We continued our march therefore along the side of the water, and
often saw on the sides large apertures in the rock, which seemed to
be new or subordinate caverns, all which we passed without looking
into. At length my guide prepared me for one of the finest sights
we had yet seen, which we should now soon behold.
And we had hardly gone on a few paces, when we entered what might
easily have been taken for a majestic temple, with lofty arches,
supported by beautiful pillars, formed by the plastic hand of some
ingenious artist.
This subterranean temple, in the structure of which no human hand
had borne a part, appeared to me at that moment to surpass all the
most stupendous buildings in the world, in point of regularity,
magnificence, and beauty.
Full of admiration and reverence, here, even in the inmost recesses
of nature, I saw the majesty of the Creator displayed; and before I
quitted this temple, here, in this solemn silence and holy gloom, I
thought it would be a becoming act of true religion to adore, as I
cordially did, the God of nature.
We now drew near the end of our journey. Our faithful companion,
the water, guided us through the remainder of the cavern, where the
rock is arched for the last time, and then sinks till it touches the
water, which here forms a semicircle, and thus the cavern closes, so
that no mortal can go one step farther.
My guide here again jumped into the water, swam a little way under
the rock, and then came back quite wet, to show me that it was
impossible to go any further, unless this rock could be blown up
with powder, and a second cavern opened. I now thought all we had
to do was to return the nearest way; but there were new difficulties
still to encounter, and new scenes to behold still more beautiful
than any I had yet seen.
My guide now turned and went back towards the left, where I followed
him through a large opening in the rock.
And here he first asked me if I could determine to creep a
considerable distance through the rock, where it nearly touched the
ground. Having consented to do so, he told me I had only to follow
him, warning me at the same time to take great care of my candle.
Thus we crept on our hands and feet, on the wet and muddy ground,
through the opening in the rock, which was often scarcely large
enough for us to get through with our bodies.
When at length we had got through this troublesome passage, I saw in
the cavern a steep hill, which was so high that it seemed to lose
itself as in a cloud, in the summit of the rock.
This hill was so wet and slippery, that as soon as I attempted to
ascend, I fell down. My guide, however, took hold of my hand and
told me I had only resolutely to follow him.
We now ascended such an amazing height, and there were such
precipices on each side, that it makes me giddy even now when I
think of it.
When we at length had gained the summit, where the hill seemed to
lose itself in the rock, my guide placed me where I could stand
firm, and told me to stay there quietly. In the meantime he himself
went down the hill with his candle, and left me alone.
I lost sight of him for some moments, but at length I perceived, not
him, indeed, but his candle, quite in the bottom, from whence it
seemed to shine like a bright and twinkling star.
After I had enjoyed this indescribably beautiful sight for some
time, my guide came back, and carried me safely down the hill again
on his shoulders. And as I now stood below, he went up and let his
candle shine again through an opening of the rock, while I covered
mine with my hand; and it was now as if on a dark night a bright
star shone down upon me, a sight which, in point of beauty, far
surpassed all that I had ever seen.
Our journey was now ended, and we returned, not without trouble and
difficulty, through the narrow passage. We again entered the temple
we had a short time before left; again heard the pattering of the
rain, which sounded as rain when we were near it, but which at a
distance seemed a sonorous, dull, and melancholy hum; and now again
we returned across the quiet streams through the capacious entrance
of the cavern to the little door, where we had before taken our
leave of daylight, which, after so long a darkness, we now again
hailed with joy.
Before my guide opened the door, he told me I should now have a view
of a sight that would surpass all the foregoing. I found that he
was in the right, for when he had only half opened the door, it
really seemed as if I was looking into Elysium.
The day seemed to be gradually breaking, and night and darkness to
have vanished. 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.
