Page:Phosphor (1888).djvu/60

60 How was it they had never been discovered before?

Why was it left for me in the nineteenth century to prove what the cleverest men could only theorize about.

Should I ever get out of this awful place and be able to give my discovery to the world?

These and a thousand other thoughts passed through my head.

During my cogitations I had shut my eyes; on opening them I found we had arrived at an opening in the rocky wall.

The leader entered it, my bearers followed, and then came the rest. On entering it I saw it was a passage about twenty feet wide.

The walls, as in the other cave, were composed of rock, glistening with crystals, but here they were smooth and seemed to be rather the work of hands than of nature.

The floor was covered with fine white sand—the height of the walls was about ten or twelve feet.

We traversed this passage for about a mile, then I perceived we were approaching a light.

This I fancied was the mouth of the passage, and wondered if the light was caused by the rays of the sun.

At last we arrived at the opening and I saw