We proceeded down the sloping shaft, occasionally bruising ourselves
against its jagged sides, until our leader suddenly came to a dead
halt. I was next to him, and coming up as close as I could, I found
that one step further would have precipitated the adventurous guide
into an abyss, the bottom and sides of which were undistinguishable;
after gazing for a moment into this apparently insurmountable obstacle
to our further progress, I could just perceive a narrow ledge about
sixteen feet below me, that the eye could trace for a few yards
only, beyond which it was lost in the deep gloom surrounding us. Our
conductor had already made up his mind what to do: he proceeded to
unwind his long narrow turban composed of cotton cloth, and called to
his comrades to do the same; by joining these together they formed a
kind of rope by means of which we gradually lowered each other, till
at last a party ten in number were safely landed on the ledge. We left
a couple of men to haul us up on our return, and proceeded on our way,
groping along the brink of the yawning chasm. Every now and then loose
stones set in motion by our feet would slip into this bottomless pit,
and we could hear them bounding down from ledge to ledge, smashing
themselves into a thousand fragments, till the echoes so often
repeated were like the independent file-firing of a battalion of
infantry. Sometimes the narrow path would be covered for a distance of
many feet with a smooth coat of ice, and then it was indeed dangerous.
After moving on in this way for some minutes, the road gradually
widened till we found ourselves on the damp and dripping flooring of a
chamber of unknown dimensions; the torch light was not strong enough
to enable us to conceive the size of this subterraneous hall, but all
around us lay scattered melancholy proofs that there was some sad
foundation for the moollah's story. Hundreds of human skeletons were
strewed around; as far as the eye could penetrate these mournful
relics presented themselves; they were very perfect, and had evidently