CHAPTER XVII.
"First, I thought, almost despairing, This must crush my spirit now; Yet I bore it, and am bearing-- Only do not ask me how." HEINE.
When the daylight came, it brought the possibility of action, but with it little of consolation.

With the first visible increase of light, I gazed into the chasm, but could not, for more than an hour, see sufficiently well to discover its nature.

At last I saw it was almost a perpendicular opening, like a roughly excavated well, only very large.
I could perceive no bottom; and it was not till the sun actually rose, that I discovered a sort of natural staircase, in many parts little more than suggested, which led round and round the gulf, descending spirally into its abyss.

I saw at once that this was my path; and without a moment's hesitation, glad to quit the sunlight, which stared at me most heartlessly, I commenced my tortuous descent.

It was very difficult.
In some parts I had to cling to the rocks like a bat.