Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1885-07-24
A DAY UNDER THE EARTH.
The salt Mine of wlelIc1hs.


Polish salt mine are arttully heightened by :
the extreme difficulty of reaching it. 1t lies
about seven miles southeast of Cracow, |
Poland's ancient capital, whence there is
only one train day to Wieliczka II was
being worked as carly as the opening of the |
eleventh century, and has been cxcavated
into no less than l6 different galleries or tup-
nels, the total length of the mine from point
to point being fully ono and three-quarter |
miles, and its depth below the surface $50
feet. At present. however, it Is chiefly val
liable as a curiosity, for although work is
still being carried ON in some of tho lower
galleries, the yield of salt appears to DO all
but exhausted.
And now, all the necessary formaltics
having been transacted, we form in close
| order along with our fellow-sightseers and
| our polite official marches us OIL through the
/ town like flock of sheer through the cas-
tie garden, along the side of the big dusty
| market place. up steep, winding street be-
| yond 1t, halting mt longth in front of huge
building Of staring red brick which stands
| in the middle of small inclosure and bears |
| upon its front the impressive words, "Szyb |
| Danelowiczka" just as | am beginning to |
| wonder whether these jawbreaking conson. |
| ants are applied as test TO all candidates for |
| admission to the mine, no one being allowed |
| to enter who cannot pronounce its name, a |
tall, salow fellow, measled all over with
| buttons, comes forward and ushers MS
into kind of ante-room, where we
array ourselves in long white smock-
|
thereby assuming the ediiyng appear
ance of band of Hungarian foresters
| going out hunting in their nightgowna. We
are eight in number--an extremely pretty
| Austrian lady with an ingeniously ugly
husband, very long Pole from CracOw
accompanied 10y his betrothed aud his future
mother-in-law, (possibly cherishing faint
hope of being able TO leave the latter behind
T somewhere down in the depths Of tho mine y
Mrs. Ker and myself and-last but certainly
not least--an excitablo little fellow with a
bald head and red face, who seems hardly
, | to know how to get rid of his suporiluous
8 | energy and keeps daTting TO and fro like
an exploding cracker, shouting, laugh
ing and gesticulating with a vehcmence that
quito electriiies the sober keeper Of the
+ entrance.
r At last all is ready, and we are led of TO be
r shut mp in a kind of OVergrown bird cage,
# not unlike the elevator Ofa hotel, except that
, 1t begins by going down instead of up. As
= we descend tho dim lantern that swings
II above our heads casts a ghOstly glimmcr
o upon the sides of the shaft and makes our
If shroudcd figures look quite unearthly
is Down, down, down, as IL this strange de-
~ scent were never to end, till at length there
- comes a rattle and sudden shock, and then
~ the door OF our prison is flung open and We
10 all scramble hastily out
u On issuing from the cage we find ourselves
If in a dark, low, damp passage, or rather tun-
al mel, which seems TO wind away cndleSsly
IN into the utter blackness beyond Along this
gloomy highroad VIC follow as best we may
N ever and anon throws out our long white
a shrOuds and half seen faces in iitiul relief
W against the black walls around, suggesting a
al train of ghosts led by death himself through
"a the shadowy corridors of the world below.
~ | This grim idea Is suddenly borne out in a
:. ~ very unexpected way by the startling specta
II Gle that opens upon rs as We make a sharT
le turn to the left What enchanted palace i
ID this we have entered or rather what strange
rk | underground cathedral of the dead. with it,
,g altar aud its Madonna, its pillars and IL
- inches, its eiligies of saints carved in guam
medieval fashion by hands which moderct
into dust ages ago, while their work still re
mains fresh and perfect as ever? ? WhGr
q, ever the light Of our readers torch catches
Is, the dark pillars and shadOwy walls a thou
ke sand sparklcS of cold uucafthly brightues
er answers its CLEAN, for the whole structure i
hewn out of solid rock salt When il wa
~ nrst shaped out by the pious toll OF the Pol
is ish workmon, Prussia had not even begun 4
h, exist Austria was far away from this spot
and further still from any thoughts OF eve
IN possessing it. Russia was q remote and hal
Cd barbarous state which had lust freed isel
re from the yoke Of TaTtaFy, while Poland
Of supreme from tho BaitIr To the frontier o
Turkey, was still one of the greatest king
-. doms of the world. But tho irony of fort un
US US has changed Poland T. LrNfrment into he
-, <5r:< f-rt---,r1 rTrrTo stretch Of fnGy IL reed
ilu ed to picture to ones self the phiHGms Q
ine i her ancient Piast and Jagcllon mOnarg
Or in the gloom and silence Of midnigh
with the ghOstly phosphOrcScence of I'll
oi grave glimmering upon their rusted armO
ry- and depth of uuutterablo sorrow IN the
dl- haggard faces and rayless eyes at tho though
lse of the noble heritage that has passed frDI
lre their race forever.
lre Onward, ever onward, through the dill
MO, unending maze ot these sunless catdcOm b
,OS, the very echo Of our steps sounding unna
ak urally loud amid that tremendous sIlcnl
llu and the black masses OF rock on either SD
Geo ickering into q spectral of glimmer as wc :
by only to darkeu again the next mOmeI
into deeper gloom than ever. Not a wOT
is uttered ailIltr : human lt,Irh an
OH, human laughter can find no place in Il
asst depths Of eternal night. Silently as trai
J, a otgbostS we glide along the dreary wa,
|, in All at once there is another halt In Il
md darkness, and then sudden blaze of ligl
- reveals a mighty dome rising far abUS
VI our heads, and vast walls of rock shutting I
IN IN on every side grim and gigantic as tho;
ms OF an Egyptian pyramid. Here arc no Scul
req tured saints, no fantastic decorations; all
iry bare, rugged, colossal. In such temple ii
ter dwariish mIsshapcn savages who prowlo
mo here thousands Of years ago may have pOure
md out upon the rough-hewn altar of Triglap
AK the wood spirit or perOon, the thunder GOO
us, the blood OF the first strangers who venture
al among them. Let US pass on, and thi
)on quickly.
WI But even this spectacle grim though il is
are nothing to that which Immediately follow
ge. a few minutes later the faint geam Of OF
10 guides torch, which is now fast dying on
ed shows that we are standing upon a narro
vas bridge that seems to hang poised in Il
cal empty airabove cold, black gulf of fathon
I've less depth, While its further end yanshC
zee. into utter night only few yards beyond III
spot where VIC stand. If. as the gloom
Mohammedan tradition declares, the Olsen
be, bodied souls Of all men must pass to the
i'm final account across the TaZOr-likc bridge
10 Al Sirat, which spans the gulf between Il
% '"o world OF the living and that of the dead,
sou must be such one as this. All al one
rd, there comes deatening explosion froi
eft, below, and burst of fire as il all the flame
nb- of this extinct he'll had broken forth one
de- more Then shower of rockets comes dar
the ing up through the blaclSness like fiery Sc
re- pents, their roar aud hiss echOing and r.
ult echong along all the countless passages as
ear it would never end.
ne But the terrific impressivcness of tn
led valley Of the shadow of death is not at i
height even yet. Wandering ON thrOug
the everlasting night, we suddenly see III
dying glare of the torch reflected in
rp dark, still ihirror-like surface, and fin
'6S' ourselves standing on the brink of a Dlacl
~ 'u Shiny, dismal lake, the perfect likeness
IN that CHASTITY "Pool of Iiela" in which
rd, according To the grim scandinavian Legend
lid the souls of towards We're doomed to sin
adj deeper and deeper through all eternity
for without hope OF ever rising again. Is iii
BILE Styx, then, no fable after all ? and can thi
he be Charon's boat that comes aitting shadow
he like toward US athwart the sullen water
Igo gliding forth again without a sound the mC
he ment we are ON board? In such a spot an
th tale of horror seems possible However