed stones.
I paid no more than half-a-crown for seeing all that I had seen,
with a trifle to my guide; for it seems he does not get the half-
crown, but is obliged to account for it to his master, who lives
very comfortably on the revenue he derives from this cavern, and is
able to keep a man to show it to strangers.
When I came home I sent for a shoemaker. There was one who lived
just opposite; and he immediately came to examine my shoes.
