In a magnificent vault called the Hall of the Theatre, the tiers of boxes and rows of benches have a startling resemblance to reality. Had spectators equally ghostly in appearance dropped in one by one, or rushed forward in a mob, we could scarcely have been more amazed. The secret processes of nature, the works of unrivalled beauty which it has produced in these deep recesses, are truly marvellous beyond all conception.
As we walked about the caves we were constantly tripped in our path by what seemed to be innumerable petrified oranges cut into halves, and adhering to the ground. On inspection these turned out to be stalagmites in embryo, coagulations of the lime-droppings from the roof, from which the water had not evaporated. They are of the brightest orange colour, a hue which is due to the presence of iron in solution. By the guide they were called "poached eggs."
We bade farewell to those realms of splendour with feelings we should vainly attempt to define. Among the many objects of interest we have visited in different lands, we never saw anything that made a deeper impression on our minds than these silent galleries. Even the thought that so few of our countrymen had ever visited, or even heard of them, tended to make us explore them with more than usual interest. The recollection of the wonders of nature hidden from all the world down in the caves of Artá nothing can efface from our minds, though probably it may never be our fortune again to visit them.
We had been advised to visit the caves usque ad nauseam, but had paid little attention to the counsels of the local admirer. We had listened to them as the traveller does to the exaggerated accounts of the caves of Skye or Fingal given by the natives. When the caves of Artá, however, burst upon our vision, their grandeur and novelty were so startling that we were overwhelmed with astonishment and awe. When there are so many people eager after new sensations, we would ask, why, in the name of all that is beautiful, pure, and majestic, do they not go to Majorca as well as to Homburg? Access to the island is easy enough. There are two lines of steamboats to and fro—one from Valencia, the other from Barcelona. The inhabitants are civil and hospitable to a degree. The hotels, in this respect unlike those of Spain, are both clean and comfortable. The scenery, as we have shown, is so magnificent that it cannot be surpassed in Europe, and there are several places in the island of great historical interest.
FOOTNOTE:
[34] Corridas de toros.
