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
pent-house 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 hill-top) 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 manoeuvres, 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.
[Footnote 5: This day was rendered remarkable by our observing in the
south several huge wreaths of the grayish vapour I have before spoken
of.]
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.
[Illustration: _Figure 1_.]
This figure (see figure 1) 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 vigour, 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. (See figure 2.)
[Illustration: _Figure 2_.]
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. (See
figure 3.)
[Illustration: _Figure 3_.]
[Illustration: _Figure 5_.]
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 northerly 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. Figure
4. presents an accurate copy of the whole.
[Illustration: _Figure 4_.]
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,
preceding page.