the wind, stunned by the noise, and blinded by the spray. Each
successive gust penetrated us to the very bones with cold. Determined to
proceed, we toiled and struggled on, and having followed the footsteps
of the guide as far as was possible consistently with safety, we sat
down, and having collected our senses by degrees, the wonders of the
cavern slowly developed themselves. It is impossible to describe the
strange unnatural light reflected through its crystal wall, the roar of
the waters, and the blasts of the hurried hurricane which perpetually
rages in its recesses. We endured its fury a sufficient time to form a
notion of the shape and dimensions of this dreadful place. The cavern
was tolerably light, though the sun was unfortunately enveloped in
clouds. His disc was invisible, but we could clearly distinguish his
situation through the watery barrier. The fall of the cataract is nearly
perpendicular. The bank over which it is precipitated is of concave
form, owing to its upper stratum being composed of lime-stone, and its
base of soft slate-stone, which has been eaten away by the constant
attrition of the recoiling waters. The cavern is about one hundred and
twenty feet in height, fifty in breadth, and three hundred in length.
The entrance was completely invisible. By screaming in our ears, the
guide contrived to explain to us that there was one more point which we
might have reached had the wind been in any other direction. Unluckily
it blew full upon the sheet of the cataract, and drove it in so as to
dash upon the rock over which we must have passed. A few yards beyond
this, the precipice becomes perpendicular, and, blending with the water,
forms the extremity of the cave. After a stay of nearly ten minutes in
this most horrible purgatory, we gladly left it to its loathsome
inhabitants the eel and the water-snake, who crawl about its recesses in
considerable numbers,--and returned to the inn--_De Roos's Travels in
the United States, &c._