Chapter 23

During the six or seven days immediately following we remained in
our hiding-place upon the hill, going out only occasionally, and
then with the greatest precaution, for water and filberts. We had
made a kind of penthouse on the platform, furnishing it with a
bed of dry leaves, and placing in it three large flat stones,
which served us for both fireplace and table. We kindled a fire
without difficulty by rubbing two pieces of dry wood together,
the one soft, the other hard. The bird we had taken in such good
season proved excellent eating, although somewhat tough. It was
not an oceanic fowl, but a species of bittern, with jet black and
grizzly plumage, and diminutive wings in proportion to its bulk.
We afterward saw three of the same kind in the vicinity of the
ravine, apparently seeking for the one we had captured; but, as
they never alighted, we had no opportunity of catching them.

As long as this fowl lasted we suffered nothing from our
situation, but it was now entirely consumed, and it became
absolutely necessary that we should look out for provision. The
filberts would not satisfy the cravings of hunger, afflicting us,
too, with severe gripings of the bowels, and, if freely indulged
in, with violent headache. We had seen several large tortoises
near the seashore to the eastward of the hill, and perceived they
might be easily taken, if we could get at them without the
observation of the natives. It was resolved, therefore, to make
an attempt at descending.

We commenced by going down the southern declivity, which seemed
to offer the fewest difficulties, but had not proceeded a hundred
yards before (as we had anticipated from appearances on the
hilltop) our progress was entirely arrested by a branch of the
gorge in which our companions had perished. We now passed along
the edge of this for about a quarter of a mile, when we were
again stopped by a precipice of immense depth, and, not being
able to make our way along the brink of it, we were forced to
retrace our steps by the main ravine.

We now pushed over to the eastward, but with precisely similar
fortune. After an hour’s scramble, at the risk of breaking our
necks, we discovered that we had merely descended into a vast pit
of black granite, with fine dust at the bottom, and whence the
only egress was by the rugged path in which we had come down.
Toiling again up this path, we now tried the northern edge of the
hill. Here we were obliged to use the greatest possible caution
in our maneuvers, as the least indiscretion would expose us to
the full view of the savages in the village. We crawled along,
therefore, on our hands and knees, and, occasionally, were even
forced to throw ourselves at full length, dragging our bodies
along by means of the shrubbery. In this careful manner we had
proceeded but a little way, when we arrived at a chasm far deeper
than any we had yet seen, and leading directly into the main
gorge. Thus our fears were fully confirmed, and we found
ourselves cut off entirely from access to the world below.
Thoroughly exhausted by our exertions, we made the best of our
way back to the platform, and throwing ourselves upon the bed of
leaves, slept sweetly and soundly for some hours.

For several days after this fruitless search we were occupied in
exploring every part of the summit of the hill, in order to
inform ourselves of its actual resources. We found that it would
afford us no food, with the exception of the unwholesome
filberts, and a rank species of scurvy grass, which grew in a
little patch of not more than four rods square, and would be soon
exhausted. On the fifteenth of February, as near as I can
remember, there was not a blade of this left, and the nuts were
growing scarce; our situation, therefore, could hardly be more
lamentable. {*5} On the sixteenth we again went round the walls
of our prison, in hope of finding some avenue of escape; but to
no purpose. We also descended the chasm in which we had been
overwhelmed, with the faint expectation of discovering, through
this channel, some opening to the main ravine. Here, too, we were
disappointed, although we found and brought up with us a musket.

On the seventeenth we set out with the determination of examining
more thoroughly the chasm of black granite into which we had made
our way in the first search. We remembered that one of the
fissures in the sides of this pit had been but partially looked
into, and we were anxious to explore it, although with no
expectation of discovering here any opening.

We found no great difficulty in reaching the bottom of the hollow
as before, and were now sufficiently calm to survey it with some
attention. It was, indeed, one of the most singular-looking
places imaginable, and we could scarcely bring ourselves to
believe it altogether the work of nature. The pit, from its
eastern to its western extremity, was about five hundred yards in
length, when all its windings were threaded; the distance from
east to west in a straight line not being more (I should suppose,
having no means of accurate examination) than forty or fifty
yards. Upon first descending into the chasm, that is to say, for
a hundred feet downward from the summit of the hill, the sides of
the abyss bore little resemblance to each other, and, apparently,
had at no time been connected, the one surface being of the
soapstone, and the other of marl, granulated with some metallic
matter. The average breadth or interval between the two cliffs
was probably here sixty feet, but there seemed to be no
regularity of formation. Passing down, however, beyond the limit
spoken of, the interval rapidly contracted, and the sides began
to run parallel, although, for some distance farther, they were
still dissimilar in their material and form of surface. Upon
arriving within fifty feet of the bottom, a perfect regularity
commenced. The sides were now entirely uniform in substance, in
colour, and in lateral direction, the material being a very black
and shining granite, and the distance between the two sides, at
all points facing each other, exactly twenty yards. The precise
formation of the chasm will be best understood by means of a
delineation taken upon the spot; for I had luckily with me a
pocketbook and pencil, which I preserved with great care through
a long series of subsequent adventure, and to which I am indebted
for memoranda of many subjects which would otherwise have been
crowded from my remembrance.

This figure [No figures in text] gives the general outlines of
the chasm, without the minor cavities in the sides, of which
there were several, each cavity having a corresponding
protuberance opposite. The bottom of the gulf was covered to the
depth of three or four inches with a powder almost impalpable,
beneath which we found a continuation of the black granite. To
the right, at the lower extremity, will be noticed the appearance
of a small opening; this is the fissure alluded to above, and to
examine which more minutely than before was the object of our
second visit. We now pushed into it with vigor, cutting away a
quantity of brambles which impeded us, and removing a vast heap
of sharp flints somewhat resembling arrowheads in shape. We were
encouraged to persevere, however, by perceiving some little light
proceeding from the farther end. We at length squeezed our way
for about thirty feet, and found that the aperture was a low and
regularly formed arch, having a bottom of the same impalpable
powder as that in the main chasm. A strong light now broke upon
us, and, turning a short bend, we found ourselves in another
lofty chamber, similar to the one we had left in every respect
but longitudinal form. Its general figure is here given.

The total length of this chasm, commencing at the opening _a_ and
proceeding round the curve _b_ to the extremity _d_, is five
hundred and fifty yards. At _c_ we discovered a small aperture
similar to the one through which we had issued from the other
chasm, and this was choked up in the same manner with brambles
and a quantity of the white arrowhead flints. We forced our way
through it, finding it about forty feet long, and emerged into a
third chasm. This, too, was precisely like the first, except in
its longitudinal shape, which was thus.

We found the entire length of the third chasm three hundred and
twenty yards. At the point _a_ was an opening about six feet
wide, and extending fifteen feet into the rock, where it
terminated in a bed of marl, there being no other chasm beyond,
as we had expected. We were about leaving this fissure, into
which very little light was admitted, when Peters called my
attention to a range of singular-looking indentures in the
surface of the marl forming the termination of the _cul-de-sac_.
With a very slight exertion of the imagination, the left, or most
northern of these indentures might have been taken for the
intentional, although rude, representation of a human figure
standing erect, with outstretched arm. The rest of them bore also
some little resemblance to alphabetical characters, and Peters
was willing, at all events, to adopt the idle opinion that they
were really such. I convinced him of his error, finally, by
directing his attention to the floor of the fissure, where, among
the powder, we picked up, piece by piece, several large flakes of
the marl, which had evidently been broken off by some convulsion
from the surface where the indentures were found, and which had
projecting points exactly fitting the indentures; thus proving
them to have been the work of nature.

After satisfying ourselves that these singular caverns afforded
us no means of escape from our prison, we made our way back,
dejected and dispirited, to the summit of the hill. Nothing worth
mentioning occurred during the next twenty-four hours, except
that, in examining the ground to the eastward of the third chasm,
we found two triangular holes of great depth, and also with black
granite sides. Into these holes we did not think it worth while
to attempt descending, as they had the appearance of mere natural
wells, without outlet. They were each about twenty yards in
circumference, and their shape, as well as relative position in
regard to the third chasm, is shown in figure 5. {image}