The incident is a trifling one, but it is one more
illustration of the untiring devotion of Isabel to her husband, and
her sleepless vigilance that nothing should be done which would seem
to cast a slur upon his position.[1]
When the Burtons returned to Trieste, Charles Tyrwhitt-Drake, who had
been with them much at Damascus, and had accompanied them on their tour
in the Holy Land and many other journeys in the Syrian Desert, arrived.
The visit of their friend and fellow-traveller seemed to revive their old
love of exploration as far as the limits of Trieste would admit, and
among other excursions they went to see a great _fete_ at the Adelsberg
Caverns. These caves were stalactite caverns and grottoes not far from
Trieste, and on the day of the _fete_ they were lighted by a million
candles. One of the caverns was a large hall like a domed ballroom, and
Austrian bands and musicians repaired thither, and the peasants flocked
down in their costumes, and made high revelry. Burton maintained that
these caves were the eighth wonder of the world, but the description of
them here would occupy too much space. Suffice it to say, in the words
of Isabel, "When God Almighty had finished making the earth, He threw all
the superfluous rocks together there." From these caves they went to
Fiume, and explored the Colosseum there, which, though not so famous as
that of Rome, almost rivals it in its ruins and its interest.
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