. The
right-hand column was larger than its fellow, but, owing to the more
gradual expansion of the lower part of its height, and the steepness
of the consequent slope, we were unable to measure its girth at any
point where it could be fairly called a column. Christian had been in
the cave a few days before, and he assured me that the swelling base
of this column had increased very considerably since his last visit,
pointing out a solid surface of ice, at one part of our track, where
he had before walked on bare rock. The cave was by no means extremely
cold, that is to say, it was rather above than below the freezing
point, and the splashing of drops of water was audible on all sides;
so that, if Christian spoke the truth,--it was sad to be so often
reminded of Legree's plaintive soliloquy in the opening pages of
'Uncle Tom's Cabin,'--the explanation, I suppose, might be that the
drops of water, falling on the top of the column or stalagmite, run
down the sides, and carry with them some melted portion from the upper
part of the column, and after a course of a few yards become so far
refrigerated as to form ice.[60] The pillar on the left was more
approachable, but we were unable to determine its dimensions; for on
the outer side, where it stood a few feet or yards clear of the side
of the cave, the rounded ice at its foot fell off at once into a dark
chasm, a sort of smooth enticing _Bergschrund_, which we did not care
to face. Christian declared that this column was not so high as it was
a day or two before, which may go to support the theory expressed
above, or at least that part of it which depends upon the supposition
of water dropping on to the head of the column, and melting certain
portions of it.

If we were unable to take the external dimensions of this column, I
had no doubt that we should find internal investigations interesting;
so, to Christian's surprise, I began to chop a hole in it, about two
feet from the ground, and, having made an entrance sufficiently large,
proceeded to get into the cavity which presented itself. The flooring
of the dome-shaped grotto in which I found myself, was loose rock, at
a level about two feet below the surface of the ice-floor on which
Christian still stood. The dome itself was not high enough to allow me
to stand upright, and from the roof, principally from the central
part, a complex mass of delicate icicles passed down to the floor,
leaving a narrow burrowing passage rou