myself to slide, so to speak, holding frantically on the
double cord with one hand and with the other keeping myself off the
rocks by the assistance of my iron-shod pole. One idea was all the time
impressed upon my brain. I feared that the upper support would fail me.
The cord appeared to me far too fragile to bear the weight of three such
persons as we were, with our luggage. I made as little use of it as
possible, trusting to my own agility and doing miracles in the way of
feats of dexterity and strength upon the projecting shelves and spurs of
lava which my feet seemed to clutch as strongly as my hands.

The guide went first, I have said, and when one of the slippery and
frail supports broke from under his feet he had recourse to his usual
monosyllabic way of speaking.

"Gif akt--"

"Attention--look out," repeated my uncle.

In about half an hour we reached a kind of small terrace formed by a
fragment of rock projecting some distance from the sides of the shaft.

Hans now began to haul upon the cord on one side only, the other going
as quietly upward as the other came down. It fell at last, bringing with
it a shower of small stones, lava and dust, a disagreeable kind of rain
or hail.

While we were seated on this extraordinary bench I ventured once more to
look downwards. With a sigh I discovered that the bottom was still
wholly invisible. Were we, then, going direct to the interior of the
earth?

The performance with the cord recommenced, and a quarter of an hour
later we had reached to the depth of another two hundred feet.

I have very strong doubts if the most determined geologist would, during
that descent, have studied the nature of the different layers of earth
around him. I did not trouble my head much about the matter; whether we
were among the combustible carbon, Silurians, or primitive soil, I
neither knew nor cared to know.

Not so the inveterate Professor. He must have taken notes all the way
down, for, at one of our halts, he began a brief lecture.

"The farther we advance," said he, "the greater is my confidence in the
result. The disposition of these volcanic strata absolutely confirms the
theories of Sir Humphry Davy. We are still within the region of the
primordial soil, the soil in which took place the chemical operation of
metals becoming inflamed by coming in contact with the air and water. I
at once regret the old and now forever exploded theory of a central
fire. At all events, we s