Cave lion dimensions. Cave lion - an ancient predator

Un, the son of the Bull, loved to visit underground caves. He caught blind fish and colorless crayfish there with Zur, the son of the Earth, the last of the tribe of Wa, the People without Shoulders, who survived the extermination of his people by the Red Dwarfs.

Un and Zur wandered along the stream all day long underground river. Often its shore was just a narrow stone cornice. Sometimes we had to crawl through a narrow corridor of porphyry, gneiss, and basalt. Zur lit a resin torch from the branches of a turpentine tree, and the crimson flame was reflected in the sparkling quartz arches and in the rapidly flowing waters of the underground stream. Bending over the black water, they watched the pale, colorless animals swimming in it, then walked further, to the place where the road was blocked by a blank granite wall, from under which an underground river noisily burst out. Un and Zur stood for a long time in front of the black wall. How they wanted to overcome this mysterious barrier that the Ulamr tribe encountered six years ago, during their migration from north to south.

Un, the son of the Bull, belonged, according to the custom of the tribe, to his mother's brother. But he gave preference to his father Nao, the son of Leopard, from whom he inherited a powerful build, tireless lungs and extraordinary acuity of feelings. His hair fell over his shoulders in thick, coarse strands, like the mane of a wild horse; the eyes were the color of gray clay. His enormous physical strength made him a dangerous opponent. But even more than Nao, Un was inclined to be generous if the defeated person lay prostrate on the ground in front of him. Therefore, the Ulamrs, while paying tribute to the strength and courage of Un, treated him with some disdain.

He always hunted alone or together with Zur, whom the Ulamrs despised for his weakness, although no one knew so skillfully how to find stones suitable for making fire and how to make tinder from the soft core of a tree.

Zur had a narrow, flexible body, like a lizard. His shoulders were so sloping that his arms seemed to come straight out of his body. This is how all the Vas, the tribe of Men Without Shoulders, have looked like this since time immemorial. Zur thought slowly, but his mind was more sophisticated than that of the people of the Ulamr tribe.

Zur loved being in underground caves even more than Un. His ancestors and the ancestors of his ancestors had always lived in lands abounding in streams and rivers, some of which disappeared under the hills or were lost in the depths of the mountain ranges.

One morning friends were wandering along the river bank. They saw the crimson ball of the sun rise above the horizon and the golden light flood the surrounding area. Zur knew that he liked to follow the rushing waves; Un, however, surrendered to this pleasure unconsciously. They headed towards the underground caves. The mountains rose right in front of them - high and inaccessible. Steep, sharp peaks stretched like an endless wall from north to south, and nowhere between them was there a passage visible. Un and Zur, like the entire Ulamr tribe, passionately dreamed of overcoming this indestructible barrier.

For more than fifteen years, the Ulamry, having left their native places, wandered from the northwest to the southeast. Moving south, they soon noticed that the further they went, the richer the land became, and the more abundant the spoils. And gradually people got used to this endless journey.

But a huge mountain range stood in their way, and the tribe’s advance to the south stopped. The Ulamrs searched in vain for a passage among the impregnable stone peaks.

Un and Zur sat down to rest in the reeds, under the black poplars. Three mammoths, huge and majestic, walked along the opposite bank of the river. Antelopes could be seen running in the distance; the rhinoceros appeared from behind a rocky ledge. Excitement took over Nao's son. How he wanted to overcome the space separating him from his prey!

Sighing, he stood up and walked upstream, followed by Zur. Soon they found themselves in front of a dark hole in the rock, from which a river was noisily gushing out. The bats rushed into the darkness, frightened by the appearance of people.

Excited by a thought that suddenly came into his head, Un said to Zur:

– There are other lands beyond the mountains!

Zur replied:

– The river flows from sunny countries.

People without shoulders have long known that all rivers and streams have a beginning and an end.

The blue darkness of the cave gave way to the darkness of an underground labyrinth. Xur lit one of the resinous branches he had taken with him. But the friends could have done without light - they knew every turn of the underground path so well.

Un and Zur walked all day through gloomy passages along the course of an underground river, jumping over pits and crevices, and in the evening they fell soundly asleep on the shore, having dined on crayfish baked in ash.

At night they were awakened by a sudden shock that seemed to come from the very depths of the mountain. The roar of falling stones and the crack of crumbling rocks could be heard. Then there was silence. And, not waking up to figure out what was going on, the friends fell asleep again.

Vague memories took possession of Zur.

“The earth shook,” he said.

Un did not understand Zur’s words and did not try to understand their meaning. His thoughts were short and swift. He could only think about the obstacles that were immediately in front of him, or the prey he was pursuing. His impatience grew, and he quickened his steps, so that Zur could barely keep up with him. Long before the end of the second day they reached the place where a blank stone wall usually blocked their path.

Xur lit a new resinous torch. A bright flame illuminated the high wall, reflected in the countless fractures of the quartz rock.

An astonished exclamation escaped both young men: there was a wide crack in the stone wall!

“That’s because the earth shook,” said Zur.

With one leap, Un found himself at the edge of the crack. The passage was wide enough to let a person through. Un knew what treacherous traps lurked in the newly split rocks. But his impatience was so great that he, without thinking, squeezed into the blackened stone gap in front of him, so narrow that it was possible to move forward with great difficulty. Zur followed the son of the Bull. Love for his friend made him forget his natural caution.

Soon the passage became so narrow and low that they could barely squeeze between the stones, bent over, almost crawling. The air was hot and stuffy, it was becoming more and more difficult to breathe... Suddenly a sharp ledge of a rock blocked their path.

Angered, Un pulled a stone ax from his belt and struck it at the rocky ledge with such force as if there was an enemy in front of him. The rock shook, and the young men realized that it could be moved. Zur, sticking his torch into a crevice in the wall, began to help Un. The rock began to shake more. They pushed her with all their might. There was a crash, stones fell... The rock swayed and... they heard the dull sound of a heavy block falling. The path was clear.

Having rested a little, the friends moved on. The passage gradually widened. Soon Un and Zur were able to straighten up to their full height, and it became easier to breathe. Finally they found themselves in a vast cave. Un rushed forward with all his might, but soon the darkness forced him to stop: Zur with his torch could not keep up with his fleet-footed friend. But the delay was short-lived. The impatience of the Bull's son was transmitted to the Man without Shoulders, and they moved on with long steps, almost running.

Soon a faint light appeared ahead. It intensified as the young men approached him. Suddenly Un and Zur found themselves at the exit of the cave. In front of them stretched a narrow corridor formed by two sheer granite walls. Above, high above our heads, a strip of dazzling blue sky was visible.

- Un and Zur passed through the mountain! – the son of the Bull exclaimed joyfully.

He straightened up to his full mighty height, and pride from the consciousness of the accomplished feat took possession of his entire being.

Xur, more reserved by nature, was also very excited.

Joseph Henri Roney Sr.

Cave lion

Abridged translation from French and Orlovskaya

Drawings by L. Durasov

Part one

Chapter 1 Un and Zur

Un, the son of the Bull, loved to visit underground caves. He caught blind fish and colorless crayfish there with Zur, the son of the Earth, the last of the Wa tribe, the Men Without Shoulders, who survived the extermination of his people by the Red Dwarfs.

For days Un and Zur wandered along the course of the underground river. Often its shore was just a narrow stone cornice. Sometimes we had to crawl through a narrow corridor of porphyry, gneiss, and basalt. Zur lit a resin torch from the branches of a turpentine tree, and the crimson flame was reflected in the sparkling quartz arches and in the rapidly flowing waters of the underground stream. Bending over the black water, they watched the pale, colorless animals swimming in it, then walked further, to the place where the road was blocked by a blank granite wall, from under which an underground river noisily burst out. Un and Zur stood for a long time in front of the black wall. How they wanted to overcome this mysterious barrier that the Ulamr tribe encountered six years ago, during their migration from north to south.

Un, the son of the Bull, belonged, according to the custom of the tribe, to his mother's brother. But he gave preference to his father Nao, the son of Leopard, from whom he inherited a powerful build, tireless lungs and extraordinary acuity of feelings. His hair fell over his shoulders in thick, coarse strands, like the mane of a wild horse; the eyes were the color of gray clay. His enormous physical strength made him a dangerous opponent. But even more than Nao, Un was inclined to be generous if the defeated person lay prostrate on the ground in front of him. Therefore, the Ulamrs, while paying tribute to the strength and courage of Un, treated him with some disdain.

He always hunted alone or together with Zur, whom the Ulamrs despised for his weakness, although no one knew so skillfully how to find stones suitable for making fire and how to make tinder from the soft core of a tree.

Zur had a narrow, flexible body, like a lizard. His shoulders were so sloping that his arms seemed to come straight out of his body. Since time immemorial, all the Vas, the tribe of Men Without Shoulders, have looked like this. Zur thought slowly, but his mind was more sophisticated than that of the people of the Ulamr tribe.

Zur loved being in underground caves even more than Un. His ancestors and the ancestors of his ancestors had always lived in lands abounding in streams and rivers, some of which disappeared under the hills or were lost in the depths of the mountain ranges.

One morning friends were wandering along the river bank. They saw the crimson ball of the sun rise above the horizon and the golden light flood the surrounding area. Zur knew that he liked to follow the rushing waves; Un, however, surrendered to this pleasure unconsciously. They headed towards the underground caves. The mountains rose right in front of them - high and inaccessible. Steep, sharp peaks stretched like an endless wall from north to south, and nowhere between them was there a passage visible. Un and Zur, like the entire Ulamr tribe, passionately dreamed of overcoming this indestructible barrier.

For more than fifteen years, the Ulamry, having left their native places, wandered from the northwest to the southeast. Moving south, they soon noticed that the further they went, the richer the land became, and the more abundant the spoils. And gradually people got used to this endless journey.

But a huge mountain range stood in their way, and the tribe’s advance to the south stopped. The Ulamrs searched in vain for a passage among the impregnable stone peaks.

Un and Zur sat down to rest in the reeds, under the black poplars. Three mammoths, huge and majestic, walked along the opposite bank of the river. Antelopes could be seen running in the distance; the rhinoceros appeared from behind a rocky ledge. Excitement took over Nao's son. How he wanted to overcome the space separating him from his prey!

Sighing, he stood up and walked upstream, followed by Zur. Soon they found themselves in front of a dark hole in the rock, from which a river was noisily gushing out. The bats darted into the darkness, frightened by the appearance of people.

Excited by a thought that suddenly came into his head, Un said to Zur:

There are other lands beyond the mountains!

Zur replied:

The river flows from sunny countries.

People without shoulders have long known that all rivers and streams have a beginning and an end.

The blue darkness of the cave gave way to the darkness of an underground labyrinth. Xur lit one of the resinous branches he had taken with him. But the friends could have done without light - they knew every turn of the underground path so well.

Un and Zur walked all day through gloomy passages along the course of an underground river, jumping over pits and crevices, and in the evening they fell soundly asleep on the shore, having dined on crayfish baked in ash.

At night they were awakened by a sudden shock that seemed to come from the very depths of the mountain. The roar of falling stones and the crack of crumbling rocks could be heard. Then there was silence. And, not waking up to figure out what was going on, the friends fell asleep again.

Vague memories took possession of Zur.

The earth shook,” he said.

Un did not understand Zur’s words and did not try to understand their meaning. His thoughts were short and swift. He could only think about the obstacles that were immediately in front of him, or the prey he was pursuing. His impatience grew, and he quickened his steps, so that Zur could barely keep up with him. Long before the end of the second day they reached the place where a blank stone wall usually blocked their path.

Xur lit a new resinous torch. A bright flame illuminated the high wall, reflected in the countless fractures of the quartz rock.

An astonished exclamation escaped both young men: there was a wide crack in the stone wall!

This is because the earth shook,” said Zur.

With one leap, Un found himself at the edge of the crack. The passage was wide enough to let a person through. Un knew what treacherous traps lurked in the newly split rocks. But his impatience was so great that he, without thinking, squeezed into the blackened stone gap in front of him, so narrow that it was possible to move forward with great difficulty. Zur followed the son of the Bull. Love for his friend made him forget his natural caution.

Soon the passage became so narrow and low that they could barely squeeze between the stones, bent over, almost crawling. The air was hot and stuffy, it was becoming more and more difficult to breathe... Suddenly a sharp ledge of a rock blocked their path.

Cave lions - ancient predators - did not get their name because they lived in dark and cold caves. Indeed, they hid in caves during the period when they were expecting the birth of offspring. However, their favorite habitats were, according to modern paleontologists, the endless steppe plains that stretched to the very horizon. Cave lions thrived in such semi-desert areas, on the hottest days escaping the scorching rays of the sun under small branches of bushes and small trees.

The animals got their name – “cave lion” – due to the fact that scientists often found images of a predator on the walls of ancient caves. Currently, paleontologists have discovered many areas in various countries world, the walls of caves are decorated with drawings made by Stone Age people. Similar drawings were found in grottoes in England, Belgium, Germany, Spain, France, Italy, Algeria and Syria. In the CIS a large number of images of lions were discovered in an area stretching from the Caucasus to Chukotka and Primorye. A special place in such drawings is given to the image of a dexterous and swift predator - the cave lion. It was thanks to the presence of ancient drawings that modern scientists received evidence of the existence of this animal on the planet.

Cave lions lived on the planet at a time when the very climate of the Earth, warm and mild, and the abundance of food prepared the conditions for the formation new form life - predators. At that time, mammoths, yaks, donkeys, deer, camels and bison became victims of lions. Their tasty and tender meat was the basis of the diet of ferocious predators. Their favorite delicacy was horses and kulans, which, thanks to strong legs, the lions did not have much difficulty.

Female cave lion with cub

As you know, with climate change on Earth and global cooling, most animals were forced to migrate to southern, warmer areas. However, cave lions were in no hurry to leave their already inhabited places.

Scientists say that lions have long lived in Transcaucasia. They could be seen there in ancient times. In addition, it is known that to the prince of Kyiv Vladimir Monomakh even had to fight one such predator. Judging by the surviving written monuments, then lions lived even in the lower reaches of the Don. However, according to paleontologists, cave lions disappeared 10-12 million years ago.

According to scientists, the entire body of cave lions was covered with short, monochromatic hair. Most likely, the animals were colored, like modern pumas and lions, in sand or clay tones, merging with the color of the landscape that surrounded them: sun-bleached steppes in summer and snow-covered deserts river valleys in winter.

Ancient predators were fast, agile and very intelligent creatures. How could it be otherwise? After all, it was necessary to obtain living food. They became the top of the evolutionary chain: plants - herbivores - predators.

Thousands of years ago, planet Earth was inhabited by various animals, which then became extinct for various reasons. Nowadays these animals are often called fossils. Their remains in the form of preserved skeletal bones and skulls are found during archaeological excavations. Then scientists painstakingly collect all the bones together and try to restore them in this way. appearance animal. In this they are helped by cave paintings, and even primitive sculptures left by those who lived at the same time. Today, computer graphics have come to the aid of scientists, allowing them to recreate the image of a fossil animal. The cave lion is one of the types of ancient creatures that terrified their smaller brothers. Even primitive people tried to avoid its habitats.

Fossil predator cave lion

This is how it was discovered and described oldest species fossil predator, which scientists called the cave lion. The remains of the bones of this animal have been found in Asia, Europe and North America. This allows us to conclude that the cave lion lived over a vast territory, from Alaska to the British Isles. The name that this species received turned out to be justified, because it was in the caves that most of its skeletal remains were found. But only wounded and dying animals went into the caves. They preferred to live and hunt in open spaces.

History of discovery

First detailed description cave lion was made by Russian zoologist and paleontologist Nikolai Kuzmich Vereshchagin. In his book, he spoke in detail about tribal affiliation this animal, the geography of its distribution, habitats, feeding habits, reproduction and other details. This book, entitled “The Cave Lion and Its History in the Holarctic and within the USSR,” was written based on many years of painstaking research and is still the best scientific work to study this fossil animal. Scientists call a significant part of the northern hemisphere the haloarctic.

Description of the animal

The cave lion was very large predator, weighing up to 350 kilograms, height at the withers 120-150 centimeters and body length up to 2.5 meters, excluding the tail. The powerful legs were relatively long, which made the predator a tall animal. His coat was smooth and short, his color was even, uniform, sandy-gray, which helped him camouflage himself while hunting. In winter, the fur cover was more luxuriant and protected from the cold. Cave lions did not have manes, as evidenced by cave paintings primitive people. But the tassel on the tail is present in many drawings. An ancient predator instilled horror and panic in our distant ancestors.

The cave lion's head was relatively large, with powerful jaws. Dental system fossil predators look the same in appearance as those of modern lions, but the teeth are still more massive. The two fangs are striking in their appearance: the length of each fang of the animal was 11-11.5 centimeters. The structure of the jaws and dental system clearly proves that the cave lion was a predator and could cope with very large animals.

Habitats and hunting

Rock paintings often depict a group of cave lions chasing one victim. This suggests that predators lived in prides and practiced collective hunting. An analysis of the remains of animal bones found in the habitats of cave lions shows that they attacked deer, elk, bison, aurochs, yaks, musk oxen and other animals that were found in this particular area. Their prey could have been young mammoths, camels, rhinoceroses, hippopotamuses and do not exclude scientific opportunities attacks by predators on adult mammoths, but only under favorable conditions. The lion did not specifically hunt for primitives. A person could become a victim of a predator when the animal entered a shelter where people lived. Usually only sick or old individuals climbed into the caves. A person alone could not cope with a predator, but collective defense using fire could save people or some part of them. These extinct lions were strong, but this did not save them from inevitable death.

Possible causes of extinction

The mass death and extinction of cave lions occurred at the end of a period that scientists call the Late Pleistocene. This period ended approximately 10 thousand years ago. Even before the end of the Pleistocene, mammoths and other animals that are now called fossils also became completely extinct. The reasons for the extinction of cave lions are:

• climate change;
• landscape transformations;
• activities of primitive man.

Climate and landscape changes have disrupted familiar environment habitats of the lions themselves and the animals they fed on. They were torn apart, which led to mass extinction herbivores, deprived of the necessary food, and after them, predators began to die out.

Man as the cause of the mass death of fossil animals for a long time was not considered at all. But many scientists pay attention to the fact that primitive people constantly developed and improved. New hunts appeared and hunting techniques improved. Man began to feed on herbivores himself and learned to resist predators. This could lead to the extermination of fossil animals, including the cave lion. Now you know which animals became extinct as human civilization developed.

Considering the destructive influence of man on nature, the version of the involvement of primitive people in the disappearance of cave lions no longer seems fantastic today.

Joseph Henri Roney Sr.

Cave lion

Abridged translation from French and Orlovskaya

Drawings by L. Durasov

Part one

Chapter 1 Un and Zur

Un, the son of the Bull, loved to visit underground caves. He caught blind fish and colorless crayfish there with Zur, the son of the Earth, the last of the Wa tribe, the Men Without Shoulders, who survived the extermination of his people by the Red Dwarfs.

For days Un and Zur wandered along the course of the underground river. Often its shore was just a narrow stone cornice. Sometimes we had to crawl through a narrow corridor of porphyry, gneiss, and basalt. Zur lit a resin torch from the branches of a turpentine tree, and the crimson flame was reflected in the sparkling quartz arches and in the rapidly flowing waters of the underground stream. Bending over the black water, they watched the pale, colorless animals swimming in it, then walked further, to the place where the road was blocked by a blank granite wall, from under which an underground river noisily burst out. Un and Zur stood for a long time in front of the black wall. How they wanted to overcome this mysterious barrier that the Ulamr tribe encountered six years ago, during their migration from north to south.

Un, the son of the Bull, belonged, according to the custom of the tribe, to his mother's brother. But he gave preference to his father Nao, the son of Leopard, from whom he inherited a powerful build, tireless lungs and extraordinary acuity of feelings. His hair fell over his shoulders in thick, coarse strands, like the mane of a wild horse; the eyes were the color of gray clay. His enormous physical strength made him a dangerous opponent. But even more than Nao, Un was inclined to be generous if the defeated person lay prostrate on the ground in front of him. Therefore, the Ulamrs, while paying tribute to the strength and courage of Un, treated him with some disdain.

He always hunted alone or together with Zur, whom the Ulamrs despised for his weakness, although no one knew so skillfully how to find stones suitable for making fire and how to make tinder from the soft core of a tree.

Zur had a narrow, flexible body, like a lizard. His shoulders were so sloping that his arms seemed to come straight out of his body. Since time immemorial, all the Vas, the tribe of Men Without Shoulders, have looked like this. Zur thought slowly, but his mind was more sophisticated than that of the people of the Ulamr tribe.

Zur loved being in underground caves even more than Un. His ancestors and the ancestors of his ancestors had always lived in lands abounding in streams and rivers, some of which disappeared under the hills or were lost in the depths of the mountain ranges.

One morning friends were wandering along the river bank. They saw the crimson ball of the sun rise above the horizon and the golden light flood the surrounding area. Zur knew that he liked to follow the rushing waves; Un, however, surrendered to this pleasure unconsciously. They headed towards the underground caves. The mountains rose right in front of them - high and inaccessible. Steep, sharp peaks stretched like an endless wall from north to south, and nowhere between them was there a passage visible. Un and Zur, like the entire Ulamr tribe, passionately dreamed of overcoming this indestructible barrier.

For more than fifteen years, the Ulamry, having left their native places, wandered from the northwest to the southeast. Moving south, they soon noticed that the further they went, the richer the land became, and the more abundant the spoils. And gradually people got used to this endless journey.

But a huge mountain range stood in their way, and the tribe’s advance to the south stopped. The Ulamrs searched in vain for a passage among the impregnable stone peaks.

Un and Zur sat down to rest in the reeds, under the black poplars. Three mammoths, huge and majestic, walked along the opposite bank of the river. Antelopes could be seen running in the distance; the rhinoceros appeared from behind a rocky ledge. Excitement took over Nao's son. How he wanted to overcome the space separating him from his prey!

Sighing, he stood up and walked upstream, followed by Zur. Soon they found themselves in front of a dark hole in the rock, from which a river was noisily gushing out. The bats darted into the darkness, frightened by the appearance of people.

Excited by a thought that suddenly came into his head, Un said to Zur:

There are other lands beyond the mountains!

Zur replied:

The river flows from sunny countries.

People without shoulders have long known that all rivers and streams have a beginning and an end.

The blue darkness of the cave gave way to the darkness of an underground labyrinth. Xur lit one of the resinous branches he had taken with him. But the friends could have done without light - they knew every turn of the underground path so well.

Un and Zur walked all day through gloomy passages along the course of an underground river, jumping over pits and crevices, and in the evening they fell soundly asleep on the shore, having dined on crayfish baked in ash.

At night they were awakened by a sudden shock that seemed to come from the very depths of the mountain. The roar of falling stones and the crack of crumbling rocks could be heard. Then there was silence. And, not waking up to figure out what was going on, the friends fell asleep again.

Vague memories took possession of Zur.

The earth shook,” he said.

Un did not understand Zur’s words and did not try to understand their meaning. His thoughts were short and swift. He could only think about the obstacles that were immediately in front of him, or the prey he was pursuing. His impatience grew, and he quickened his steps, so that Zur could barely keep up with him. Long before the end of the second day they reached the place where a blank stone wall usually blocked their path.

Xur lit a new resinous torch. A bright flame illuminated the high wall, reflected in the countless fractures of the quartz rock.

An astonished exclamation escaped both young men: there was a wide crack in the stone wall!

This is because the earth shook,” said Zur.

With one leap, Un found himself at the edge of the crack. The passage was wide enough to let a person through. Un knew what treacherous traps lurked in the newly split rocks. But his impatience was so great that he, without thinking, squeezed into the blackened stone gap in front of him, so narrow that it was possible to move forward with great difficulty. Zur followed the son of the Bull. Love for his friend made him forget his natural caution.

Soon the passage became so narrow and low that they could barely squeeze between the stones, bent over, almost crawling. The air was hot and stuffy, it was becoming more and more difficult to breathe... Suddenly a sharp ledge of a rock blocked their path.

Angered, Un pulled a stone ax from his belt and struck it at the rocky ledge with such force as if there was an enemy in front of him. The rock shook, and the young men realized that it could be moved. Zur, sticking his torch into a crevice in the wall, began to help Un. The rock began to shake more. They pushed her with all their might. There was a crash, stones fell... The rock swayed and... they heard the dull sound of a heavy block falling. The path was clear.

Having rested a little, the friends moved on. The passage gradually widened. Soon Un and Zur were able to straighten up to their full height, and it became easier to breathe. Finally they found themselves in a vast cave. Un rushed forward with all his might, but soon the darkness forced him to stop: Zur with his torch could not keep up with his fleet-footed friend. But the delay was short-lived. The impatience of the Bull's son was transmitted to the Man without Shoulders, and they moved on with long steps, almost running.

Soon a faint light appeared ahead. It intensified as the young men approached him. Suddenly Un and Zur found themselves at the exit of the cave. In front of them stretched a narrow corridor formed by two sheer granite walls. Above, high above our heads, a strip of dazzling blue sky was visible.