lights, we found it to be but half an ell Ipwêr than the other part
óf the mountain. Hitherto the height add breadth' continued-as-before
j but now it began to contraéfc itfelf, and at the fame time to
defend lower. There we could hear the dafhing of the waves,
and the fea.was at leaf): an equal height with us, 'if-notj óver 'our
heads. Soon after we came to feme more, fteps, but being not
inclined to . venture further, we threw down a ftone, and heard
its eccho for the fpace of a minute; but whether it fell into the
water. Or on the dry rock, we could not diftinguifh. Some conjecture
may be formed of the length of this cavern, from our having
burned two candles in our progrefs and return.”
Another remarkable ittftance of a like fecret paflage in a mountain,
I fhall produce from my own experience. Hearing at the
parfonage of Oerfkoug, that in the diftriét of the annexed chapbtry
of Strande, not far from thence, a ftream had been found, which
iflued through a rock from thé fide of a mountain called Limur,
and over it a cavern which probably followed, the ftreahi,' but of
the length of which I could procure no account; I réfblyèd to
examine it myfclf, as on my vifitation to Nordal I fe s 'to pafi
near it. I furnifhed myfelf with a tinder-box, candles, ,a lanthorn,
and a long line to fe re ' mé inftead of Ariadne’s, clue.‘ • My boat
put me afhore a t the foot of the aforefaid ’ mountain of Limur*
But it being extremely fteep, we were obliged to climb with our
hands as well as feet, and lbmetimes were hard p u t to it to clear
our way through the hazle and alder-bufhes. ' On the- fidé'öf this
laborious afcent, we met with a rivulet, ftreaming out, which directed
us to the cavern. It is indeed fomething wonderful; being
a kind of natural conduit, formed purely- by the force -of the
water through' the folid rock, which was a compound mafs,
moftiy confifting of grey pebbles, but about the conduit, of a clear
grey marble with bluifh veins; had this natural ftruCture been |i
raifed by human fkill, it wóuld have been a work of no final! expence,
for a few paces after getting through the thicket, which
almoft hides the aperture o f the cavern, one is furprized with a
vaulted paflage of pure marble, without the leaft flaw or breach,
but with feveral angles 'and protuberances, all fb polifhed, .as if
it had been a pafte mouldered into fmooth globular forms. Aboult
a hundred paces forward, the paflage continues in a ftraight direction,
jeftion, (tb*en the right with afeents and defeents,
•and in feme places growing narrower,;;san,d in others widening to
(Mjubfe; its former breadth; .whicjji, 'according to my admeafure-
m'enf; wa^abpptfour„-drjj%ejplls;;'and th&Aeigfrt/„about three;
thus tiyo perfons coqld ,go .fbreaft, except that they'werOnow and
then obliged to ftbop, .anti eyery creep,( and pb.en thjsy. felt a damp
vapour l]ke that o f a b u r i a l ^ i f e ^ h i s presented,,pay,penetrating
fo far as I had intendpd; lAnptherjtfilng remarkable, ■ was the ter-
rible;roaring ofitKe-water's under, us,fthe courfeqf which 'Was whar
moft'eXciteH’my wonder, a^by^^'Wes.’ k pavement’of fmooth’
( ftone,' inclining & little“ likeJ a vault Ion dabh fide,’ vibut flat in the
middle, and not above three fingers thick,, with;feme fmajlcre-
■ vices, through, whicli; thq, water may be fe n , If it be afked how
fat1 this covered -wayfeaches -? Tmak e no queftipn but its .length
is equal |j||th e courfe of the ftream, and th a t .it' has been pro-
.duced by the lalling of the water, which in length of time, has
perforated thefe,yocks agreeably-lp the ancient maxim, $
Guttafevdf lapidem, nod v i/‘fed ’fa3pe4cafteHd4’ 5
And this ismqre particularly confirmed by the many projections
which fiaye been levelled, or undulated figures, which, as I have
beforb’plfefyed, are to be feen bn the roof,’and along,die fides.
If it be a&ed again,., where is the fpnng <of this ftream ? the pea-
fants hereabouts fay, that on the uppermoft ridges of thej mountain,
which feajt leaft a hundred fathom hig ti, almoft perpendicular
above tife cavern, tKere"is allaiSing-water of about a quarter;of a
J |^ g y e dn circumference^ and unqueftionably formed and fupplied
by the frequent acceflion of/the rain,.'and the melted fnow from the
other parts of the mountain. It is mo difficult matter to judge
how the uppermoft dry vault comes to be pf fuch a height oyer '
the channel o f the river, by which it is paufed; for the cavity in
its beginnipg could not have beenfehigh, but by length of time,
the ftream, of which the upper vault w^s. then the-bed, penetrated’
.‘to % Pr&^ent depth, and perforating' the mountain,• Ifie; particles
which it detached, as fand and gravel,' fettled on’,„the ground,
forming as it were a|fmall an'S level pavement,, which‘is now a
cover to „that ftream, ofbyhich.it h ad , been'the bed. I am the
more confirmed in’theFe ‘thoughts, by-a fecond view'I took of
this