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such a situation. In a small flatboat steered by a guide who by the dim light might easily be imagined an uneasy spirit of the place, the still quiet stream cloudily revealing the sharp angles & points of treacherous rocks lurking just beneath the surface, the low arched roof with the sides rising perpendicularly from the river [crossed out: making a shoreless stream] robbing the drowning wretch of even the sight of a shore on which a hand-hold could be found - & the wild song of the guide dying away in echoes which give the effect of an organ accompaniment of some unseen hand- & you have a scene where you feel yourself doubtful of your waking existence. - At one point of the passage and for a space of thirty yards, I was obliged to compress myself to the smallest compass in order to pass under the superincumbent rock -- Had the river risen, as it has been known to do, before our return our situation would have been truly awful for our chance of escape would have been resting on finding a passage thro' Purgatory a dangerous intricate ravine where the water does not rise as rapidly as in the river.