te of their discovery. When about to return, what was their
horror to find that their twine had snapped. They must have searched
for it in vain, for never more did they return.

At last the prior, alarmed at their absence, sent parties to explore the
excavations, but so vast were they even then, that seven days elapsed
before the corpses of the hapless friars were found, their faces
downwards, and their hands folded as if in prayer.

During the siege of Maestricht by the French Republic, a party of the
besiegers occupied the quarries. The Austrians who garrisoned Fort
Pierre at the back of the mountain, formed a plan to drive them out, and
tunnelling made their way towards their enemies. Although they marched
silently along, their torches betrayed them, and the besiegers pouring
in a volley of musketry killed a large number, made prisoners of some,
and drove the rest into the depths of the cavern.

On the banks of the Nile are several prodigious stone quarries, from
which the cities of ancient Egypt were built. Perhaps the largest is
that of Haggar Silsibis. Here passages, broad as streets, with walls
fifty or sixty feet high, now stretching straight forward, now curved,
extend from the east bank of the river into the heart of the mountain,
where halls have been hollowed out large enough to contain the Roman
Colosseum, the rough hewn irregular roof resting upon immense square or
many-sided pillars, some of which are eighty to a hundred feet in
circumference. Here numerous blocks, already completely separated from
the rock, appear ready to be transported; the labours of the quarry-men
having suddenly been arrested by the invasion of the Conqueror, who
overthrew the priests of Isis.

One of the most curious quarries of ancient days is found near Syracuse.
The greater portion is a hundred feet below the level of the earth, and
of vast extent, the whole hewn out of rock as hard as marble, the blocks
thus obtained being employed in building Syracuse. It is converted by
the monks, who have a convent above it, into a garden--a romantic and
beautiful spot, as no wind can touch it. It is filled with a variety of
vines and shrubs and fruit trees, among which oranges, citrons,
pomegranates, and figs grow luxuriantly, and obtain an unusual size.
Sicily produces sulphur in large quantities--the chief sulphur pits
being near Girgenti. Most of the inhabitants are employed in them, to
the neglect of the rich soil of their