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.
