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. 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. This figure [No figures in text] 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 vigor, 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. 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. 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
      northern of these indentures might have been taken for the
      intentional, although rude, representation of a human figure
      standing erect, with outstretched arm.