It was an awful hole for depth. The steps, rudely cut, wound round and
round the sides like those in a cathedral tower, but the pit was not
perfectly circular. It looked like a natural formation, such as the
vertical entrance to a limestone cavern, or the throat of a sleeping
volcano. But whatever the nature of the pit might be, I was convinced
that the steps were of artificial origin. They were reasonably regular in
height and broad enough for two, or even three, persons to go abreast.

When we had descended perhaps as much as two hundred feet, we suddenly
found ourselves in a broad cavern with a surprisingly level floor. The
temperature had been steadily rising all the time, and here it was as
warm as in an ordinary living room. The cavern appeared to be about
twenty yards broad and eight or ten feet in height, with a flat roof of
rock. It was dimly illuminated by a small heap of what seemed to be hard
coal, burning in a very roughly constructed brazier, which, as far as
looks went, one would have said was constructed of iron.

You will imagine our surprise upon seeing these things. The appearance of
the gorilla-like beast with the awful eyes had certainly not led us to
anticipate the finding in his lair of any such evidences of human
intelligence, and we stood fast in our tracks for a minute or two, nobody
speaking a word. Then Edmund said:

"This is far better than I hoped. I had not thought about caverns, though
I ought to have foreseen the probability of something of the kind. It is
hard to drive out life as long as a world has solid foundations, and air
for breathing. I shall be greatly surprised now if these creatures do not
turn out to be at least as intelligent as our African or Australian
savages."