one of the many rivers running through the cavern, which is
said to be nine miles in extent. It appeared to me that we had been
walking all day amid vast towering rocks. Often the roof was so far
above us that even the light of our torches failed to reach it. We now
entered another hall, when our guide told us to seat ourselves on some
rocks and to extinguish our lights.

"Don't be alarmed," he said; "I'm not going to be guilty of treachery."

My father and Uncle Denis agreed to his proposal, and there we sat far
down in the depths of the earth, not a ray of light reaching us. I
could feel my mother's hand, but although I placed it close to my eyes,
I could not see it. After waiting some time I began to grow uneasy,
when greatly to my relief the guide returned with a lantern in his hand.

"Look up!" he said, "see to what a region I have transported you."

On gazing upwards, we saw stars innumerable glittering in the sky, so it
seemed, but in vain we looked for those to which our eyes were
accustomed, though it was difficult to persuade ourselves that they were
not veritable stars. The guide, holding a stone in his hand, threw it
upwards, when it struck the roof above our heads, and we found that the
seeming stars were produced by pieces of mica imbedded in the roof on
which the light from the lantern, being thrown in a peculiar way, was
brightly reflected.

Relighting our torches, we saw that the walls were of a yellow colour,
while the ceiling appeared to be of a dark undefined blue, resembling
the midnight sky. We visited several other caverns, some of which
appeared to be of immense height, though the ceiling in most parts is
not more than thirty feet from the ground.

One cavern had, what looked like a mountain in that subterranean region,
rising from the ground, with a stream running at its base. We crossed
several rivers; besides the "Echo," one called the "Styx," the other the
"Lethe." Our guide had brought a net, with which he caught some fish
and crawfish. On examining them we could discover no appearance of
eyes, while, from being deprived of the warm rays of the sun, they were
perfectly white. Uncle Denis remarked that as they had no lamps down
there, eyes would have been useless, but their instinct, or probably
their keen sense of feeling, told them when they were running into
danger. The crickets which came hopping about around us, could however,
we ascertained, see perfectly well, and app