Chapter VII: Part 7

“On the succeeding day, June fifteenth, having the consul and some other friends on board, I weighed, and proceeded with the ship toward the volcano, with the intention of witnessing a night view; but in this expectation we were greatly disappointed, from the wind freshening, and the weather becoming thick and hazy, and also from the volcano itself being more quiescent than it was the preceding day. It seldom emitted any lightning, but occasionally as much flame as may be seen to issue from the top of a glass-house or foundry chimney. On passing directly under the great cloud of smoke, about three or four miles distant from the volcano, the decks of the ship were covered with fine black ashes, which fell intermixed with small rain. We returned the next morning, and late on the evening of the same day I took leave of St. Michael’s, to complete my cruise.

“On the opening of the volcano clear of the north-west part of the island, after dark on the sixteenth, we witnessed one or two eruptions that, had the ship been near enough, would have been awfully grand. It appeared one continued blaze of lightning; but its distance from the ship, upward of twenty miles, prevented our seeing it with effect. Returning again toward St. Michael’s, on the fourth of July, I was obliged, by the state of the wind, to pass with the ship very close to the island, which was now completely formed by the volcano, being nearly the hight of Matlock High Tor, about eighty yards above the sea. At this time it was perfectly tranquil; which circumstance determined me to land, and explore it more narrowly. I left the ship in one of the boats, accompanied by some of the officers. As we approached we perceived that it was still smoking in many parts, and, upon our reaching the island, found the surf on the beach very high. Rowing round to the lee-side, with some little difficulty, by the aid of an oar as a pole, I jumped on shore, and was followed by the other officers. We found a narrow beach of black ashes, from which the side of the island rose in general too steep to admit of our ascending; and where we could have clambered up, the mass of matter was much too hot to allow our proceeding more than a few yards in the ascent.

“The declivity below the surface of the sea was equally steep, having seven fathoms of water at scarcely the boat’s length from the shore, and at the distance of twenty or thirty yards we sounded twenty-five fathoms. From walking round it in about twelve minutes, I should judge that it was something less than a mile in circumference; but the most extraordinary part was the crater, the mouth of which, on the side facing St. Michael’s, was nearly level with the sea. It was filled with water, at that time boiling, and was emptying itself into the sea by a small stream about six yards over, and by which I should suppose it was continually filled again at high water. This stream, close to the edge of the sea, was so hot, as only to admit the finger to be dipped suddenly in, and taken out again immediately.

“It appeared evident, by the formation of this part of the island, that the sea had, during the eruptions, broken into the crater in two places, as the east side of the small stream was bounded by a precipice; a cliff between twenty and thirty feet high, forming a peninsula of about the same dimension in width, and from fifty to sixty feet long, connected with the other part of the island by a narrow ridge of cinders and lava, as an isthmus, of from forty to fifty feet in length, from which the crater rose in the form of an amphitheater.

“This cliff, at two or three miles’ distance from the island, had the appearance of a work of art, resembling a small fort or block-house. The top of this we were determined, if possible, to attain; but the difficulty we had to encounter in doing so, was considerable: the only way to attempt it was up the side of the isthmus, which was so steep that the only mode by which we could effect it, was by fixing the end of an oar at the base, with the assistance of which we forced ourselves up in nearly a backward direction.

“Having reached the summit of the isthmus, we found another difficulty: for it was impossible to walk upon it, as the descent on the other side was immediate, and as steep as the one we had ascended; but by throwing our legs across it, as would be done on the ridge of a house, and moving ourselves forward by our hands, we at length reached that part of it where it gradually widened itself, and formed the summit of the cliff, which we found to have a perfectly flat surface, of the dimensions before stated. Judging this to be the most conspicuous situation, we here planted the union, and left a bottle sealed up, containing a short account of the origin of the island, and of our having landed upon it, and naming it Sabrina island.

“Within the crater I found the complete skeleton of a guard-fish, the bones of which, being perfectly burnt, fell to pieces upon attempting to take them up; and, by the account of the inhabitants on the coast of St. Michael’s, great numbers of fish had been destroyed during the early part of the eruption, as large quantities, probably suffocated or poisoned, were occasionally found drifted into the small inlets or bays. The island, like other volcanic productions, is composed principally of porous substances, generally burnt to complete cinders, with occasional masses of a stone, which I should suppose to be a mixture of iron and limestone.”

Sabrina island has gradually disappeared, since the month of October, 1811, leaving an extensive shoal. Smoke was discovered still issuing out of the sea in the month of February, 1812, near the spot where this wonderful phenomenon appeared.

Having thus spoken of the Azores, we now pass to some similar phenomena in the Grecian archipelago. Before entering, however, on the details which are here furnished on this curious and most interesting subject, it may not be improper to observe, that the island of Acroteri, of great celebrity in ancient history, appears to have its surface composed of pumice-stone, incrusted by a surface of fertile earth; and that it is represented by the ancients as having risen, during a violent earthquake, from the sea. Four neighboring islands are described as having a similar origin, notwithstanding the sea is in that part of the archipelago of such a depth as to be unfathomable by any sounding line. These arose at different times: the first long before the commencement of the Christian era; the second in the first century; the third in the eighth; and the fourth in 1573.

We now proceed to a phenomenon of a similar nature, belonging to the same cluster of islands, which being of a more recent date, we are enabled to enter into all its particulars. They are such as can not fail to interest and surprise.

On the twenty-second of May, 1707, a severe earthquake was felt at Stanchio, an island of the archipelago; and on the ensuing morning a party of seamen, discovering not far off what they believed to be a wreck, rapidly rowed toward it; but finding rocks and earth instead of the remains of a ship, hastened back, and spread the news of what they had seen, in Santorini, another of these islands. However great the apprehensions of the inhabitants were at the first sight, their surprise soon abated, and in a few days, seeing no appearance of fire or smoke, some of them ventured to land on the new island. Their curiosity led them from rock to rock, where they found a kind of white stone, which yielded to the knife like bread, and nearly resembled that substance in color and consistence. They also found many oysters sticking to the rocks: but while they were employed in collecting them, the island moved and shook under their feet, on which they ran with precipitation to their boats. Amid these motions and tremblings the island increased, not only in hight, but in length and breadth: still occasionally, while it was raised and extended on the one side, it sunk and diminished on the other. One person observed a rock to rise out of the sea, forty or fifty paces from the island, which, having been thus visible for four days, sunk, and appeared no more: several others appeared and disappeared alternately, till at length they remained fixed and unmoved. In the mean time the color of the surrounding sea was changed: at first it was of a light green, then reddish, and afterward of a pale yellow, accompanied by a noisome stench, which spread itself over a part of the island of Santorini.

On the sixteenth of July, smoke first appeared, not indeed on the island, but issuing from a ridge of black stones which suddenly rose about sixty paces from it, where the depth of the sea was unfathomable. Thus there were two separate islands, one called the White, and the other the Black island, from the different appearances they exhibited. This thick smoke was of a whitish color, like that of a lime-kiln, and was carried by the wind to Santorini, where it penetrated the houses of the inhabitants.

In the night between the nineteenth and twentieth of July, flames began to issue with the smoke, to the great terror of the inhabitants of Santorini, especially of those occupying the castle of Scaro, who were distant about a mile and a half only from the burning island, which now increased very fast, large rocks daily springing up, which sometimes added to its length, and sometimes to its breadth. The smoke, also increased, and there not being any wind, ascended so high as to be seen at Candia, and other distant islands. During the night, it resembled a column of five, fifteen, or twenty feet in hight; and the sea was then covered with a scurf or froth, in some places reddish, and in others yellowish, from which proceeded such a stench, that the inhabitants throughout the whole island of Santorini burnt perfumes in their houses, and made fires in the streets, to prevent infection. This, indeed, did not last above a day or two; for a strong gale of wind dispersed the froth, but drove the smoke on the vineyards of Santorini, by which the grapes were, in one night, parched up and destroyed. This smoke also caused violent head-aches, attended with retchings.

On the thirty-first of July, the sea smoked and bubbled in two different places near the island, where the water formed a perfect circle, and looked like oil when beginning to simmer. This continued above a month, during which time many fishes were found dead on the shore of Santorini. On the following night a dull hollow noise was heard, like the distant report of several cannon, which was instantly followed by flames of fire, shooting up to a great hight in the air, where they suddenly disappeared. The next day the same hollow sound was several times heard, and succeeded by a blackish smoke, which, notwithstanding a fresh gale blew at the time, rose up to a prodigious hight, in the form of a column, and would probably in the night have appeared as if on fire.

On the seventh of August, a different noise was heard, resembling that of large stones thrown, at very short intervals, into a deep well. This noise, having lasted for some days, was succeeded by another much louder, so nearly resembling thunder, as scarcely to be distinguished from three or four real claps, which were heard at the same time.

On the twenty-first, the fire and smoke were very considerably diminished; but the next morning they broke out with still greater fury than before. The smoke was red, and very thick, the heat at the same time being so intense, that all around the island the sea smoked and bubbled surprisingly. At night, by the means of a telescope, sixty small openings or funnels, all emitting a very bright flame, were discovered on the highest part of the island, conjointly resembling a large furnace; and on the other side of the great volcano there appeared to be as many.

On the morning of the twenty-third, the island was much higher than on the preceding day, and its breadth increased by a chain of rocks which had sprung up in the night nearly fifty feet above the water. The sea was also again covered with reddish froth, which always appeared when the island seemed to have received any considerable additions, and occasioned an intolerable stench, until it was dispersed by the wind and the motion of the waves.

On the fifth of September, the fire opened another vent at the extremity of the Black island, from which it issued for several days. During that time little was discharged from the large furnace; but from this new passage the astonished spectator beheld the fire dart up three several times to a vast hight, resembling so many prodigious sky-rockets of a glowing, lively red. The following night the sub-aqueous fire made a terrible noise, and immediately, after a thousand sheaves of fire darted into the air, where breaking and dispersing, they fell like a shower of stars on the island, which appeared in a blaze, presenting to the amazed spectator at once a most dreadful and beautiful illumination. To these natural fire-works, succeeded a kind of meteor, which for some time hung over the castle of Scaro, and which, having a resemblance to a flaming sword, served to increase the consternation of the inhabitants of Santorini.

On the ninth of September, the White and Black islands united; after which the western end of the island grew daily in bulk. There were now four openings only which emitted flames; these issued forth with great impetuosity, sometimes attended with a noise like that of a large organ-pipe, and sometimes like the howling of wild beasts.

On the twelfth, the subterraneous noise was much augmented, having never been so frequent or so dreadful as on that and the following day. The bursts of this subterraneous thunder, like a general discharge of the artillery of an army, were repeated ten or twelve times within twenty-four hours, and, immediately after each clap, the large furnace threw up huge red-hot stones, which fell into the sea at a great distance. These claps were always followed by a thick smoke, which spread clouds of ashes over the sea and the neighboring islands.

On the eighteenth of September, an earthquake was felt at Santorini. It did but little damage, although it considerably enlarged the burning island, and in several places gave vent to the fire and smoke. The claps were also more terrible than ever; and, in the midst of a thick smoke, which appeared like a mountain, large pieces of rock, which afterward fell on the island, or into the sea, were thrown up with as much noise and force as balls from the mouth of a cannon. One of the small neighboring islands was covered with these fiery stones, which being thinly crusted over with sulphur, gave a bright light, and continued burning until that was consumed.

On the twenty-first, a dreadful clap of subterraneous thunder was followed by very powerful lightnings, and at the same instant the new island was so violently shaken, that part of the great furnace fell down, and huge burning rocks were thrown to the distance of two miles and upward. This seemed to be the last effort of the volcano, and appeared to have exhausted the combustible matter, as all was quiet for several days after: but on the twenty-fifth, the fire broke out again with still greater fury, and among the claps one was so terrible, that the churches of Santorini were soon filled with crowds of people, expecting every moment to be their last; and the castle and town of Scaro suffered such a shock, that the doors and windows of the houses flew open. The volcano continued to rage during the remaining part of the year; and in the month of January, 1708, the large furnace, without one day’s intermission, threw out stones and flames, at least once or twice, but generally five or six times a day.

On the tenth of February, in the morning, a pretty strong earthquake was felt at Santorini, which the inhabitants considered as a prelude to greater commotions in the burning island; nor were they deceived, for soon after the fire and smoke issued in prodigious quantities. The thunder-like claps were redoubled, and all was horror and confusion: rocks of an amazing size were raised up to a great hight above the water; and the sea raged and boiled to such a degree as to occasion great consternation. The subterraneous bellowings were heard without intermission, and sometimes in less than a quarter of an hour, there were six or seven eruptions from the large furnace. The noise of repeated claps, the quantity of huge stones which flew about on every side, the houses at Santorini tottering to their very foundations, and the fire, which now appeared in open day, surpassed all that had hitherto happened, and formed a scene terrific and astonishing beyond description.

The fifteenth of April was rendered memorable by the number and violence of the bellowings and eruptions, by one of which nearly a hundred stones were thrown at the same instant into the air, and fell again into the sea at about two miles distant. From that day until the twenty-second of May, which may be considered as the anniversary of the birth of the new island, things continued much in the same state, but afterward the fire and smoke subsided by degrees, and the subterraneous thunders became less terrible.

On the fifteenth of July, 1709, the Bishop of Santorini, accompanied by several friars, hired a boat to take a near view of the island. They made directly toward it on that side where the sea did not bubble, but where it smoked very much. Being within the range of this vapor, they felt a close, suffocating heat, and found the water very hot; on which they directed their course toward a part of the island at the furthest distance from the large furnace. The fires, which still continued to burn, and the boiling of the sea, obliged them to make a great circuit, notwithstanding which they felt the air about them to be very hot and sultry. Having encompassed the island, and surveyed it carefully from an adjacent one, they judged it to be two hundred feet above the sea, about a mile broad, and five miles in circumference; but, not being thoroughly satisfied, they resolved to make an attempt at landing, and accordingly rowed toward that part of the island where they perceived neither fire nor smoke. When, however, they had proceeded to within the distance of a hundred yards, the great furnace discharged itself with its usual fury, and the wind blew upon them so dense a smoke, and so heavy a shower of ashes, that they were obliged to abandon their design. Having retired somewhat further, they let down their sounding lead, with a line ninety-five fathoms in length, but it was too short to reach the bottom. On their return to Santorini, they observed that the heat of the water had melted the greater part of the pitch employed in calking their boat, which had now become very leaky.

From that time until the fifteenth of August, the fire, smoke and noises continued, but not in so great a degree; and it appears that for several years after, the island still increased, but that the fire and subterraneous noises were much abated. The most recent account we have been enabled to collect, is that of a traveler, who, in 1811, passed this island at some distance. It appeared to him like a stupendous mass of rock, but was not inhabited or cultivated. It had then long ceased to burn.

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SUBTERRANEAN WONDERS.

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THE GROTTA DEL CANE.

“Give me, ye powers, the wondrous scenes to show,
Concealed in darkness in the caves below.”

Among the various subterranean wonders of the world, which are worthy of special notice, we would first mention the “Grotta del Cane.” This name has been given to a small cavern between Naples and Pozzuoli, on this account, that if a dog be brought into it, and his nose held to the ground, a difficulty of respiration instantly ensues, and he loses all sensation and even life, if he be not speedily removed into purer air. There are other grottos endowed with the same deleterious quality, especially in volcanic countries; and the pestiferous vapors they exhale, are quickly fatal both to animals and man, though they do not offer to the eye the slightest indication of their presence. These vapors are, however, for the greater part temporary; while that of the Grotta del Cane is perpetual, and seems to have produced its deadly effects even in the time of Pliny. A man standing erect within, does not suffer from it, the mephitic vapor rising to a small hight only from the ground. It may, therefore, be entered without danger.

The smoke of a torch extinguished in this vapor, or gas, sinks downward, assumes a whitish color, and passes out at the bottom of the door. The reason of this is, that the fumes which proceed from the torch mix more readily with the gas than with the atmospherical air. It has been supposed, that the mischievous effects of the vapor were the result of the air being deprived of its elasticity; but it has been clearly demonstrated by M. Adolphus Murray, that they are solely to be attributed to the existence of carbonic acid gas.

The person who is the keeper, or guide, at the grotto, and who shows to strangers the experiment of the dog for a gratuity, takes the animal, when he is half dead and panting, into the open air, and then proceeds to throw him into the neighboring lake of Agnano, thus insinuating that this short immersion in the water is necessary to his complete restoration. This, however, is a mere trick, to render the experiment more specious, and to obtain a handsome present from the credulous, the atmospherical air alone sufficing for that purpose.

The celebrated naturalist, the Abbe Spallanzani, projected a regular series of experiments on the mephitic vapor of this grotto, from a persuasion that they would tend to throw a new light on physiology and natural philosophy. Being, however, prevented from undertaking this, by his duties as a professor, his friend, the Abbe Breislak, who resided near the spot, engaged in the task; and the following is an abstract of his learned memoir on this subject.

It is well known, the abbe observes, that the mephitic vapor occupies the floor of a small grotto near the lake Agnano, a place highly interesting to naturalists from the phenomena its environs present, and the hills within which it is included. This grotto is situated on the south-east side of the lake, at a little distance from it. Its length is about twelve feet, and its breadth from four to five. It appears to have been originally a small excavation, made for the purpose of obtaining pozzuolana, an earth which, being applied as mortar, becomes a powerful cement. In the sides of the grotto, among the earthy volcanic matters, are found pieces of lava, of the same kind with those which are met with scattered near the lake.

The abbe is persuaded that, if new excavations were to be made in the vicinity of the grotto, at a level with its floor, or a little lower, the same mephitic vapor would be found; and thinks it would be curious to ascertain the limits of its extent. It would also be advantageous to physical observations, if the grotto were to be somewhat enlarged, and its floor reduced to a level horizontal plane, by sinking it two or three feet, and surrounding it by a low wall, with steps at the entrance. In its present state it is extremely inconvenient for experiments, and the inclination of the ground toward the door causes a great part of the vapor, from the effect of its specific gravity, to make its way out close to the ground.

When the narrow limits of this place are considered, and the small quantity of the vapor which has rendered it so celebrated, there can not be any doubt but that it has undergone considerable changes; since it does not appear probable that Pliny refers to the present confined vapor only, when, in enumerating many places from which a deadly air exhaled, he mentions the territory of Pozzuoli. The internal fermentations by which it is caused, are certainly much diminished in the vicinity of the lake Agnano. The water near its banks is no longer seen to bubble up, from the disengagement of a gas, as it appears from accounts, not of very remote antiquity, to have done. The borders of the lake were attentively examined by the abbe, when its waters were at the highest, and after heavy rains; but he could never discover a single bubble of air. A number of aquatic insects which sport on the surface, may at first sight occasion some deception; but a slight observation soon detects the error. If, therefore, we do not suppose those authors who have described the ebullition of the water near the banks of the lake Agnano to have been deceived, it must at least be confessed, that this phenomenon has now ceased. The quantity of the sulphureous vapors which rise in the contiguous stoves, called the stoves of St. Germano, must likewise be greatly diminished from what it anciently was: for, adjoining to the present stoves, we still find the remains of a spacious ancient fabric, with tubes of _terra cotta_ inserted in the walls, which, by their direction, show for what purpose they were intended. It appears certain, that this was a building in which, by the means of pipes properly disposed, the vapors of the place were introduced into different rooms for the use of patients. To these ruins, however, the vapors no longer extend; so that, if this edifice had remained entire, it could not have been employed for the purpose for which it was intended. The veins of pyrites which produced the more ancient conflagrations of the Phlegrean fields, between Naples and Cuma, and which, in some places, are entirely consumed, approach their total extinction. We will now proceed to the experiments within the grotto.

The object of the first was to determine the hight of the mephitic vapor at the center of the grotto, that is, at the intersection of the line of its greatest length with that of its greatest breadth. The hight varies according to the different dispositions and temperatures of the atmosphere, the diversity of winds, and the accidental variations which take place in the internal fermentations by which the vapor is produced. It may, however, be estimated at a mean, at nearly nine English inches.

The second set of experiments regarded the degree of heat on entering into the mephitis: it was slightly sensible in the feet and lower part of the legs; notwithstanding which, on taking out of the vapor several substances which had remained in it for a long time, such as stones, leaves, the carcasses of animals, &c., the abbe found that these were of the same temperature with the atmospheric air. Feeling in his body a slight degree of heat, which he could not perceive in the substances removed from the mephitic vapor, he was led by comparison to conclude, that the temperature of the latter was the same with the atmospherical air, agreeably to the principles of Dr. Crauford. He was, however, mistaken; for in subsequent experiments, he found a very distinct degree of heat. He was now provided with a thermometer, his former one having been broken, and, having suspended it at the aperture of the grotto, three feet above the surface of the vapor, found the mercury to stand at from sixty-two to sixty-four degrees of Fahrenheit; but, on placing the ball on the ground so as to immerse it in the vapor, the mercury rose to eighty, and even eighty-two degrees. That the substances taken out of the mephitis did not exhibit this diversity of temperature, was, he thinks, owing to the quantity of humidity with which they are always loaded, and which produces on their surface a constant evaporation. He was the more particular in repeating these experiments, because the naturalists who had, before him, made similar ones in the Grotta del Cane, had not observed the vapor to produce any effect on the mercury in the thermometer.

Thirdly. He repeated for his own satisfaction, the usual experiments made by naturalists, with the tincture of turnsole, lime-water, the crystallizations of alkalies, the absorption of water, and the acidulous taste communicated to it; which prove, beyond all doubt, the existence of fixed air, or carbonic acid gas, in the vapor of the grotto. He ascertained that it was not formed of fixed air alone, as might have been conjectured; but that the relative quantities of the different gases which compose its mephitic air, are as follows: in one hundred parts there are ten of vital air, or oxygen gas; forty of fixed air, or carbonic acid gas; and fifty of phlogisticated air, or azotic gas.

Fourthly. The phenomena of magnetism and electricity were investigated by the abbe in this grotto. With respect to the former, there was not any new appearance: the magnetic needle, being placed on the ground, and consequently immersed in the mephitis, rested in the direction of its meridian, and, at the approach of a magnetized bar, exhibited the usual effects of attraction and repulsion, in proportion as either pole was presented. As to the latter, electricity, it was impossible to make the experiments within the mephitis, not because this kind of air is a conductor of the electric fluid, as has been imagined, but because the humidity by which it is constantly accompanied, disperses the electric matter; and this, not being collected in a conductor, can not be rendered sensible. He attempted several times to fire inflammable gas, with electric sparks, in the mephitic vapor, by means of the conductor of the electrophus; but, notwithstanding his utmost endeavors to animate the electricity, he could never obtain a single spark, the non-conductor becoming a conductor the moment it entered into the mephitis, on account of the humidity which adhered to its surface.

Fifthly. His latest experiments were directed to the theory of the combustion of bodies. He first endeavored to ascertain whether those spontaneous inflammations that result from the mixture of concentrated acids with essential oils, could be obtained within the grotto. He placed on the ground a small vessel, in such a situation that the mephitis rose six inches above its edges, employing oil of turpentine, and the vitriolic and nitrous acids: the same inflammation, accompanied by a lively flame, followed, as would have taken place in the open atmospheric air. The dense smoke which always accompanies these inflammations, being attracted by the humidity of the mephitis, presented its undulations to the eye, and formed a very pleasing object. As he had put a considerable quantity of acid in the vessel, he repeatedly poured in a little of the oil, and the flame appeared in the mouth of the vessel fifteen times successively. The oxygenous principle contained in the acids, and with which the nitrous acid principally abounds, undoubtedly contributed to the production and duration of this flame, though enveloped in an atmosphere inimical to inflammation.

The abbe had, in the district of Latera, observed that in a mephitis of hydrogenous sulphurated or hepatic gas a slow combustion of phosphorus took place, with the same resplendence as in the atmospheric air. On the present occasion, his first experiment, in the mephitis of Agnano, was made with common phosphoric matches, five of which he broke, holding them to the ground, and consequently immersed in the mephitis. They produced a short and transient flame, which became extinguished the moment it was communicated to the wick of a candle. His second experiment was as follows: he placed on the ground, within the grotto, a long table, in such a manner that one extremity was without the mephitis, while the other, and four-fifths of its length, were immersed in it. Along this table he laid a train of gunpowder, beginning from the end without the mephitis; and, at the other end, which was immersed in it to the depth of seven inches, he placed, adjoining to the gunpowder, a cylinder of phosphorus, eight lines in length. The gunpowder, without the mephitis, being fired, the combustion was soon communicated to the other extremity of the train, and to the phosphorus, which took fire with decrepitation, burned rapidly with a bright flame, slightly colored with yellow and green, and left on the wood a black mark, as of charcoal. The combustion lasted nearly two minutes, when the whole phosphoric matter was consumed.

In succeeding experiments not any alteration was perceptible in the flame, or manner of burning, of the lighted phosphorus, either at the moment of its entrance into the mephitis, or during its continuance in it. When suddenly withdrawn, it ignited gunpowder equally well. Hence the abbe deduces, that the mephitic gas of Grotta del Cane, however it may be utterly unfit for the respiration of animals, and for the inflammation of common combustible substances, readily allows that of phosphorus, which not only burns in it, but emits, as usual, luminous sparks.

GROTTO OF ANTIPAROS.

Antiparos, one of the Cyclades, is situated in the Egean sea, or Grecian archipelago. It is a small island, about sixteen miles in circumference, and lies two miles to the west of the celebrated Paros, from which circumstance it derives its name, _anti_ in the Greek language signifying _opposite to_. Its singular and most interesting grotto, though so inferior in size to the cavern in Kentucky of which we shall soon speak, has attracted the attention of an infinite number of travelers. The entrance to this superb grotto is on the side of a rock, and is a large arch, formed of craggy stones, overhung with brambles and creeping plants, which bestow on it a gloominess at once awful and agreeable. Having proceeded about thirty paces within it, the traveler enters a low, narrow alley, surrounded on every side by stones, which, by the light of torches, glitter like diamonds; the whole being covered and lined throughout with small crystals, which give by their different reflections, a variety of colors. At the end of this alley or passage, having a rope tied round his waist, he is led to the brink of an awful precipice, and is thence lowered into a deep abyss, the gloom pervading which makes him regret the “alley of diamonds” he has just quitted. He has not yet, however, reached the grotto, but is led forward about forty paces, beneath a roof of rugged rocks, amid a scene of terrible darkness, and at a vast depth from the surface of the earth, to the brink of another precipice, much deeper and more awful than the former.

Having descended this precipice, which is not accomplished without considerable difficulty, the traveler enters a passage, the grandeur and beauty of which can be but imperfectly described. It is one hundred and twenty feet in length, about nine feet high, and in width seven, with a bottom of a fine green glossy marble. The walls and arched roof are as smooth and polished as if they had been wrought by art, and are composed of a fine glittering red and white granite, supported at intervals by columns of a deep blood-red shining porphyry, which, by the reflection of the lights, presents an appearance inconceivably grand. At the extremity of this passage is a sloping wall, formed of a single mass of purple marble, studded with sprigs of rock crystal, which, from the glow of the purple behind, appear like a continued range of amethysts.

Another slanting passage, filled with petrifactions, representing the figures of snakes and other animals, and having toward its extremity two pillars of beautiful yellow marble, which seem to support the roof, leads to the last precipice, which is descended by means of a ladder. The traveler, who has descended to the depth of nearly fifteen hundred feet beneath the surface, now enters the magnificent grotto, to procure a sight of which he has endured so much fatigue. It is in width three hundred and sixty feet; in length three hundred and forty; and in most places one hundred and eighty in hight. By the aid of torch-light, he finds himself beneath an immense and finely vaulted arch, overspread with icicles of white shining marble, many of them ten feet in length, and of a proportionate thickness. Among these are suspended a thousand festoons of leaves and flowers, of the same substance, but so glittering as to dazzle the sight. The sides are planted with petrifactions, also of white marble, representing trees; these rise in rows one above the other, and often inclose the points of the icicles. From them also hang festoons, tied as it were one to another, in great abundance; and in some places rivers of marble seem to wind through them. In short, these petrifactions, the result of the dripping of water for a long series of ages, nicely resemble trees and brooks turned to marble. The floor is paved with crystals of different colors, such as red, blue, green and yellow, projecting from it, and rendering it rugged and uneven. These are again interspersed with icicles of white marble, which have apparently fallen from the roof, and are there fixed. To these the guides fasten their torches; and the glare of splendor and beauty which results from such an illumination, may be better conceived than described.

To the above description we subjoin an extract from the one given by Dr. Clarke, a learned traveler, who visited this celebrated grotto.

“The mode of descent is by ropes, which, on the different declivities, are either held by the guides, or are joined to a cable which is fastened at the entrance around a stalactite pillar. In this manner, we were conducted, first down one declivity, and then down another, until we entered the spacious chambers of this truly enchanted grotto. The roof, the floor, the sides, of a whole series of magnificent caverns, were entirely invested with a dazzling incrustation as white as snow. Columns, some of which were five and twenty feet in length, pended in fine icicle forms above our heads: fortunately some of them are so far above the reach of the numerous travelers, who during many ages, have visited this place, that no one has been able to injure or remove them. Others extended from the roof to the floor, with diameters equal to that of the mast of a first-rate ship of the line. The incrustations of the floor, caused by falling drops from the stalactites above, had grown up into dendritic and vegetable forms, which first suggested to Tournefort the strange notion of his having here discovered the vegetation of stones. Vegetation itself has been considered as a species of crystallization; and as the process of crystallization is so surprisingly manifested by several phenomena in this grotto, some analogy may perhaps be allowed to exist between the plant and the stone; but it can not be said, that a principle of life existing in the former has been imparted to the latter. The last chamber into which we descended surprised us more by the grandeur of its exhibition than any other. Probably there are many other chambers below this, yet unexplored, for no attempt has been made to penetrate further: and, if this be true, the new caverns, when opened, would appear in perfect splendor, unsullied, in any part of them, by the smoke of torches, or by the hands of intruders.”

CAVERNS IN GERMANY AND HUNGARY,

CONTAINING FOSSIL BONES.

Among the most remarkable of these caverns are those of Gaylenreuth, on the confines of Bayreuth. The opening to these, which is about seven feet and a half high, is at the foot of a rock of limestone of considerable magnitude, and in its eastern side. Immediately beyond the opening is a magnificent grotto, of about three hundred feet in circumference, which has been naturally divided by the form of the roof into four caves. The first is about twenty-five feet long and wide, and varies in hight from nine to eighteen feet, the roof being formed into irregular arches. Beyond this is the second cave, about twenty-eight feet long, and of nearly the same width and hight with the former.

A low and very rugged passage, the roof of which is formed of projecting pieces of rocks, leads to the third grotto, the opening into which is a hole three feet high, and four feet wide. This grotto is more regular in its form, and is about thirty feet in diameter, and nearly round; its hight is from five to six feet. It is very richly and fantastically adorned by the varying forms of its stalactitic hangings. The floor is also covered with a wet and slippery glazing, in which several teeth and jaws appear to have been fixed.

From this grotto commences the descent to the inferior caverns. Within only about five or six feet an opening in the floor is seen, which is partly vaulted over by a projecting piece of rock. The descent is about twenty feet. This cavern is about thirty feet in hight, about fifteen feet in width, and nearly circular; the sides, roof and floor, displaying the remains of animals. The rock itself is thickly beset with teeth and bones, and the floor is covered with a loose earth, the evident result of animal decomposition, and in which numerous bones are imbedded.

A gradual descent leads to another grotto, which, with its passage, is forty feet in length, and twenty feet in hight. Its sides and top are beautifully adorned with stalactites. Nearly twenty feet further is a frightful gulf, the opening of which is about fifteen feet in diameter; and, upon descending about twenty feet, another grotto, about the same diameter with the former, but forty feet in hight, is seen. Here the bones are dispersed about; and the floor, which is formed of animal earth, has great numbers of them imbedded in it. The bones which are here found, seem to be of different animals; but in this, as well as in the former caverns, perfect and unbroken bones are very seldom found. Sometimes a tooth is seen projecting from the solid rock, through the stalactitic covering, showing that many of these wonderful remains may here be concealed. A specimen of this kind has been preserved, and is rendered particularly interesting, by the first molar tooth of the lower jaw, with its enamel quite perfect, rising through the stalactitic mass which invests the bone. In this cavern the stalactites begin to be of a larger size, and of a more columnar form.

Passing on through a narrow opening in the rock, a small cave, seven feet long, and five feet high, is discovered; another narrow opening leads to another small cave; from which a sloping descent leads to a cave twenty-five feet in hight, and about half as much in its diameter, in which is a truncated columnar stalactite, eight feet in circumference.

A narrow and most difficult passage, twenty feet in length, leads from this cavern to another, twenty-five feet in hight, which is everywhere beset with teeth, bones and stalactitic projections. This cavern is suddenly contracted, so as to form a vestibule of six feet wide, ten long, and nine high, terminating in an opening close to the floor, only three feet wide and two high, through which it is necessary to writhe, with the body on the ground. This leads into a small cave, eight feet high and wide, which is the passage into a grotto, twenty-eight feet high, and about forty-three feet long and wide. Here the prodigious quantity of animal earth, the vast number of teeth, jaws and other bones, and the heavy grouping of the stalactites, produce so dismal an appearance, as to become a perfect model of a temple for a god of the dead. Here hundreds of cart-loads of bony remains might be removed, pockets might be filled with fossil teeth, and animal earth was found to reach to the utmost depth to which the workmen dug. A piece of stalactite, being here broken down, was found to contain pieces of bones within it, the remnants of which were left imbedded in the rock. From this principal cave is a very narrow passage, terminating in the last cave, which is about six feet in width, fifteen in hight, and the same in length. In this cave were no animal remains, and the floor was the naked rock.

Thus far only can these natural sepulchers be traced; but there is every reason to suppose, that these animal remains are disposed through a greater part of this rock. Whence this immense quantity of the remains of carnivorous animals could have been collected, is a question which naturally arises; but the difficulty of answering it appears to be almost insurmountable.

THE MAMMOTH CAVE.

For one of the earliest accounts of this stupendous cavern, which is unparalleled in the entire history of subterranean wonders, we are indebted to Dr. Nahum Ward, who published it in a monthly magazine, in October, 1816. It is in what was formerly Warren, but now Edmonson county, in the state of Kentucky, about ten miles from the great Louisville and Nashville turnpike. The territory is not mountainous but broken, differing in this respect from the vicinity of most other caverns of the same general kind. Not far from the entrance, a hotel is now kept for the accommodation of visitors, as the cave is quite a fashionable resort for travelers during the summer season. Perhaps we shall best gain correct ideas of this wonderful cavern, which is almost a world in itself, having its own seas, mountains, lakes, rivers, &c., by reading first the account given by Dr. Ward, and then that of a visitor who explored it in 1854.

Dr. Ward, provided with guides, two large lamps, a compass and refreshments, descended a pit forty feet in depth, and one hundred and twenty in circumference; having a spring of fine water at the bottom, and conducting to the entrance of the cavern. The opening, which is to the north, is from forty to fifty feet high, and about thirty in width. It narrows shortly after, but again expands to a width of thirty or forty feet, and a hight of twenty, continuing these dimensions for about a mile, to the first _hoppers_,[2] where a manufactory of saltpeter had recently been established. Thence to the second of these hoppers, two miles from the entrance, it is forty feet in width, and sixty in hight. Throughout nearly the whole of the distance handsome walls had been made by the manufacturers, of the loose limestone. The road was hard, and as smooth as a flag pavement. In every passage which the doctor traversed, the sides of the cavern were perpendicular, and the arches, which have bid defiance even to earthquakes, were regular. In 1802, when the heavy shocks of earthquakes came on which were so severely felt in this part of Kentucky, the workmen stationed at the second hoppers, heard about five minutes before each shock, a heavy rumbling noise issue from the cave, like a strong wind. When that ceased, the rocks cracked, and the whole appeared to be going in a moment to final destruction. However, no one was injured, although large portions of rock fell in different parts of the cavern.

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Footnote 2:

A hopper is an inverted cone, into which corn is put at a mill before
it runs between the stones.

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In advancing into the cavern, the avenue leads from the second hoppers, west, one mile; and thence, south-west, to the chief area or city, which is six miles from the entrance. This avenue, throughout its whole extent from the above station to the cross-roads, or chief area, is from sixty to one hundred feet in hight, of a similar width, and nearly on a level, the floor or bottom being covered with loose limestone and saltpeter earth. “When,” observes the doctor, “I reached this immense area (called the chief city) which contains upward of eight acres, without a single pillar to support the arch, which is entire over the whole, I was struck dumb with astonishment. Nothing can be more sublime and grand than this place, of which but a faint idea can be conveyed, covered with one solid arch at least one hundred feet high, and to all appearance entire.”

Having entered the area, the doctor perceived five large avenues leading from it, from sixty to one hundred feet in width, and about forty in hight. The stone walls are arched, and were from forty to eighty feet perpendicular in hight before the commencement of the arch.

In exploring these avenues, the precaution was taken to cut arrows, pointing to the mouth of the cave, on the stones beneath the feet, to prevent any difficulty in the return. The first which was traversed, took a southerly direction for more than two miles; when a second was taken, which led first east, and then north, for more than two miles further. These windings at length brought the party, by another avenue, to the chief city again, after having traversed different avenues for more than five miles. Having reposed for a few moments on slabs of limestone near the center of this gloomy area, and refreshed themselves and trimmed their lamps, they departed a second time, through an avenue almost north, parallel with the one leading from the chief city to the mouth of the cavern; and, having proceeded upward of two miles, came to the second city. This is covered with a single arch, nearly two hundred feet high in the center, and is very similar to the chief city, except in the number of its avenues, which are two only. They crossed it, over a very considerable rise in the center, and descended through an avenue which bore to the east, to the distance of nearly a mile, when they came to a third area, or city, about one hundred feet square, and fifty in hight, which had a pure and delightful stream of water issuing from the side of a wall about thirty feet high, and which fell on a broken surface of stone, and was afterward entirely lost to view.

Having passed a few yards beyond this beautiful sheet of water, so as to reach the end of the avenue, the party returned about one hundred yards, and passing over a considerable mass of stone, entered another, but smaller avenue to the right, which carried them south, through a third, of an uncommonly black hue, somewhat more than a mile; when they ascended a very steep hill about sixty yards, which conducted them to within the walls of the fourth city. It is not inferior to the second, having an arch which covers at least six acres. In this last avenue, the extremity of which can not be less than four miles from the chief city, and ten from the mouth of the cavern, are upward of twenty large piles of saltpeter earth on the one side, and broken limestone heaped up on the other, evidently the work of human hands.