University of Virginia Library

23. CHAPTER XXIII.

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 manœuvres, 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.[1] 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.

Figure 1

[Description: Illustration of the horizontal (or plan) shape of a geographic chasm (or abyss or cavern) defined by parallel cliffs, which is described in the narrative appearing on pages 182 and 183.]

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.)

Figure 2

[Description: Illustration of the horizontal (or plan) shape of a geographic chasm (or abyss or cavern) defined by parallel cliffs, which is described in the narrative appearing on page 183.]

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.)

Figure 3 and Figure 5

[Description: Illustration of the horizontal (or plan) shape of a geographic chasm (or abyss or cavern) defined by parallel cliffs, which is described in the narrative appearing on page 184. Illustration of the horizontal (or plan) shape of two geographic chasms (or abyss or cavern or well), which are described in the narrative appearing on page 184 and 185.]

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.

Figure 4

[Description: Illustration of indentures (or engravings, incisions, or carvings) in wall of geographic chasm (or abyss or cavern), which are described in the narrative appearing on page 185 and 186.]

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.