Some petrified shrubs ran fantastically here and there. Fishes got up
under our feet like birds in the long grass. The massive rocks were
rent with impenetrable fractures, deep grottos, and unfathomable holes,
at the bottom of which formidable creatures might be heard moving.
My blood curdled when I saw enormous antennae blocking my road,
or some frightful claw closing with a noise in the shadow of some cavity.
Millions of luminous spots shone brightly in the midst of the darkness.
They were the eyes of giant crustacea crouched in their holes;
giant lobsters setting themselves up like halberdiers, and moving
their claws with the clicking sound of pincers; titanic crabs,
pointed like a gun on its carriage; and frightful-looking poulps,
interweaving their tentacles like a living nest of serpents.
We had now arrived on the first platform, where other surprises awaited me.
Before us lay some picturesque ruins, which betrayed the hand of man
and not that of the Creator. There were vast heaps of stone,
amongst which might be traced the vague and shadowy forms of castles
and temples, clothed with a world of blossoming zoophytes, and over which,
instead of ivy, sea-weed and fucus threw a thick vegetable mantle.
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