Page:Life in Mexico vol 2.djvu/91

Rh it into halls, and a very little imagination may do so, is about two hundred feet long, one hundred and seventy wide, and one hundred and fifty in height; a noble apartment. The walls are shaded with different colors of green and orange; great sheets of stalactites hang from the roof; and white phantoms, palm trees, lofty pillars, pyramids, porches, and a thousand other illusions surround us on all sides. One figure, concerning which all agree, is a long-haired goat, the Evil One in that form. But some one has broken the head, perhaps to show the powerlessness of the enchanted guardian of the cave. Some say that there are no living animals here, but there is no doubt that there are bats; and an exploring party, who passed the night here, not only heard the hissing of the rattlesnake, but were startled by the apparition of a fierce leopard, whose loud roarings were echoed amongst the vaults, and who, after gazing at them by the light of the torches, stalked majestically back into the darkness.

We passed on into the second sala, collecting as we went fragments of the shining stones, our awe and astonishment increasing at every step. Sometimes we seemed to be in a subterranean Egyptian temple. The architecture was decidedly Egyptian, and the strange forms of the animals resembled those of the uncouth Egyptian idols; which, together with the pyramids and obelisks, made me think that perhaps that ancient people took the idea of their architecture and of many of their strange shapes from some natural cave of this description; just as nature herself suggested the idea of the beautiful Corinthian pillar.