n at the exceeding beauty
of some portions of this subterranean corridor, which glittered in the
torch-light with a splendour no language can describe; for the
innumerable minute crystals scattered over its surface, glowed at one
moment with a deep blood-red, and at another exhibited all the different
hues of the most brilliant rainbow.

[Sidenote: MELODRAMATIC SCENE.] It is hardly possible to conceive a more
extraordinary spectacle than that in which I was now an actor: it was
perfectly melodramatic, and would make the fortune of any minor theatre
in London, though the pen of a Dante is alone equal to its description.
First and foremost, were seen the Greek guides exciting us to persevere,
and

[Sidenote: STRIFE OF TONGUES.] beckoning us onwards by waving the
flaming torches high above their heads; and when the light flashed upon
their savage countenances, wild streaming locks, and picturesque
garments, as well as over the pale, stumbling, struggling crowd which
followed, it required no great stretch of fancy to imagine that I saw
the attendant demons of some mighty sorcerer, the inhabitant of this
rocky den, deluding us onwards to destruction. The laughter, screams,
and hallooing, which accompanied our efforts to maintain a hold upon the
cable, our only hope of safety, united to the smoke and stench of the
flambeaux, rendered the whole scene no unapt representation of
Pandemonium. The Greeks shouted forth oaths, warnings, entreaties, and
directions, in their native tongue: with these were intermingled, in
indescribable confusion, the English "d--n," the French "sacre," the
German "mein Got," the Italian "corpo di Bacco," and the gentler
exclamations of certain of the fair sex who, strange to say, accompanied
us in this hazardous expedition.

[Sidenote: SYMPTOMS OF ALARM.] On reaching the brink of a most frightful
precipice, we were instructed to crawl down by means of some rude steps
cut in the surface of a sloping buttress or inclined plane of rock,
which appeared to extend to the bottom. The sight of this horrible den
acted as a "pretty considerable" sedative to our enthusiasm. Each
exclaimed to himself, (at least I did for one) "Can I venture?"--as he
contemplated the dismal, and, to all appearance, bottomless gulf, where
nothing was visible but the strange figures of our guides at a
prodigious distance beneath us, clinging to the wall with one hand,
while they brandished their torches with the other. However, t