When we had got to the Bottom of this laft Defcent the Danger was over, but we were not yet at the End of our Expedition; we had yet a long and uncomfortable Way; we crept_fometimes on all Fours, fometimes we flid on our Backs, and in other Places we were obliged to crawl on our Bellies, over very ragged Rocks, where there was not three Feet Height in the Paffages. All this was continued thro a gradual Descent. We at length arrived at a vaft Bed of Rock, which threw itself in fuch Manner before us as it seemed to ftop all farther Paffage; but our Guide promised better Things. He left us in the Care of one of his Fellows, and taking the Rest with him round the jetting Rock, defired us to wait his Return a few Minutes. He took that Opportunity to enlighten the Grotto, at the very Entrance of which we now were; they had tied Flambeaux to many Parts of the Rock, that stood out beyond the Reft, and had fixed feveral on the Floor: These were all blazing when he led us in.

The most uncomfortable Part of the Expedition had been that we had laft of all fuffered, left only with one Guide, enlightened only by one Flambeau, in a narrow Paffage, and with a Rock before us; but from this the Change was beyond Defcription amazing. He led us into the Grotto, the Opening of which is behind the prominent Rock: The Light of eight Flambeaux in full Blaze was at first too much for the Eyes; the Splendor of the whole Place almost intolerable. We found ourselves in a Cavern the most Amazing, and at the fame Time the most Beautiful that could be conceived.

The Grotto is a vast Vault, the Roof arched and irregular, the Pavement in fome Places very even, and in others rough enough; the Sides, which in fome Places form Sweeps of Circles, are in fome of the naked Rock, but in others they are covered with an infinite Variety of Incruftations, The Height of VOL. III.

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the Roof is about eighty Feet, the Length of the Grotto about three hundred, and its Breadth nearly as much: The greatest Depth is towards the Middle, but not exactly in the Centre. We were now between nine hundred and a thousand Feet from the Surface of the Ground where we came in; nor is this the Depth of the Descent; our Guides told us, that the Paffages continued between feven and eight hundred Feet deeper; but this we took their Words for, as we fuppofe they had taken that of fome others; for it is not probable that any Body went farther than this Place.

I know not where to begin defcribing it; among fuch Variety of Splendor what can deferve firft Notice? The Dropftones hanging like Icicles from the Roof of Caverns in the Mines, and in the Eolian Hills, the Incruftations of different Kinds on their Sides, and Maffes of fine Spar at the Bottom; those who have not seen the Grotto of Antiparos may think Beautiful: But it is here they are found in a Perfection that makes every Thing elsewhere appear contemptible. The Matter which forms thefe Incruftations in other Places is often very clear and bright; but it is no where fo pure as in this; it is here perfect bright Crystal, and the Surface of the Cavern, Roof, Floor, and Sides, are covered with it. You will think this alone must have been fine; but the Form into which it was thrown exceeds the Materials. And think what must be the Splendor of an Arch thus covered, and thus illuminated! The Light of the Flambeaux was reflected from above, from below, and from all Sides; and as it was thrown back from Angle to Angle among the Ornaments of the Roof and Sides, gave all the Colours of the Rainbow.

It was long that the Eye was loft in fuch a complicated Blaze of Splendor, before I could direct it to any particular Object; at length I began to view

the

the Roof, hung with pendant Gems as it appeared: In these Caverns there is always an ouzing of Water from the Roof, or there are Vapours afcending from below, which in the Hollows are condenfed into a Water; either the one or the other of them contains at all Times the Particles of this cryftalline Matter. The Quantity of Water is fmall, and its Course. flow; it hangs and trickles in Drops from the Top, or it runs in the fame flow Stream along the Side: In either Cafe it leaves behind it that crystalline Matter which it had contained, and fpreads a little Glazing on either Wall, or forms the Rudiment of a ftony Icicle from the Roof: Every following Drop extends the Icicle, or enlarges the Glazing; and, in Length of Time, covers the Wall, and forms a Thousand inverted Pyramids from the Roof. Nor is this all what Drops fall from the Top ftill contain a little of the cryftalline Matter, though it had left the greater Part above, and this Remainder feparates from it there. By this Means is formed the plain Glazing of the Floor, where the Drops fall fafter; where they fucceed one another more flowly there are formed Congeries of this pure ftony Matter, of various Forms and Shapes, and in an infinite Variety. This is the general Syftem of the Incrustations and Ornaments of Grottos; and this of Antiparos, as one of the largeft and deepest in the World, contains them in the greatest Perfection.

We entered among a Grove of cryftal Trees; the Floor was in general of a smooth and gloffy Spar, fo M. called it, but I call it Crystal, of which it has all the Appearances. We walked on this bright Pavement in a Kind of ferpentine Meander, among Shrubs and taller Maffes of this Cryftal, rifing from the common Pavement with large and thick Stones, and fpreading out into Heads and Tufts of Branches. Some of these were eight or ten Feet high, the Ge nerality between two and five Feet. They were all D 2

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of the fame Materials with the Floor; and what added vastly to their Beauty, as well as their Refemblance of Trees, was, that they were not fmoothi on the Surface, but covered all over with little flining Points: Thefe, when examined, appeared to be Pyramids. of the fame Matter. They were in general about a Fifth of an Inch high, and of a triangular Figure: Their Bafes, which grew upon the Mafs, flood pretty close to one another; but their Tops. diftinct.. "The Breaking of the Light from the Flambeaux among these innumerable Prominences, and all of them angular, had a very fine Effect. At fome Distance from the Entrance we came up to a Pillar of Crystal of seven Feet in Height, and more than a Foot in Diameter. This rifes immediately from the Floor, and is of equal Thickness to the Top: Its Surface is very gloffy, and of a pure and perfect Luftre. About this there stands three or four others, of four Feet high, and a proportionate Thickness: One of thefe has been broken, and the Piece lies by it. Our Guides defired us to examine the Stump at its Top, and fhewed us that it was like that of a Tree which had been cut off. They bid us remark the Heart, and the feveral Circles of the fofter Wood round it. They told us, this was exactly the fame as in the Growing of Trees; and affured us, that these Trees of Cryftal grew from the Floor in the fame Manner. This is a Syftem worthy the Intellects of Peasants: But we, who knew that these Columns, like the Reft of the Ornaments of the Floor, are formed by Matter left from Drops of Water following one another in long Succeffion, faw a better Reafon for the Whole being compofed of Crufts one over another. All the Stalactites or ftony Icicles of the Top, and even the Covering of the Sides, is compofed of a Number of Crufts laid over one another in the fame Manner. On the other Parts of the

Floor,

Floor, we faw little Hillocks of Crystal made in the fame Manner; and in fome of the hollower Parts there lay a Parcel of round Stones as white as Snow, and of the Bignefs of Mufket Bullets. Thefe, when broken, were compofed of Crufts laid over one another juft in the Manner of all the other Concretions, and in the Center of one of them we found a Drop of Water. The Sides of the Grotto next came into Confideration; and what a Variety of Beauties did they afford! In fome Places the plain Rock is covered with a vaft Sheet of this Crystal, like a Cake of Ice, fpread evenly over it, and of the Thickness of an Inch or two; its Surface perfectly fmooth, and every where following the Shape of a Rock. In other Places, this Sheet of Crystal is variegated with a strange Quantity of irregular and modulated Figures all over its Surface. Thefe were in fome Spots more raifed, in others lefs; but their Meanders very beautiful. In other Parts, where the Walls were fo prominent that Drops from the Roof could reach them, there grew from their Surface, in the fame Manner as from the Floor, Shrubs of Cryftal; but these were in general lower, and more fpreading than the Floor. We faw a great Number of about a Foot and Half in Height, riding from each a fingle Stone, thick and irregular, and fpreading into a globular Head, of a Diameter almoft equal to their Height. No Part of the Grotto appeared more beautiful than the Sides where these were more frequent. They were fome of them pure and colourlefs, others white as Snow, and all of them covered over the whole Surface with those little Pyramids I have mentioned before. This however is little to the principal Beauty of the Sides. In fome Places the Sheet of Crystal, instead of clinging immediately to the Wall or Rock, stood out at a Distance from it, forming a Kind of Curtain of pure pellucid Matter. This was an Appear

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