Suppression of War between two Indian Towns--Flourishing Condition
of Jala-Jala--Hospitality to Strangers--Field Sports--Bat
and Lizard Shooting--Visit to, and Description of, the Isle
of Socolme--Adventure with a Cayman--Cormorants--We Visit Los
Banos--Monkey Shooting--Expedition to, and Description of, the
Grotto of Sun-Mateo--Magnificent aspect of the Interior.
I found Anna in great trouble, not only on account of my absence,
but because, on the previous evening, information had been received
that the inhabitants of the two largest towns in the province had,
as it was stated, declared war against each other; the most courageous
amongst them, to the number of three or four hundred on each side, had
started for the island of Talem. There both parties, in the presence
of each other, were upon the point of engaging in a battle; already,
while skirmishing, several had been mortally wounded.
This news frightened Anna she knew that I was not a man who would
await quietly at home the issue of the battle; she already fancied
she saw me, with my ten guards, engaged in the thick of the fight,
and perhaps a victim of my devotedness. I comforted her as I had
always done, promising to be prudent, and not forget her; but there
was not a moment to lose; it was necessary, at all risks, to try to
put an end to a conflict that might no doubt cause the death of many
men. How could I do so with my ten guards? Dare I pretend to impose my
will as law on this vast multitude? Clearly not. To attempt to do it
by force would be to sacrifice all: what was to be done? Arm all my
Indians--but I had not boats enough to carry them to Talem: in this
difficulty I decided upon setting out alone with my lieutenant. We
took our arms, and set sail in a canoe, that we steered ourselves; we
had scarcely come near the beach within hail of the shore, when some
armed Indians called out to us to stand off, otherwise they would fire
upon us. Without paying attention to this threat, my lieutenant and I,
some minutes later, jumped boldly on shore, and after a few steps we
found ourselves in the midst of the combatants.
I went immediately up to the chiefs and addressed them, "Wretched
men," I said to them, "what are you going to do? It is upon you who
command that the severity of the law will fall. It is still time:
try to deserve your pardon. Order your men to give me up their arms;
lay down your own, or else in a few minutes I will place myself at
the head of your enemies to fight against you. Obey, if not you will
be treated as rebels."
They listened attentively to me; they were half conquered. However,
one of them made me this reply:
"And if you take away our arms who will satisfy us that our enemies
will not come to attack us?"
"I will," I told them; "I give you my word; and if they do not obey
me as you are going to do, I will return to you, I will give you back
your arms, and will fight at your head."
These words, said with a tone of authority and command, produced the
effect I expected. The chiefs, without uttering a word, laid their
arms at my feet. Their example was followed by all the combatants,
and, in a moment, a heap of carabines, guns, spears, and cutlasses
were laid down before me. I appointed ten among these individuals
who had just obeyed me, gave them each a gun, and told them:
"I confide to you the care of these arms. If anyone attempts to take
possession of them, fire upon the assailants."
I pretended to take down their names, and went off to the opposite
camp, where I found all the combatants on foot, ready to march and
fight against their enemies. I stopped them, saying:
"The battle is over--your enemies are disarmed. You, too, must give
me up your arms, or else immediately embark in your canoes, and go
home. If you do not obey me, I will give back their arms instantly to
your opponents, and I will put myself at their head to fight against
you. Perform what I command you; I promise you all shall be forgotten."
There was no room for hesitation. The Indians knew that I did not
allow much time for reflection, and that my threats and chastisements
followed each other closely. Shortly after, they all embarked in
their canoes. I remained on the beach alone, with my lieutenant,
until I had almost lost sight of this small fleet. I then returned
to the other camp, where I was impatiently expected. I announced to
the Indians they had no longer any enemies, and that consequently
they could go back quietly to their village.
But a few days elapsed, as may be seen, without my having new dangers
to encounter. I was accustomed to them: I relied upon my star, and
triumphed from all my imprudences. My Indians were blindly submissive
to me. I was so certain of their fidelity, that I no longer took
against them the precautions which I considered necessary during the
first year of my residence at Jala-Jala.
My Anna took part every day more and more in my labours, anxieties,
and even in some of my dangers. Would it have been possible not to
have loved her with deeper affection, than that which one feels for a
companion leading a peaceful and insignificant life? With what gladness
she received me after the shortest absence! Joy and satisfaction
shone on her face, her caresses were as a balsam that healed all my
lassitude, and even the reproaches she addressed me so gently, for the
uneasiness I had caused her, fell upon my heart us drops of beatitude.
Jala-Jala was most flourishing; immense fields of rice, sugar-cane,
and coffee, had taken the place of woods and forests unproductive
in themselves. Rich pasture-grounds were covered with numerous
flocks; and a fine Indian village stood in the centre of the
labouring-ground. Here, there was everywhere to be seen plenty,
activity; and joy smiled on the countenances of all the inhabitants. My
own dwelling had become the rendezvous, or resorting-place, of all
the travellers arriving at Manilla, and a refuge of convalescence
of many patients, who would come and breath the good and mild air of
Jala-Jala, as well as enjoy its pleasures and amusements. Under that
roof there was no distinction, no difference; all were equals in our
eyes, whether French, Spanish, English, American. No matter to what
nation belonged those who landed at Jala-Jala, they were received like
brothers, and with all that cordial hospitality to be found formerly
in our colonies. My visitors enjoyed full and active liberty on my
little estate; but he who was not desirous of eating alone was obliged
to remember the time of meals: during the other hours of the day one
and all followed their own inclinations. For instance, naturalists
went in pursuit of insects and birds, and made an ample harvest of
every species of plants. Persons ailing met with the assiduous care
of a physician, as well as with the kind attention and enjoyed the
company of a most amiable and well-informed mistress of the house,
who had the natural talent of enchanting all those who spent but a
short time in her society. They who liked walking might look about for
the fine views, and choose their resting-place either in the woods,
the mountains, near the cascades or the brooks, or on the beautiful
borders of the lake.
But to sportsmen Jala-Jala was really a "promised land;" there they
always found a good pack of hounds, Indians to guide them, good
stout horses to carry them across the various mountains and plains,
where the stag and wild boar were to be met with most plentifully;
and were they desirous of less fatiguing exercise, they only had to
jump into some of our light canoes, and skim over the blue waters,
shooting on their way at the hosts of aquatic birds flying around
them in all directions,--they could even land on the various small
islands situated between Jala-Jala and the isle of Talem. There
they could find a sort of sport utterly unknown in Europe--that is,
immense bats, a species of vampire, designated by naturalists by the
name of roussettes. During six months in the year, at the period of the
eastern monsoon, every tree on these little isles is covered, from the
topmost down to the lowest branch, with those huge bats, that supply
the place of the foliage which they have entirely destroyed. Muffled
up in their vast wings they sleep during the whole day, and in the
nighttime they start off in large bodies roaming about in search
of their prey. But as soon as the western monsoon has succeeded the
eastern, they disappear, and repair always to the same place,--the
eastern coast of Luzon, where they take shelter; after the monsoon
changed, they return to their former quarters.
As soon as our guests would alight upon one of these islands, they
opened their fire, and continued it till--frightened by so many
explosions and the screams of the wounded, clinging to and hanging
from the branches--the bats would fly away in a body--en masse. For
some time they would whirl and turn round and round like a dense
cloud over their abandoned home, imitating, in a most perfect way,
those furies we see in certain engravings representing the infernal
regions, and then, flying off a short distance, would perch upon the
trees in a neighbouring isle. If the sportsmen were not over-fatigued
by the slaughter they might then follow them, and set-to again; but
they generally found they had made victims enough, and diversified
their pleasure by picking up the slain from under the trees. The bat
shooting over, our sportsmen would then proceed to a new sport--
"To fresh fields and pastures new;"
that is, in pursuit of and shooting at the iguanas, a large species of
lizard, measuring from five to six feet long, which infest the rocks
on the borders of the lake. Tired of firing without being obliged to
show any skill, our chasseurs would re-embark in their pirogues and
row in search of new amusement,--this was, to shoot at the eagles that
came hovering over their heads. Here skill was requisite, as well
as a prompt, sure glance of the eye, as it is only with ball that
these enormous birds of prey can be reached. Our fowlers would then
return home, with their boats full of game; and everyone, of course,
had his own feats of prowess to relate.
The flesh of the iguana and the bat is savoury and delicate; but as
for its taste, that entirely depends upon the imagination, as may
here be seen.
After returning from one of these grand shooting excursions to the
minor islands, a young American informed me that his friends and he
himself were most desirous of tasting the iguana and the bat; so,
supposing them all to be of the same mind, I ordered my maître-d'hôtel
to prepare for dinner a curry of iguana and a ragout of bats. The
first dish served round at dinner was the curry, of which they one
and all partook with very good appetite; upon which I ventured to say:
"You see the flesh of the iguana is most delicate." At these words all
my guests turned pale, and they all, by a sudden motion, pushed their
plates from before them, not even being able to swallow what their
mouths contained. I was therefore obliged to order the removal of
the entrées of iguana and bats before we could proceed with the repast.
When it was in my power, I would accompany my guests in their
excursions, and then the chase was abundant and full of interest,
because I ever took care to guide them towards places abounding
in game and very picturesque. Sometimes I would take them to
the isle of Socolme, a still more curious place indeed than
the bat islands. Socolme is a circular lake--being one league in
circumference--in the midst of the great lake of Bay, from which it
is separated by a cordon or ribbon of land; or, to express myself
better, by a mountain which rises to an elevation of from twelve to
fifteen hundred feet; the centre of the mountain at the summit is
occupied by the lake of Socolme, and is evidently the crater of an
extinct volcano. Both sides are completely covered with large trees
of luxuriant growth. It is on the border of the small lake--where
the Indians never go, through fear of the caymans--that almost all
the aquatic birds of the grand lake resort to lay their eggs. Every
tree, white with the guano which they deposit there, is covered with
birds'-nests, full of eggs and birds of every size and age.
One day, in company of my brother and Mr. Hamilton Lindsay, [20] an
Englishman, who was as fearless an explorer as ourselves, I started
from the plantation, with the intention of having some light canoes
carried across the high ground which separates the Socolme lake from
the lake of Bay, and of using them on the lake; and, after overcoming
many difficulties, we, by the assistance of our Indians, carried out
this project.
We were the first tourists that ever ventured to expose our lives
on this Socolme lake. The Indians who had come with us refused most
decidedly to enter the boats, and exerted all their eloquence to
prevent us from going on the water. They spoke to us thus:--
"You are going, for no good purpose, to expose yourselves to very
great dangers, against which you have no means of defence, for
before you have gone far you will see thousands of caymans rising
out of the deep water; they will come to attack you, and what can
you oppose to those ferocious and invulnerable monsters? Your guns
and bullets cannot wound them. And as for escape by rowing quickly,
that is not possible. In their own element they swim much faster
than your canoes, and when they come up to you they will turn your
boats up-side-down with far more ease than you can drive it along;
and then the frightful scene will begin, from which you cannot escape."
There was much good sense in what they said, and there can be no doubt
that it was most imprudent of us to embark in a little frail canoe,
and to make a trip over a lake inhabited by such numbers of caymans,
and especially since it was to be feared that the lake did not supply
fish enough to satisfy their voracity; and of course when enraged by
hunger they were more to be dreaded.
But we were never deterred by dangers or difficulties; so, taking
no account of the prognostics of my prudent Indians, we, while they
were delivering their long speeches, had lashed together two canoes
for greater security.
We had not proceeded many yards from the bank, when we all experienced
feelings of alarm, attributable, no doubt, to the expectation of
danger being immediate, as well as to the aspect of the place which
presented itself to our view.
We were down in the deepest part of a gulf, surrounded by lofty
and precipitous mountains, which were externally covered with very
thick vegetation. They, on all sides, presented a barrier, through
which it was impossible to pass. The shadows which they cast over
the water, at the extreme point of the lake, produced the effect of
half darkness, which, in conjunction with the silence prevailing in
that dismal solitude, gave it an aspect so dreary and saddening,
as to produce in us most painful feelings; each of us as it were,
struck with terror, kept his thoughts to himself, and no one spoke.
Our canoes went on, moving farther and farther from the brink from
which we had embarked; and it glided easily over the glassy sheet of
water, which is never agitated by even the roughest gales, and does not
receive the rays of the sun except when that luminary is at the zenith.
The silence in which we were absorbed was suddenly broken by the
appearance of a cayman, which raised its hideous head, and opened
its enormous jaws, as if about to swallow the canoes, as it darted
after us.
The moment was come; the grand drama announced by the Indians was
about to be realised, or all our fears would be dissipated without any
delay. There was not one instant to be spared, and we had no choice
but to try and escape as fast as we could, for the enemy was gaining
on us, and it would be madness to await his attack. I was steering,
and I exerted myself to the utmost to get away from the danger and
to escape to the shore. But the amphibious beast was approaching so
fast that he could almost seize us, when Lindsay, running all risks,
fired his gun direct at the brute.
The effect produced by the detonation was prodigious, for, as it were
by enchantment, it dispelled all our apprehensions. The awful silence
was broken in the most striking manner; the cayman was frightened, and
sank abruptly to the bottom of the lake; hundreds of echoes resounded
from all sides, like the discharges of a rifle corps, and these were
repeated to the tops of the mountains, while clouds of cormorants,
starting from all the trees around, uttered their screaming and
piercing cries, in which they were joined by the Indians, who shouted
with joy on seeing from the bank the flight of the hostile beast,
of which they are always so much afraid.
All then became tranquil, and we proceeded at our leisure. From time
to time a cayman made his appearance; but the explosions caused by
our firing soon drove the monsters down into the deepest parts of
the lake, more frightened than hurt, for even when we struck them
our balls rebounded from their scales without piercing them.
We went close to the large trees, the branches of which were spreading
over the water; they were thickly covered with nests, filled with eggs,
and so great a quantity of young birds, that we not only captured as
many as we wished, but could have filled several boats with them.
The cormorants, alarmed by the explosions we made, whirled over us
continually, like an immense cloud, during the time we troubled their
gloomy abode, and seemed to "disturb their solitary reign;" but they
did not wish to go far from their nests, in which their young broods
were crying out for parental care.
After we had rowed round the lake, we came to the spot from which we
started, having ended our expedition happily without any accident,
and even without having incurred all the dangers that our Indians,
who were awaiting our return in order to take our boats once more
across the mountain, had wished to make us believe.
Resolved not to finish the excursion without producing some beneficial
results for the sake of scientific knowledge, we measured the
circumference of the lake, which we found to be about two miles and
a-half. We were able to take soundings in the deepest parts towards
the middle, where we found the depth about three hundred feet; while at
some few fathoms from the banks we found it was invariably one hundred
and eighty feet. And here the remark may be made, that in no part of
the great Lake of Bay has the depth been found to exceed seventy-five
feet; from which it may be concluded, as we have previously stated,
that the lake of Socolme is formed within the crater of an extinct
volcano, its waters having percolated or filtered through from the
outer lake of Bay.
From Socolme I took my guests to Los Banos, at the foot of a mountain,
several thousand feet high, from which several springs of boiling
water flow into the lake, and, mixing with its waters, produce every
temperature to be desired in a natural bath. There also, on the hill,
we were sure to meet with good and plentiful sport. Wild pigeons and
beautiful doves, perched upon majestic trees, "mistrustful of their
doom," allowed our sportsmen to approach very near, and they never
returned from "the baths" without having "bagged" plenty of them.
Upon our appointed days of relaxation from labour, we would go into the
neighbouring woods, and wage war on the monkeys, our harvest's greatest
enemies. As soon as a little dog, purposely brought up to this mode
of warfare, warned us by his barkings that marauders were in sight,
we repaired to the spot, and then the firing was opened. Fright seized
hold on the mischievous tribe, every member of which hid itself in its
tree, and became as invisible as it possibly could. But the little
dog would not leave his post, while we would turn round the tree,
and never failed discovering the hidden inmate. We then commence
the attack, not ceasing until pug was laid prostrate. After having
made several victims, I sent them to be hung up on forks around the
sugar-cane fields, as scarecrows to those that had escaped; I, however,
always sent the largest one to Father Miguel, our excellent curate,
who was very fond of a monkey ragout.
Sometimes I would take my guests to a distance of several days' march,
to show them admirable views, cascades, grottoes, or those wonders
of vegetation produced by the fertile nature of the Philippines.
One day, Mr. Lindsay, the most intrepid traveller I had ever known,
and who had recently accompanied me to the lake of Socolme, proposed
to me to go with him to the grotto of San-Mateo, a place that several
travellers and myself had visited more than once, but always in
so incomplete a manner, that we had only been able to explore
a small portion of it. I was too well pleased with the proposal
not to accept it with eagerness; but this time I resolved that I
would not return from this expedition, as I had from former ones,
without having made every possible effort to explore its dimensions
and recesses. Lindsay, Dr. Genu, and my brother, participated in
my resolution of verifying whether or not there was any semblance
of truth in what the Indians related concerning that grotto; or if,
as I had so often experienced it myself, their poetic minds did not
create what had never existed. Their old Indian traditions attributed
to that cavern an immense extent. There, they would say, are to be
seen fairy palaces, with which nothing could be compared, and which
were the residences of fantastical beings. Determined, then, on seeing
with our own eyes all these wonders, we set out for San-Mateo, taking
with us an Indian, having with him a crowbar and a couple of pickaxes,
to dig us out a way, should we have the chance of prolonging our
subterraneous walk beyond the limits which we all already knew. We
also took with us a good provision of flambeaus, so necessary to
put our project into execution. We arrived early at San-Mateo, and
spent the remaining part of the day in visiting admirable views and
situations in the neighbourhood. We also went down into the bed of
a torrent that takes its source in the mountains, and passes through
the north side of this district; there we saw several Indians, male
and female, all busy in washing the sand in search of gold-dust. Their
daily produce at this work varies from one to ten francs; this depends
on the more or less fortunate vein that perchance they fall on. This
trade, together with the tilling of land--to be equalled by no other
in fertility--and hewing timber for building, which is to be found
most plentifully on the neighbouring mountains, is all the wealth of
the inhabitants, who, in most part, live in abundance and prosperity.
At the next day's dawn we were on our way to the grotto, which is
about two hours' walk from the village. The road, which is bordered
by nature's most beautiful productions in vegetation, traverses the
finest rice plantations, and is of most easy access; however, about
half-way, it suddenly becomes dangerous and even difficult. Here we
leave the cultivated fields, and follow along the banks of the river,
which flows in the midst of not very high mountains, and has so many
bends, twistings, and meanderings, that, in order to cross it, it is
necessary at almost every moment to have recourse to swimming, and
then to take the narrow paths leading from its margin. Nothing, until
at a very short distance from the grotto, interrupts the monotony of
these rural sites and situations. The traveller plods his way through
a gorge, or ravine, where upon all sides the view is bounded by rocks,
and a long line of verdant vegetation, composed of the shrubs that
cover the hills. But through a vast winding, or rather turning, made
by the river, the eye is suddenly dazzled by the splendid panorama
that seems to develop itself and move on with fairy magnificence. Let
the reader imagine that he is standing at the base of two immense
mountains, resembling two pyramids in their form, both equally alike
and similar in height. The space that intervenes between them allows
the eye to plunge into the distance, and to discover there a tableau,
a picture, or view, which is impossible to be described. Between
the two monster mountains the river has found an issue, and there
the traveller beholds it at his feet, precipitating itself like an
impetuous torrent in the midst of white marble rocks. The water, both
limpid and glossy, seems to play with every object that impedes its
course; at one moment it will form a noisy cascade, and then suddenly
disappear at the foot of an enormous rock, and soon after appear again,
bubbling and foaming, just as if some supernatural strength had worked
it from the bowels of the earth. Farther on, and in forming itself into
a continuous number of minor cascades, this same river flows, with a
vast silvery surface, over a bed of marble, as white and as brilliant
as alabaster, and falls upon others of still equal whiteness. Finally,
after having passed over all difficulties, all dangers, it flows with
much more modesty over a humble bed, where may be seen the reflection
of the admirable vegetation its banks are embellished with.
The famous grotto is situated in the mountain on the right side of
the river, which the traveller crosses over by jumping from one block
of marble to another; and then, after having ascended a steep height
of about two hundred yards, he finds himself at the entrance to the
grotto, whither I shall conduct the reader step by step.
The entrance, the form of which is almost regular, represents pretty
well the portico of a church, with a full arch, adorned with verdant
festoons, composed of creeping plants and bind-weeds. When the visitor
has once passed under the portico he enters into a large and spacious
hall, studded with stalactites of a very yellowish colour, and there
a dense crowd of bats, frightened by the light of the torches, fly
out with great noise and precipitation. For about a hundred paces,
in advancing towards the interior, the vault continues to be very
lofty, and the gallery is spacious; but suddenly the former declines
immensely, and the latter becomes so narrow that it scarce admits
of a passage for one man, who is obliged to crawl on his hands and
knees to pass through, and continue in this painful position for
about a hundred yards. And now the gallery becomes wide again, and
the vault rises several feet high. But here, again, a new difficulty
soon presents itself, and which must be overcome; a sort of wall,
three or four yards high, must be climbed over, and immediately behind
which lies a most dangerous subterraneous place, where two enormous
precipices, with open mouths on a level with the ground, seem ready
to swallow up the imprudent traveller, who, although he have his
torch lighted, would not walk, step by step, and with the greatest
precaution, through this gloomy labyrinth. A few stones thrown into
these gulfs attest, by the hollow noise produced by their falling
to the bottom, that they are several hundred feet deep. Then the
gallery, which is still wide and spacious, runs on without presenting
anything remarkable till the visitor arrives on the spot where the
last researches stopped at. Here it seems to terminate by a sort of
rotunda, surrounded by stalactites of divers forms, and which, in one
part, represents a real dome supported by columns. This dome looks
over a small lake, out of which a murmuring stream flows continually
into the precipices already described. It was here that we began our
serious investigations, desirous of ascertaining if it were possible
to prolong this subterraneous peregrination. We dived several times
into the lake without discovering anything favourable to our desires;
we then directed our steps to the right, examining all the while, by
the light of our torches, the smallest gaps to be seen in the sides
of the gallery, when at last, after many unsuccessful attempts, we
discovered a hole through which a man's arm could scarcely pass. By
introducing a torch into it, how great was our surprise to see within
it an immense space, studded with rock-crystal. I need not add that
such a discovery inspired us with the greatest desire of more closely
examining that which we had but an imperfect view of. We therefore
set our Indian to work with his pick-axe, to widen the hole and make
a passage for us; his labour went on slowly, he struck his blows
gently and cautiously, so as to avoid a falling-in of the rock, which
would not only have marred our hopes, but would, besides, have caused
a great disaster. The vault of rocks suspended over our heads might
bury us all alive, and, as will be seen by the sequel, the precautions
we had taken were not fruitless. At the very moment when our hopes
were about to be realised,--the aperture being now wide enough
to admit of us passing through it--suddenly, and above our heads,
we heard a hollow prolonged rustling noise that froze us to death;
the vault had been shaken, and we dreaded its falling upon us. For a
moment, which seemed to us, however, very long, we were all terrified;
the Indian himself was standing as motionless as a statue, with his
hands upon the handle of his pick-axe, just in the same position as
he was when he gave his last blow. After a moment's solemn silence,
when our fright had a little subsided, we began to examine the nature
of the danger we had just escaped. Above our heads a long and wide
split ran along the vault to a distance of several yards, and, at
the place where it stopped, an enormous rock, detached from the dome,
had been most providentially impeded in its fall downwards by one of
the columns, which, acting as a sort of buttress, kept it suspended
over the opening we had just made. Having, after mature examination,
ascertained that the column and the rock were pretty solid, like rash
men, accustomed to daunt all danger and surmount any sort of obstacle
and difficulty, we resolved upon gliding one by one into the dangerous
yawning. Dr. Genu, who till then had kept a profound silence, on
hearing of our resolution was suddenly seized with such a panic fear
that he recovered his voice, imploring and begging of us to take him
out of the cavern; and, as if he had been suddenly seized with a sort
of vertigo, he told us, with interrupted accents, that he could not
breathe--that he felt himself as if he were smothering--that his heart
was beating so violently, were he to stay any longer amidst the dangers
we were running he was certain of dying from the effects of a rupture
of the heart. He offered all he possessed on earth to him who would
save his life, and with clasped hands he supplicated our Indians not
to forsake him, but to guide him out of the place. We therefore took
compassion upon his state of mind, and allowed the Indian to guide
him out; but as soon as the latter returned, and having ascertained
during his absence that neither the rocky fragment nor the column had
stirred, but which had been the momentary cause of our alarm, we put
our project into execution, and like serpents, one after the other,
we crawled into the dangerous opening, which was scarcely large enough
for our passing through. We soon ceased thinking of our past dangers,
nor did our present imprudence much pre-occupy our minds, all our
attention being entirely absorbed by what presented itself to our
ravished eyes. Here we were in the midst of a saloon wearing a most
fairy aspect, and, by the light of our torches, the vault, the floor,
and the wall were shining and dazzling, as if they had been covered
over with the most admirably transparent rock-crystal. Even in some
places did the hand of man seem to have presided over the ornamenting
of this enchanted palace. Numberless stalactites and stalagmites, as
pellucid as the limpid stream that has just been seized by the frost,
assumed here and there the most fantastic forms and shapes--they
represented brilliant draperies, rows of columns, lustres, and
chandeliers. At one end, close to the wall, was to be seen an altar,
with steps leading up to it, and which seemed to be in expectation
of the priest to celebrate divine service. It would be impossible
for my pen to describe everything that transported us with joy, and
drew forth our admiration; we really imagined ourselves to be in one
of the Arabian Nights' palaces, and the Indians themselves were far
from guessing the one-half of the wonders we had just discovered.
Having left this dazzling palace, we continued our underground ramble,
penetrating more and more into the bowels of the earth, following
step by step a winding labyrinth, but which for a whole half-league
offered nothing remarkable to our view, except now and then the
sight of the very great dangers our undauntable curiosity urged us
on to. In certain parts the vault no longer presented the aspect
of being as solid as stone, earth alone seemed to be its component
parts; and here and there, recent proofs of falling-in showed us that
still more considerable ones might take place, and cut off from us
all means of retreat. Nevertheless we pushed on still, far beyond
our present adventurous discovery, and at last arrived at a new,
magnificent, and extensive space, all bespangled, like the first,
with brilliant stalactites, and in no way inferior to the former in
the gorgeous beauty of its details. Here again we gave ourselves up
to the most minute examination of the many wonders surrounding us,
and which shone like prisms by the light of our torches. We gathered
from off the ground several small stalagmites, as large and as round
as hazel-nuts, and so like that fruit, when preserved, that some days
later, at a ball at Manilla, we presented some of them to the ladies,
whose first movement was to put them to their mouth; but soon finding
out their mistake, they entreated to be allowed to keep them, to
have them, as they said, converted into ear-ring drops. Having fully
enjoyed the beautiful and brilliant spectacle presented to our eyes,
we now began to feel the effects of hunger and fatigue. We had been
walking in this subterraneous domain to the extent of more than three
miles, had taken no rest or refreshment since morning, and the day
was already far advanced.
I have often experienced that our moral strength decreases in
proportion as our physical strength does; and of course we must have
been in that state when sinister suppositions took possession of
our imaginations. One of our party communicated to us a reflection
he had just made--which was, that a falling-in might have taken
place between us and the issue from the grotto; or, what appeared
still more probable, that the enormous rock, that was suspended and
buttressed up by the column, might have fallen down, and thus bar
up all passage through the hole we had so rashly made. Had such a
misfortune happened to us, what a horrible situation we should have
been in! We could hope for no help from without, even from our friend
Genu, who, as we had witnessed, had been so upset by fear; so that,
rather than suffer the anguish and die the death of the wretch buried
alive in a sepulchre, our poignards must have been our last resource.
All these reflections, which we analysed and commented upon, one by
one, made us resolve upon returning, and leaving to others, more
imprudent than ourselves, if any there be, the care of exploring
the space we had still to travel over. We soon got over the ground
that separated us from the place we had most to dread. Providence
had favoured and protected us--the large fragment of rock, that
object of all our fears, was still propped up. One after the other
did we squeeze ourselves through the narrow opening, avoiding as
much as possible the least friction, till at last we had all passed
through. Joyous indeed were we on seeing ourselves out of danger after
so perilous an enterprise, and we were already beginning to direct
our steps towards the outlet of the cavern, when suddenly a hollow,
prolonged noise, and below our feet a rapid trembling excited once
more all our fears. But those fears were soon calmed by our Indian,
who came running towards us at full speed, brandishing in his hand
his pick-axe. The imprudent fellow, unwilling to sacrifice it, had
waited till we were some paces distant, and then pulling it to him
most forcibly, while all the while he took good care to keep quickly
moving away, when thanks to Providence, or to his own nimbleness,
he was not crushed to atoms by the fragment of the rock, which,
being no longer buttressed up by the column that had been shaken,
had fallen to the ground, completely stopping up the issue through
which we had passed one after the other: so that no doubt no one,
after us, will be able to penetrate into the beautiful part of that
grotto which we had just passed through so fortunately. After this
last episode we no longer hesitated in returning, and it was with great
delight that we beheld once more the great luminary of the world, and
found our friend Genu sitting upon a block of marble, reflecting on
our long absence, and, at the same time, on our unqualifiable temerity.