endered very difficult,
by the huge rocks which obstructed the way and over which we were
forced to clamber. The name is indicative of the spot. It is a vast
and lofty chamber, the floor covered with a mountainous heap of rocks
rising amphitheatrically almost to the ceiling, and so disposed as to
furnish at different elevations, galleries or platforms, reaching
immediately around the chamber itself or leading off into some of its
hidden recesses. The guide is presently seen standing at a fearful
height above, and suddenly a Bengal light, blazes up, "when the rugged
roof, the frowning cliffs and the whole chaos of rocks are refulgent
in the brilliant glare." The sublimity of the scene is beyond the
powers of the imagination.

CHAPTER VIII.

Mammoth Dome--First Discoverers--Little Dome--Tale of a Lamp--Return.

From the Bandit's Hall, diverge two caves; one of which, the left,
leads you to a multitude of domes; and the right, to one which, _par
excellence_, is called the Mammoth Dome. Taking the right, we arrived,
after a rugged walk of nearly a mile, to a platform, which commands an
indistinct view of this dome of domes. It was discovered by a German
gentleman and the guide Stephen about two years ago, but was not
explored until some months after, when it was visited by a party of
four or five, accompanied by two guides, and well prepared with ropes,
&c. From the platform, the guides were let down about twenty feet, by
means of a rope, and upon reaching the ground below, they found
themselves on the side of a hill, which, descending about fifty feet,
brought them immediately under the Great Dome, from the summit of
which, there is a water-fall. This dome is near four hundred feet
high, and is justly considered one of the most sublime and wonderful
spectacles of this most wonderful of caverns. From the bottom of the
dome they ascended the hill to the place to which they had been
lowered from the platform, and continuing thence up a very steep hill,
more than one hundred feet, they reached its summit. Arrived at the
summit, a scene of awful grandeur and magnificence is presented to the
view. Looking down the declivity, you see far below to the left, the
visiters whom you have left behind, standing on the platform or
termination of the avenue along which they had come; and lower down
still, the bottom of the Great Dome itself. Above, two hundred and
eighty feet, is the ceiling, lost in the obscurity of space and