After the whirl of my brain had passed away, I found, with the exception of some light bruises, that I had not injured myself, as the rocks were very smooth and round. Having reascended, we left the cave, and I sat for a long time in the fresh air as I felt very sick. The guide and the boy had been exceedingly terrified, and still looked as pale as I think I must have done myself; nor shall I soon forget the shriek they uttered when they saw me falling. After a draught of water that was very refreshing, though from a dirty pool in the field, and paying the man and boys who had been in the grotto with me for upwards of two hours, I returned to Trieste, where the tailor and a good dinner set every thing to rights again.
Sir Humphry had just received two living torpedos, and made some experiments with them upon the power and effect of their electricity, which he seemed inclined to think of a peculiar kind. These finished, he determined to quit Trieste to-morrow, and to return to Laibach.
_11th._ We started from Trieste this morning early, and having ascended the hill above the town, from whence we had such a beautiful view upon our arrival, we turned out of the road and drove across the country over very bad roads to Wippach, where we did not arrive till evening. We had stopped to bait at mid-day in a miserable little village, and after leaving it we lost our way, Robert (the coachman) being a perfect stranger in this part of the country, and spent some hours in vain before we again got into the right road. Wippach lies in a fine fertile valley at the foot of a lofty range of mountains. The river of the same name rises close behind the town, out of the rock, in the same manner as the river Laibach. The trout in this river were the object of Sir Humphry's trip hither, and as soon as he arrived, though the evening was too far advanced to allow of his fishing, he went to look at the river, and found it very foul from rain. When he returned to the inn, he dictated to me his observations on the experiments with the torpedos which he had made at Trieste.
_12th._ In the morning Sir Humphry went out to try the fishing in the river, and returned about twelve o'clock not having caught anything. We then quitted Wippach, which has nothing at all attractive or interesting in it. At the end of the town is a large and handsome chateau, belonging to the Counts of Wippach, and on the other side an extensive cotton manufactory. The drive from hence to Trewalchen is steep and hilly, the road passing over a lofty ridge of the mountain. From Trewalchen we went on to Adelsberg, where we did not arrive till night, and as Sir Humphry said that he should the next morning go on to Zirknitz, I determined to visit the principal grotto in the night. There are two here, the grotto of the Magdalen, long known and celebrated as being the only spot in which the Proteus Anguinus[E] had been found; and the great grotto, only lately discovered, and more remarkable for the variety and grandeur of the stalactite formations which it contains.