Still following up the hazardous path, we find that it skirts the brink of a steep stony slope, descending from the precipice down to the very water’s edge,--“a truly perilous spot, where a single slip over the loose pebbles must send us rolling several hundred feet, into the Mediterranean.” It is said that a boy of Gibraltar, who had conceived the idea of revenging himself on a schoolfellow, induced him and two other boys to visit in his company the famous cave. As they approached this dangerous spot, he exclaimed, “We are _four_ that go up, but only _three_ will come down!” and hastened to fulfil his prediction by hurling his victim into the sea below. Having passed the slope, we creep on our hands and knees through a gap in the rock, and, a short distance beyond, come upon a narrow ledge, which proves to be the threshold of the cavern in question. Along this ledge we ascend to a small oval platform, and thence enter within the gray obscurity of the cave. Here is a description of its principal features by an accurate observer:-- The roof is encrusted with pendent stalactites, and supported by stalactitic pillars, some of which are solid and massy, others so slender and delicate that they might have been the work of fairy hands. In the deepest recesses, a still pool of water, formed by the constant percolation through the rocky vault, vividly reflects the fantastic objects above and around it. “The perilousness of the access, the deep seclusion of the site, hung half-way up a precipice 1400 feet high, with the inaccessible rock above and the murmuring sea below, make this cavern as it were a temple, erected by the hand of Nature herself, for the lonely enthusiast who delights to worship her in her most hidden solitudes. We continued to wander about, fascinated by the strange beauty of the spot; and, loath to leave it, lingered until the declining beams of the sun warned us that we had to return by a path which it would be difficult, if not dangerous, to retrace in the obscurity of twilight. Almost dazzled as we emerged into open day, we stood a moment beneath the dark arched entry, to look out upon the expanse of sea, glowing in the sun, with a few white feluccas catching its declining beams; and then creeping cautiously down the narrow ledge by which we had ascended, began to wend our way towards home.” * * * * *