descended into another
frightful cavern, where on one side several dismal-looking pits, like
the entrances to coal mines, and black pools of dirty, stagnant water,
menaced us with death under a twofold aspect, until we reached the
uneven and shelving floor of the grotto. There were several chambers,
more or less resembling each other, being separated from the grand nave
of this magnificent temple by the accumulation of the crystallising mass
for ages.

[Sidenote: DESCRIPTION BY A NAVAL OFFICER.] It is a scene that ought to
be visited by a few congenial spirits, quietly and leisurely. On the
present occasion the effect and the illusion were dissipated by the
glare of the torch lights, the hallooing and screaming of those present,
and the thumping of hammers and blocks of stone to get fragments of the
crystal. This part of the grotto is certainly the heaven, the paradise;
though, of a truth, the descent into it is through purgatory; an opinion
in which I am by no means singular; and in confirmation I shall beg
leave to introduce a portion of the narrative of a gallant officer
belonging to one of our vessels cruising in the Levant, who saw the
grotto under more favourable auspices than we did; though, like the poor
Frenchman, whom I shall have occasion to mention hereafter, he
acknowledges that he purchased the gratification at the cost of some
mortal terror.

[Sidenote: MAGNIFICENT PASSAGE.] Speaking of the deepest and most gloomy
of the caverns into which we had penetrated, he says:--"I was quite
disheartened at this horrible prospect, and declared I would go back,
but our guides assured us there was no danger, and the rest of the
company resolving to see the bottom after having come so far, I would
not leave them: so we went to a corner where was placed an old slippery
rotten ladder, which hung down close to the wall, and down this, one
after another, we at length descended. When we reached the bottom we
found ourselves at the entrance of another passage, which was indeed
horrible enough; but in this there was not wanting something of beauty.
It was a wide and gradual descent, at the entrance of which one of our
guides seated himself, and began to slide down, telling us we must do
the same. We could discover by the light of his torch that this passage
was one of the noblest in the world. It was about nine feet high, seven
wide, and had for its bottom a fine green glossy marble. The walls and
arch of the roof, being in