Spiers: Memoranda of an autumn tour in 1836

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CONT. AUG. 18. THUR.

such a mass of chaotic ruin. We saw not the stream again until some time after when we crossed it by a bridge of plank, but in the mean time, we passed chambers, passages & vaults of every variety of size & form, some with roofs & sides of hanging stalactite, others with curtained drapery of ice looking spar, wonderfully transparent & natural, now a cascade of the same material, appearing as if suddenly frozen into solidity, again statues & animals immovable as in the legends of many such romances as The Bridal of Triermain. - Sometimes our guide left us in darkness passing on to flash a vault into bright existence, sometimes mounting a high eminence of rock & with his tall dusky figure & waving flambeau resembling another spirit of hell more fearful to gaze on than the demon, of highly wrought stage romance. Then descending through a course of mud & water with trousers turned up fearful was it to think that a single false step might plunge us into eternity & that death courted us in other forms than this for a similar accident occurring to our guide might leave us in utter darkness & in possession of a living tomb & in prospect of horrible starvation. Such reflections served now however only for amusement. At length after an hour thus spent daylight once more greeted us & the green fields & trees looked more vividly beautiful than ever. This Sindbad like adventure surpasses in wonderful delight all others I have ever embarked on and it will have a long hold on my memory.

Our guide conducted us into the footpath towards Bure and presently we saw hastening towards us our host of Rochfort who had discovered on his return home that we had left a packet of 25 franc pieces on the table & he had actually run nearly five miles to return it. This speaks well for the honesty of Les Ardennes. Our bill with him for coffee and beds had cost

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