The Vermont transcript. [volume] (St. Albans, Vt.) 1864-1870, 1864-05-27

that | hesitate to estimate. 1t is Who'll
/ ~ Impossible to guess at the progress
one is making in such postures. Hen
mixer l think, makes it four hundred
yards. / should think thousand feet
was a very large estimate, but it NAV
be as much. The air was now worse.
lacking the ammonia It seemed to be
pure nitrogen. The lungs operated
freely, but took no benefit or refresh
ment from it, while the heat was awful.
md perspiration rolled down our faces
and bodies, soaking our clothes, and
making mud on our features and hands
with the fine dust that filled the at
mosphere.
At length the passage became SO
narrow, that my progress was entirely
blocked. My broad shoulders would
not go through and l paused to con-
slider the matter The hole was about
eighteen inches wide, and little more
than two feet high Evidently, Mr.
Leigh did not pass beyond this was
obliged to lay over on my right side,
presenting my body 10 its narrow way
up and down, and pushing with all the
strength of my feet rs well as pulling
with my hands on the floor and rocky
projections, forcedmyself along about
eight feet. In this struggle my brandy
flask, which was IN my trousers pocket,
being under me, was broken to pieces.
and my sole hope, in the event Of a Civ
ing out of my faculties was gone. At
the time / thought little of it, laughing
ut the occurrence as / called out to
those that followed me; but afterwards
l remembered the accident with IA
shudder. The only argument that had
allowed me to persuade myself to at
tempt this exploration was a promise
that | would take brandy with me,
which no one else had done. and if
necessary, secure artificial strength
thereby. 1t was gone now, and ] was
more than thousand feet from light
and air IN passage that did not ay-
erage four feet by two its entire length.
A vigorous push sent me out into a
more open passage, and sort of a
doorway opened into a gallery on a
level two feet lower Jumping down
this step | was, for the first time in
nearly Il half hour, where could stand
upright. My English friend shouted
for help behind me- His light was
gone out and he was literally stuck in
the hole. Ireturned, touched my cam
die to his, and gave him a hand to
drag him through, and in a few mo-
ments we We're all standing together
We now advanced some hundred feet,
perhaps three, perhaps fye hundred
feet, III stopping posture mostly, but
occasionally crawling as before, and at
length, us we crept, the rough and very
low parts Of the gallery and the roof
began to lift, and | found / was actu-
ally crawling over mummies There
was Just here a sort of blind passage,
at the side of the chief passage, in
, which the French expedition had
! carved their names. The wall was
j covered with Jet black substance, like
the purost lamp black, which the point
Of a knife would scrape of, exposing
{ the white rock Numerous stalactites
hung from the ceiling, al jet black, and
some grotesquc stalaglnites ut the sides
j of the passage startled me at FIRST with
= the idea that they were sculptures.
t This black, sooty matter | cannot ac-
{ count for, unless it be the exlalations
e in ancient times from the crocodiles
{ which were laid here, for we We're at
E last in the depository.
The floor was covered with crocodile
bones and mummy cloths. \ spark OF
fire falling into them would have made
this a veutable he'll As this idea was
! suggested, my English friends, whose
: experience in the narrow hole had been
S sufficiently alarming, vanished out o.
S sight They fairly ran Having seen
q the mummies, and seized few small
r ones in their hands, they hastened out
and left me with Abdallah and my two
| guides. Advancing over the mummies
and up the hill which they formed,
{: found that | was in one of the number
/, of large chambers, of the depth o.
: which it was Of course, impossible to
- get any idea, as they were piled full q
:, mummied crocodiles othc very ceiling
D There was no means of estimating the
? number OF them. When | say there
:, were thousands of them, / shall not be
j thought to eXaggerate, after | describe
the manner in which they were packed
J, and laid in
S Climbing to the top of the hill and
;. eXtinguishing all lights but one, which
It | made Abdallah hold very carefully,
T. began to throw down the top Of the
), pile to ascertain Of what it was com
0 posed, and at length 1 made an open
e ing between the mummies and thu
d ceiling, through which L could go oil
: further, descending a sort of hill o
0 those dead animals, such as / had
0 come up. In this way l progressed
n some distance, in a gallery on chamber
y that was not less than twenty feet wide
and probably twenty or thirty fee
h deep.
e The crocodiles were laid in regular
b layers, head to tail and tail to head
d First on the floor was layer Of larg'
It crocodiles, side by side, each one mum
2 mied and wrapped up in cloths. Thel
(, smaller ones We're laid between The
n tails, andflling up the hollows between
g them. Then, and most curious of all
A