It was about twelve feet in height, and perhaps twenty feet in width.

The stream, which, like nearly all Martial rivers, is wide and shallow, had during the last fifty miles of our course grown narrower, with a depth at the same time constantly lessening, so that some care was required on the part of the pilot to avoid running aground.

A stream of twenty inches in depth, affording room for two boats to pass abreast, is considered navigable for vessels only carrying passengers; thirty inches are required to afford a course which for heavy freight is preferable to the road.

Eveena had taken it for granted that we should disembark here, and it was not till we had come within a hundred yards of the landing-place--where the bank was perpendicular and levelled to a height above the water, which enabled passengers to step directly from the deck of the boat--without slackening our speed, that the possibility of our intending to accompany the boat on its subterrene course occurred to her.

As she did not speak, but merely drew closer to me, and held fast my hand, I had no idea of her real distress till we were actually at the mouth of the black and very frightful-looking passage, and the pilot had lighted the electric lamp.