Movatterモバイル変換

The objects of this work are twofold: to describe theactual incidents of various interesting episodes in themodern sport of cave exploring, and to give an accountof the scientific results of underground investigations inthe Mendip region of Somerset. Speleology is the latestof the sporting sciences: like orology and Arctic exploration,it has two sides, sport and adventure beingthe lure to some, whilst others are chiefly attracted bythe new light thrown by these researches on the geology,the hydrology, and the natural history of the subterraneanregions explored. The chapters dealing with thescientific results are by H. E. Balch, who has beenworking on the geology of Mendip, more especiallyamong the caves, for upwards of twenty years: theaccounts of actual experiences, in which the sportingside is predominant, are by E. A. Baker, who describedthe recent exploration of the Derbyshire caves in hisMoors, Crags, and Caves of the High Peak, 1903. Noattempt is made to traverse the ground so perfectlycovered by Professor Boyd Dawkins in his fascinatingvolume onCave Hunting, and elsewhere, most of thework described here being supplementary to that doneby him, and, largely, outside the scope of his aims.The authors are indebted to the kindness of the Editors[vi]of theLiverpool Courier andDaily Post, theManchesterGuardian, theStandard, theYorkshire Post, theIrishNaturalist, and theClimbers' Club Journal for permissionto use the substance of various articles which haveappeared in their pages, and to M. Martel, Mr. C.Blee, and Messrs. Gough for permission to reproducea number of excellent illustrations by them.

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

THE NETHERWORLD OF MENDIP

"A land of caves, whose palaces of fantastic beautystill adorn the mysterious underworld where murmuringrivers first see the light." In these words an imaginativewriter describes Somerset, which shares with Derbyshireand Yorkshire the title of a land of caverns. Across itthe range of the Mendips, a region of Old Red Sandstoneand Carboniferous Limestone, 1000 feet above tide-level,stretches in a huge, flat-topped rampart for nearly30 miles, from the town of Frome to the sea. No pieceof country in the kingdom offers so much to explore.An abundant harvest is there waiting to be reaped; foron every side are obvious indications of half-buriedgateways to the dark and secret pathways to the netherworld,and everywhere upon the surface of the Mendiptableland lie the open pits and hollows which the localspeech calls "swallets," that is to say, swallow holes, someof them dry, some actively engulfing streams, but alltestifying to untold ages of water action.

This Limestone district lies far from the busy hives ofindustry, remote and secluded in the very heart of lovelySomerset. Only on the darkest of nights, with theclouds low in the sky, can the glare of the lights ofBristol be seen reflected far to the northward. One main[2]line of railway, the Great Western from Bristol to Exeter,passes near it, and even that does not intrude beyond themargin of this Caveland. The rendezvous for the caveexplorers of the district is usually the quiet little city ofWells, lying calm and secluded under the southern slopesof Mendip, in close proximity to all the principal caverns.A mile to the south-east rises the bold and picturesqueDulcote Hill, a fragment of the most southerly anticlineof Mountain Limestone in the kingdom. From thispoint, rolling northward in a great fivefold anticline, OldRed Sandstone, Lower Limestone Shales, and MountainLimestone form the great mass of the worn-down stumpof the once mighty Mendip range. The extent of thedenudation which has taken place indicates that thisrange was originally at least 5000 feet high, yet now inbut a few places is the height of 1000 feet attained, andthis is reached only by the Old Red Sandstone ridgeslaid bare in the prolonged course of that denudation.The first of these high ridges rises boldly to the north ofWells, and a steep climb of 900 feet in two and a halfmiles brings us to the summit of Pen Hill, or Rookham,from which a grand southward view is to be obtained.Immediately below, the three cathedral towers piercethe blue mist hanging over the little city we have justleft. Beyond, the peat moors of the Brue and the Axestretch away to the Isle of Avalon, sacred as the birthplaceof our Christian faith in England. Here below usis that

"Island valley of Avilion,
Where falls not hail, or rain, or any snow,
Nor ever wind blows loudly; but it lies
Deep meadow'd, happy, fair with orchard lawns,
And bowery hollows crowned with summer seas."

Here, where Arthur's bones are said to have beenfound, and where traditions associated with him abound,his memory is kept green in the names of many well-known[3]spots; and yonder rises Cadbury Camp, lookedupon by many as the Camelot of romance. On the lowridge which intervenes between the valleys of the Axeand the Brue lies Wedmore, where King Alfred gained inthe Peace of Wedmore such temporary respite from hisfoes as allowed him to gather strength for the greatoperations that resulted at last in the conquest and unityof the whole kingdom. Yonder, too, are the marshes ofthe Parrett and the Tone, around which cluster talesfamiliar to every schoolchild. In the marshes betweenthe Mendips and Glastonbury, exploration has uneartheda most interesting example of a swamp or lake village,with great store of antiquarian material, throwing a floodof light upon a period of which little was known. Beyondlies Sedgemoor, where in 1685 took place the lastbattle ever fought on English soil; and throughout thisneighbourhood the infamous Jeffreys worked his will inthe judicial slaughter of countless Somerset men.

In the far distance the sunshine glints on the watersof the Bristol Channel, where, 60 miles away, the boldpromontory of the Foreland rises sheer from the sea; tothe south, upon the farthest limits of our vision, Pilsdonand Lewsdon mark the descent of our southern countiesto the English Channel; whilst, on a clear day, betweenthem is seen the summit of Golden Cap, the base of whichis washed by our southern sea. Surely here is as fair ascene as eye could wish to see.

Only a pleasant walk away, the great chasms ofEbbor and Cheddar have rent the rocks asunder, formingtwo of the loveliest ravines in the kingdom. Northwardacross the intervening syncline of Mountain Limestone,pitted with swallets marking the entrances to many anunknown subterranean labyrinth, are seen the Old RedSandstone summits of North Hill, crowned with itsseventeen Neolithic barrows, and of Blackdown beyond,[4]from whose bare top is seen the broad estuary of theSevern spreading out across the view, giving a glimpseof the coast of South Wales in the far distance, its busyfactories showing their pencil-like chimneys against thedark hills behind. In the Channel the little islands ofSteepholm and Flatholm mark the line of the originalcontinuation of the great Mendip range into South Wales.The limestone shores of the former rise sheer from thesea, forming an impregnable fortress. Here, far below thelevel of the salt water around, a supply of pure water isobtained from the Limestone, brought, doubtless, fromthe Limestone area of Mendip by way of some hiddenfissure.

Hard by, at Clevedon, is the grave of that greatfriend of Tennyson, who sat here and listened to

"The moaning of the homeless sea,
The sound of streams that, swift or slow,
Draw down æonian hills, and sow
The dust of continents to be."

Very truly and accurately his words describe the actionthat is going on, by which the swallet streams areundermining and honeycombing these hills and bearingtheir component rocks away to the sea.

Standing on Pen Hill and looking northward, a greateast and west depression is seen forming a broad low valleyin the tableland of Mendip. Into this valley numeroussprings and a liberal rainfall are for ever pouring theirwaters. Yet nowhere is there a surface channel whichcan carry this water away; and nowhere, save in thesmall hollows of the Old Red Sandstone and Shales, doeswater accumulate. The reason is not far to seek. TheCarboniferous Limestone, evenly stratified everywhere,has been split by vertical joints into a series of giganticcubes. Between them, the surface waters, laden withcarbonic acid obtained from the atmosphere and from[5]vegetation, have for ages made their way, enlarging themby both chemical and mechanical action, till they havebecome fissures capable of giving passage to an enormousquantity of water. So from one joint to another, fromone bedding plane to another, the water percolatesdownwards until it meets with some impermeable rockbeneath, or until it finds an outlet at the level of theSecondary rocks forming the valley below. Suchimpermeable beds are found in the Lower LimestoneShales, and the resulting outlets are well known in thegreat risings of St. Andrew's Well in the gardens of theBishop's Palace at Wells, in the source of the Axe atWookey Hole, in the Cheddar Water and other largesprings, of all of which more hereafter.

Reference to the sketch map of the district will showthat the majority of the more important swallets lie alongthe line of the great depression referred to. These compriseby no means all the swallets of Mendip, yet they arethe chief ones. It is obvious that the whole of the massof material represented by this great depression has beenremoved in suspension by way of these swallets; and oneis compelled to ask, How long has this work been goingon? What time is represented by so vast a work? Onthe threshold of the inquiry we are met by such anamount of evidence bearing upon it that the subjectmust be dealt with separately. For, upon the upturnededges of the Carboniferous Limestone rocks, which can havebeen brought down to their present plane of denudationonly by long-continued water action, have been deposited,and still remainin situ, great masses of the basementbeds of the Secondary rocks, lying in such a manner asto convince us that swallet action had prepared thedenuded surfaces upon which they lie. And upon thishinges the whole question of the antiquity of the cavernsof Mendip. But whilst the age of our caverns is a[6]debatable matter, no one can question the accuracy ofthe theory of ravine formation from the collapse ofcavern roofs, as evidenced by the instances supplied byMendip.

Through crevices and cracks, here, there, and everywhere,the percolating waters find their way. Now somecrevice is enlarged into a passage; now some weak pointin the passage becomes a chamber; and on the waterrushes, steadily joining forces and accumulating, until onthe level of the lower land it finds an outlet, and rushesforth a considerable stream. In its headlong course thewater again and again leaps down some great series ofpotholes, as down some giant stairway, forming many finecascades, whose deafening roar goes on for ever wherethere is no ear to hear and where no footstep evertreads the rocky ways. Along the course of the largerstreams huge chambers occur; for the ever-eddying water,bearing sand along in its course, eats out the sides of itschannel, or, revolving stones in its bed, carves out thepothole by friction. Or some pendent mass of rock hasits support undermined and comes crashing into thestreamway, only to be broken up and carried away bythe ceaseless energy of the stream, so ever enlarging thechambers upwards towards the light of day. But whilstthis action is going on underground, a more potent factoris at work where the subterranean stream first sees thelight. Here very soon the action of the water alonegives rise to a little cliff overhead. Now rain and frost,wind and tempest, loosen, bit by bit, the fragments of rockforming the face of the cliff, which fall away into theriver, to be broken up and carried away. Little by littlethe face of the cliff recedes, along the line of the subterraneanriver, until the first underground chamber isreached. The undermined archway of rock is less ableto withstand the agents of denudation, and the cliff front[7]recedes apace. Such is the present stage at WookeyHole, the chamber whence the river Axe issues being stillin process of destruction. Thus the work goes on slowly,yet none the less surely, until along the whole course ofthe subterranean river the roof of the cavern is destroyed,perhaps effectually hiding the stream under huge blocksof Limestone, such as those of Ebbor Gorge, near Wells,or until the water finds another course for itself, as atCheddar, to begin the whole story over again. Everystage is abundantly illustrated by our Mendip swalletsand caves. The large swallets of Eastwater, three and ahalf miles from Wells, of Swildon's or Swithin's Hole, ahalf-mile nearer Priddy, and the more recent swallet ofStoke Lane, half-way between Wells and Frome, areexcellent examples of streams engulfed on the summit ofMendip. The whole of the country surrounding the twofirst-named caverns is dotted with innumerable small pitsand hollows. The great swallet of Hillgrove, three milesnorth of Wells, in the exploration of which we are atpresent engaged, in an endeavour to penetrate thelabyrinth of ways to which it will undoubtedly affordaccess, is a fine example of an intermittent swallet. Herethree ways, carved deeply through the stream-borne sandsand clays of some uncertain epoch of geological history,converge in a deep glen, beautiful with its tropical wealthof ferns. In the bottom of the glen huge spurs of Limestonestand up boldly, dipping towards the Old RedSandstone exposed to the south, and pointing to a greatfault, along the line of which the Limestone water is boundto accumulate in a huge triangular reservoir, the outflowfrom which may account for the summer flow of the Axewhen the majority of the swallets are dry. In winter theconverging torrents here find ingress into the Limestone,but, though pits and hollows abound on every hand, nofoot of man has ever yet trod the hidden ways beneath.[8]At a depth of 10 feet we have reached the first openchannel, only to have it blocked subsequently by a fallof the treacherous gravel through which we have beenworking.

Vast dry swallets are represented by a great depressionwhich we call the Bishop's Lot Swallet, on the road fromWells to Priddy. Here a huge hollow in the ground,perfectly circular and 300 yards round, shows us thelargest swallet in Mendip. Though the surroundingland slopes gently to the edge of the great pit, whichis 60 feet in depth, there is but the smallest trace ofwater penetrating it. It is ages since the drainage ofthe surrounding land gravitated towards it, for it lies ata considerable height above the level of most of the otherswallets in the neighbourhood. A mile and a half to thewest, a similar pit occurs called Sand Pit Hole. Heretoo water has ceased to flow, and it remains, with precipitoussides, a problem for us to investigate in the nearfuture.

To enter either of the active swallets of Eastwater orSwildon's Hole, and to follow it to its greatest depth, is togain an insight into the action of subterranean streamssuch as no other method can give. The former is wellillustrated by the annexed section, in which its profounddepth and its labyrinth of passages may readily beunderstood. The difficulties and disappointments whichwe encountered when I conducted the operations whichat last resulted in our effecting an entrance into thiscavern, the existence of which was not even suspectedpreviously, need not here be recapitulated. Altogether,what with volunteers and labourers, nearly a dozen of uswere occupied ten days in the determined effort which wemade, and which at last was crowned with success. Fromthe point of view of the subsequent explorer the reader isreferred to the ensuing chapter upon Eastwater Cavern,[9]which will convey some idea of what the first explorersmust undergo in any such place when to the ordinarydifficulties of such an exploration is added the greatuncertainty felt at every step taken, and when everyboulder upon which our weight is to rest must first becarefully examined. The difficulty of our work atEastwater is practically what must be experienced in anynew work undertaken in the Mendip region, and there ismuch waiting to be done. If there is one thing morethan another to be learned from Eastwater Cavern, it isthe great importance of chokes in determining the linesof subterranean drainage. Here they are seen in everystage of formation and destruction, and the channels whichhave been carved by the arrested water may be readilyrecognised.

There is a fascination in exploration work such as thatat Eastwater, where corridors, hitherto untrodden by thefoot of man, open up all around as you make your wayever downwards into the heart of the hills; and even nowthere are many accessible passages into which as yet noone has penetrated. Reference to the section annexedwill show an upper way, which terminates abruptly in achoke of stones and gravel, holding up a little water, whilstallowing a considerable quantity to pass. It is a remarkablefact that in all the labyrinths of galleries which wehave explored in the profound depths of this cavern wehave not yet alighted upon any portion which gives accessto the continuation of this channel. There, renderedinaccessible by the barrier of débris, is, without doubt, acavern as extensive as that which we have proved to existin the sister watercourse hard by; and these two channels,starting from practically the same point, must divergewidely, and certainly do not unite again before the depthof 500 feet is attained.

Farther eastward in Mendip, too, are similar swallet[10]caverns. Not far to the north-west of Stoke Lane is aninteresting cavern locally known as Cox's Hole. It issituated in the Limestone forming the southern edge ofthe great basin in which lies the Radstock Coalfield.Owing to the existence of this coalfield, there are no deepcaves accessible in this part of Mendip. Yet a good dealof water must be absorbed through the innumerable fissuresinto the depths of the Carboniferous Limestone underlyingthe coalfield, and it is by no means unlikely that thiswater, heated to a high point by the subterranean temperature,gives rise to the hot springs at Bath. Cox'sHole was at a remote period, when the form of the hillwas very different from that presented now, an activewater-channel, evidently draining towards St. Dunstan'sWell. It has two distinct entrances, one, the morewesterly, being a cavity of considerable size. For about100 feet the cavern consists of a roomy galleryrunning more or less horizontally. Then it pinches in,until the height is less than a foot, and only those canget along who are able to compress themselves into smallcompass. In a few feet, however, it widens out into agood-sized passage, with fine stalactites here and there,especially at a point on the northern side where an avenopens into a chamber more than 30 feet high. Nowroomy and now contracted, the passage leads on until,at a distance of 100 yards from the entrance, it becomesso small that there is considerable difficulty inproceeding. Beyond this point the cavern becomes asimple water-tunnel, of a type common in Yorkshire.At 130 yards there is a sharp descent, the floor islittered with boulders, and 20 yards farther the passageis choked with silt. A very small passage, which hadwater in it when I was there, is said to be passable attimes, though I am inclined to doubt this. An almostvertical ascent amongst treacherous boulders, however,[11]seems an indication of a possible route onwards, whichmay, I trust, with care be yet explored. The last 50yards of the cave run to the south-east—that is, awayfrom the direction of St. Dunstan's Well—a beautifulspring rising from the Carboniferous Limestone hard by;yet I feel sure that it must of necessity be a part of thesame waterway. Either it was an inlet which receivedthe waters of some vanished Old Red Sandstone spring, orit was a former outlet for the waters of that well. I aminclined to favour the former theory. As to the presentsource of the waters of St. Dunstan's Well there can beno doubt whatever. In the valley below Stoke Lane,and three-quarters of a mile distant from the well andfrom Cox's Hole, there is a most interesting swallet, ofcomparatively recent age. It is obviously certain that,not so long ago, the stream which courses down thevalley flowed unchecked down its whole length, and soreached the larger stream below. Slightly retarded, in allprobability, by some flood-borne silt, the water found alittle joint in the western bank of the valley, and by slowdegrees so enlarged it that it at last became capable ofswallowing the whole. Even now a few hours' work woulddivert the water and cause it to resume its former course.Upstream is a mill, the owner of which has courteouslygiven every facility for testing and for exploration. Itwas found that the effect of damming the mill streamentirely was to reduce the flow at St. Dunstan's Wellenormously, and to render the entrance of the swalletpassable. Mr. Marshall of Stratton-on-the-Fosse with hisparty made a successful descent, and travelled a considerabledistance, mainly parallel with the valley withoutand to a great extent horizontally, through water-tunnelsof small size. As no measurements were taken one cannotsay yet how far it is passable, but he says that they didnot get to the limits of possible exploration, as the time[12]which they spent there was getting dangerously near thehour up to which it is possible to dam the water, andthey most wisely beat a hasty retreat. The first opportunitywill be taken by us to make use of a spell of fineweather to carry this exploration to a successful issue.Not far distant, too, is another swallet, from which thewater has been diverted to be used for water-supply.This is in the vicinity of a ruined hunting lodge, and issaid to lead in the same direction as the Stoke LaneSwallet. The whole of this district is likely to be veryinteresting, there being a series of remarkable rifts orfissures in the Dolomitic Conglomerate which deserveattention. One of these, called Fairy Slats, has beenknown for many years, and is indeed shown on theOrdnance map; and the fact that such fissures aboundhas been forcibly brought home by a disaster to a newreservoir, only recently completed by the authorities ofDownside Monastery, to supply the neighbouring villages.Here a finely designed basin, having been constructedover one of these fissures, had its massive concrete bottomburst out as if it were an egg-shell the moment the waterfilled it, and in a single hour the whole fabric wasabsolutely ruined. Some measure of the extent of theconcealed fissures may be gathered from the fact that500,000 gallons of water were absolutely swallowed upwithout a drop coming to light in the neighbouringvalley. An early visitor to the adjoining field reportedthat air was being ejected through the grass all aroundhim, much to his alarm, as he was quite unaware of whathad occurred. It will be a most interesting subject forinquiry, as to how far such fissures as these are the resultsof water action or otherwise, and it is most desirable todescend one of them at the first opportunity in search ofevidence. At present I am inclined to attribute theirpresence to movements in the Secondary rocks, due to[13]the intersection of the district by valleys. The Conglomeratemass has parted along the lines of the principaljoints, and the rifts thus formed have become lines ofdrainage. This theory, in view of possible future discoveries,may have to be modified.

Above Stoke Lane Swallet, and evidently connectedwith it in some remote way, is a cavity without a name,the exploration of which would probably be interesting,and would be most likely to yield remains of primitiveMan. Mr. Marshall also reports the existence of a fissureof considerable size, where, after a very small entrance, apoint is reached with a vertical descent of great depth.All these things indicate that there is a splendid field herefor further work.

Indeed there are abundant evidences of this all overMendip. One of the most interesting problems has hadfurther light thrown upon it by work recently done by usat Wookey Hole. The Hyæna Den and the Badger Holeare testimony that a large amount of underground actionhas taken place upon the east side of the ravine, yetnothing has been known hitherto of any series of drychannels upon that side. Recently, however, we havesucceeded in gaining access, by way of the smallest offissures, into what will turn out most likely to be a portionof this very series. Here is to be seen a choked-upchamber of precisely the same type as the Hyæna Den,but far deeper in the wall of the ravine. Without doubtit contains prehistoric remains, yet its excavation willentail great labour. We have already reached a distanceof 80 feet from the entrance, and only a partially chokedpassage bars the way.

High up in the ravine at Ebbor, too, there is a verypromising field for further research. This is immediatelybeneath a cliff on the western side of the valley, where wehave already done much preliminary work. There is also[14]a very promising little cave, slightly north of Tower Rockin the same gorge and high up in its side. Here a narrowentrance gives access to a small chamber, on the floor ofwhich is a deep deposit of cave earth, from which I haveobtained Deer bones.

At Dulcote, again, there is a series of waterways anddry caves of great interest, which in themselves bear corroborativeevidence of the great antiquity of the caverns ofthe district. From time to time the quarrymen havebroken in upon these waterways, which have been lostin subsequent operations. Not many years ago a blastblew off the top of an almost vertical shaft, carved out inthe Limestone by water action and descending to a greatdepth. The mass of rock blown off by the charge turnedover and fell down the shaft, blocking it at 30 feet fromthe surface. It was possible to descend to this point andthrow down stones, which fell for a considerable distance;but the block was never moved, and in the process ofquarrying the hole became filled, and is now lost in thegeneral level of the quarry. Hard by, also, a cavern ofconsiderable extent was opened, and still remains. Itcontains nothing of peculiar interest, though when I wasfirst lowered into it, from a hole 60 feet above its floor,it contained very pretty coral-like splash stalagmite; andalso, in the mud floor, the tubular linings of calcite, formedfrom the drip from above. In this quarry, too, were founda considerable quantity of the bones of Bear, Deer, Bos,Horse, etc., and these are now in the Wells Museum,where they were deposited some years since by A. F.Somerville, Esq. There are numerous other minor cavesin this locality. Farther up the same valley, aboveCroscombe, is a small cave known locally as BetsyCamel's Hole, and it appears to have been occupied bya woman bearing that name for some years. She was, ofcourse, carried away by the devil, according to the same[15]popular report. It may very well have been a rock shelterat some stage of its history. Mr. Somerville informs me,too, that in Dinder Wood there is a small cave which wasalmost certainly a rock shelter. This also has never beenexplored. In fact, the whole district may be described asan unexplored field, and there is abundant room for willinghelpers. The landowners, for the most part, are exceedinglykind and ready to offer every facility for scientificresearch.

THE CHEDDAR GROUP OF CAVERNS

The great gorge of Cheddar and its caverns form asubject of surpassing interest to the student of Geology.Presenting some of the most stupendous cliff scenery inEngland, the great wall of rock on the southern side ofthe valley towers nearly 500 feet into the air, defyingall attempts at mapping contour lines; and the roadwhich traverses the ravine winds, with many a suddenturn, along the base of this noble cliff, ever upwards,until in four miles the actual summit of the Mendipdowns is reached. At the entrance to the gorge, andclose to the caverns owned by Gough, the hidden riverbursts into the light, pouring forth a stream of greatvolume, which, after serving the purposes of variousmillers in the village, hurries on to join its sister streamfrom Wookey Hole, the two then flowing into the sea nearWeston-super-Mare. It is strange that in all the explorationwork that has been done at Cheddar, the undergroundchannel of the stream has not once been reached. Nearthe entrance in Gough's Cave a fairly deep hole containswater, which changes in level along with the river itself,but no open passage leads from it. A vertical ropedescent of 100 feet from the upper and practically unknowncaverns belonging to Gough brings the explorerto what must be regarded as the nearest point which hasyet been reached to the subterranean river of Cheddar.As this gorge is the most stupendous in the Mendip region,so is this stream the most considerable in volume. Mr.[17]Sheldon of Wells has gauged its minimum flow to benot less than three million gallons per day, whilst itstorrent at flood time must be many times as much,probably not less than eight or ten millions.

This is considerably larger than the other two greatoutlets of the subterranean waters of Mendip, those ofWookey Hole and Wells, each of which, however, poursforth an enormous volume. That it is the Cheddar streamwhich is responsible for the existence of the gorge itselfno one can doubt, and it is a most interesting subject fordiscussion as to how this has been brought about. It isnot difficult to determine what points must mark theboundaries of the catchment area, the waters of whichdrain to Cheddar. The road from Castle Comfort toCharterhouse on the north-east, the outcrop of Shalessouth of Blackdown on the north, and a line drawn fromRowberrow Farm north of Priddy to the gorge itself onthe south, enclose the whole area from which thesupply is obtained. This is somewhere about 12 squaremiles in extent. To this must be added, possibly, somewater from slightly more to the eastward. It is now thecommonly accepted theory that the whole of this water,or at any rate the bulk of it, found inlet into a series ofcaverns along the line now occupied by the gorge, andthat then the processes which are so well known to begoing on gradually enlarged these to the point of collapse,the falling débris being removed by the still flowingstream. It is only right to add that M. Martel, arguingfrom his long experience, which probably exceeds that ofany man who has ever studied the subject, sees in thegorges of Cheddar, Burrington, and presumably Ebbor,the superficial channels worn by the escaping streamsfrom the ancient Mendip plateau. He says, "The numerousdried valleys (Burrington Combe, Cheddar Cliffs, etc.),which cut through the circumference of the Mendips,[18]witness, as everywhere, to the ancient superficial flowingoff of the rivers, and to their capture by the natural wells,successively opened and enlarged in the cracks of theLimestone rock." That even small streams acting througha sufficient period of time are capable of doing enormouserosive work it would be idle to deny, but the difficultiesin the way of accepting this theory as alone sufficient aretoo great to admit of its acceptance. It demands that thewater of a very large area could find access to the easternend of the ravine, which itself demands that the generalconfiguration of the Mendips must have been verydifferent from that presented now. This, from theexistence of the Secondary beds in their present position,say near Harptree, was not the case; and therefore, for thetheory to hold good, we must suppose that the superficialgorge was pre-Triassic. As it was not filled in, either inTriassic time or subsequently, it could not have beensuperficial. Of course it may be contended that thereversal of this line of argument demonstrates that thegorge is post-Liassic and may then have been a superficialchannel, but I hold this to be disproved in my chapter onthe antiquity of the Mendip Caves. I am, accordingly,forced to the conclusion that the Cheddar gorge wasduring the whole of the Secondary period a roofed-incavern. The only difficulty which arises is a doubt asto the ability of the stream to remove so vast a bulk offalling material as must be accounted for; but when wesee the process in actual operation, as at Wookey Hole,it is only necessary to demand sufficient time, and thedifficulty vanishes. That a time did arrive when the rateof collapse more than kept pace with the destructiveenergy of the stream is indicated by the rapid risewhich takes place in the road through the gorge. Thisfavours the cave theory as opposed to the superficialchannel theory, inasmuch as a superficial channel would[19]probably have maintained a more nearly equal depththroughout.

That the portion of M. Martel's theory which explainsthe absence of the stream from the gorge is correct isvery clear, there being obvious indications, notably at thewestern end of the ravine, where points of absorption mightbe traced beneath the high cliffs, any one of which, ifexcavated, would almost certainly lead to the presentchannel of the river beyond Gough's Caves. The LongHole above, as pointed out in my chapter upon theantiquity of the Mendip Caves, is corroborative evidencewhich tends to disprove the superficial valley theory, as itis without a doubt an old cavern of absorption, which couldnot have existed had the ravine been a superficial valley.Everyone must lament the recent developments in theCheddar gorge by which the northern side is beinghacked to pieces to provide road metal. There arethousands of places where the same stone could beobtained, with almost equal ease; and it does seem pitifulthat one of the finest places in the kingdom should besacrificed to the most callous and sordid commercialism.The conditions under which the work is being carried onconstitute also a public danger, as has now been exemplifiedby the collapse into the gorge of a huge mass ofthe rock. The dip of the Limestone is to the southward,and consequently any work done on the northern side isremoving the support that holds up the great mass uponan inclined plane. Of necessity the mass above, itssupport gone, comes hurtling down to the roadway, andit is practically certain that, if quarrying operationscontinue, some day the gorge will be entirely closed bya gigantic fall.

An interesting little tributary ravine and cavern, farup the gorge, provides a perfect example of the cavetheory of the formation of the gorge itself. About two[20]miles from the village, on the southern slopes of the ravine,is an extensive fir wood. High up on the opposite sidethis little ravine is visible, and it may be reached withease. Here sides that gently slope give way to precipitouswalls, between which you walk. Moss-grown stones giveplace to new-fallen stones, and then you have before youthe little ravine roofed in; you pass beneath, and findyourself in the darkness of the cavern itself, which can befollowed for some distance. Here, at any rate, there canbe no doubt as to the process that has been at work.

ANTIQUITY OF THE CAVES OF MENDIP

When we consider the question of the age of our caverns,we are met at the outset by a mass of evidence forcingupon us the certainty that they must be credited with avery high antiquity indeed. Here measurement by yearsand centuries fails, and the imagination must be called into aid us to compute the epochs that have successivelyelapsed since the first cave, to take one example, beganto be formed at Wookey Hole. These evidences are ofthree kinds: historical, palæontological, and geological.In the first place, there has been obviously little changein the general configuration of our caverns since earliesthistorical times. The dens and caves of the earth haveafforded a retreat to the persecuted of all generations, anda ready-made home when all else has failed. Here, too,with the rocky walls behind him and his protecting firesat the entrance, early man could defy the savage beaststhat roamed the land in those far-off days.

At Wookey Hole it was only necessary to scratch thevery surface of the accumulated débris within the mouthof the great cave to turn up fragments of Romano-Britishpottery and a human jaw and rib-bones. These interestingrelics are in the possession of myself and Mr. Troup.From the very nature of the place, it is obvious that thetendency has been to accumulate more and more débrisupon the mass of cave earth which contains these remains.Slightly deeper, yet still only in the loose earth of thecavern mouth, we found pottery of still earlier date,[22]unwheeled and cruder. The fact is borne in upon us,that certainly for two thousand years this entrance hasremained much as it is now. Perhaps a loose rock hereand there has been dislodged from the overhanging cliffoutside, and, crashing to the stream bed below, has therebeen broken up and carried away by the river. But noone can doubt that the general outline is the same nowas then. And farther within the cavern an interestingsidelight is thrown on the slowness with which thingschange in the underworld. At the descent into the firstgreat chamber a chalk inscription roughly made reads"E A 1769." That inscription has been there unchanged,to my knowledge, for the last twenty years, and I haveno reason to doubt its authenticity. If a chalk markremains unerased for a century and more, how long havethose solid walls stood, and how long will they endure?

As I have gazed upon that inscription, the thought hascome, that such a place as this would be an ideal site fornational monuments. When our abbeys and cathedralsare crumbled away, these great subterranean halls willremain practically unchanged. And in the caves ofCheddar like evidences meet the eye. In the loosematerial in the Roman cave there, Roman and Romano-Britishremains have been found in abundance; and hereagain we are forced to the conclusion that no change hastaken place since those remains were deposited.

But when we consider the evidences furnished by theremains of the extinct mammalia, mingled with those ofprimitive man, much more is it impressed upon the mindthat we are dealing with relics of enormous antiquity.The great assemblage of bones of the extinct animalswhich occurs at Banwell Cave, and the numberless findsfrom the caves of Cheddar, are indications of this; butthose of the Hyæna Den of Wookey Hole, and theconditions of their deposit there, afford us much more[23]reliable testimony. Here are two principal cavities onthe eastern side of the ravine, representing two of the fiveriver levels which the stream of the Axe has hollowed foritself in the Dolomitic Conglomerate. These are branchor side chambers which have not been totally destroyedin the process of erosion that formed the ravine at theexpense of the cavern. In the uppermost cavity, knownas the Badger Hole (it was the haunt of badgers until afew years ago), no traces of the extinct mammalia are tobe found, nor have I found definite traces of prehistoricman. At seven feet below the surface, however, there isa bed of river sand of precisely the same kind as that inthe upper chambers of the great cavern. In the HyænaDen below, on the other hand, so thoroughly and systematicallyexplored by Professor Boyd Dawkins, wasfound one of the most perfect assemblages of the remainsof extinct animals ever discovered. Many years after hislabours were completed I searched there again, and wasrewarded with a by no means poor collection of bones andteeth: Mammoth and Woolly Rhinoceros, Irish Elkand Reindeer, Red Deer, Bison, Cave Lion and Bear,Hyæna and Wolf, Wild Goat, Wild Horse, and WildBoar have all been found. One of my earliest trophieswas a fairly complete skull of a young Bear; and I haverepresentatives of all the others. From a small hole inthe side of the valley hard by, which I thought lookedpromising, we have obtained a large number of Rhinocerosteeth, together with those of several of the other kindspresent in the Den. The examination of these cavitiesand their contents demonstrates the fact that they werethe actual dens of some of these animals. The abundantmarks of gnawing show that the Hyænas made theirhome there. Over the vertical cliff many a worn-outbeast was hunted to its death by the Hyænas and Wolves,and its shattered carcass dragged to this hole.

It is easy to wander back in imagination and bringthe state of things that existed visibly before the mind'seye: to watch the unwieldy Mammoth or the greatRhinoceros rolling its huge bulk along; to see the packof cowardly Hyænas or Wolves hounding some worn-outBison to its death, over the awful cliff close by their den,which purpose effected, they themselves rushed headlongdown the steep slope hard by, to fight and wrangle overthe shattered carcass of their prey; or to see the Lionlying in wait by the peaceful stream in the little valleyfor the noble Elk or timid Deer to come for its accustomeddrink; and then to behold savage Man, with his weaponsof flint or bone, when out on his hunting expeditions,arriving at this peaceful valley, and there for a whilemaking his quarters in the Den, and lighting his fires atthe entrance to scare the wild beasts from their lair.[1]

How long ago this state of things existed is a matterfor geological calculation. Suffice it that the earliesthistorical records show us no wild beasts existing in theland except Bears and Wolves, along with the Red Deerwhich is with us to this day. Now there is no sign atWookey Hole of the time when the Bear and Wolf aloneremained and all else had become extinct from the land.There is no trace whatever in the Hyæna Den of thepottery which we find in the entrance of the great cave.Without a doubt, the latest deposits here are vastly olderthan the most ancient deposits there. The comminglingof northern, temperate, and southern forms gives evidenceof oscillations in temperature such as demand a vast timeto have taken place. Yet the whole of these remainsaccumulated between the time when the entrance to theDen was left exposed by the gradual destruction and[25]retreat of the cliff face up the valley, and the infilling andchoking of the entrance by the accumulating gravel whicheventually blocked it. It is only within the last few yearsthat the gravel arch which was first formed, and thenundermined in the search after bones, has collapsed,revealing the true configuration of the cavern. Here wemust again postulate a great antiquity for our caverns,since these deposits exist in what is really an insignificantfragment of the great cavern, and are only an incidentalpart of the material which an exposed cavity is sure toreceive. But when purely geological evidences are takeninto account, the demand for time becomes still moreimperative. The subterranean Axe occupies, as its presentchannel, vast chambers formed by the excavation ofthousands of tons of the hard Conglomerate, great hallsover 70 feet in height and of fine proportions. Theprocess which formed these is still at work enlargingthem, till in the course of time they must collapse; yet nochange is ever visible, no signs of recent action can atany point be seen. The rarely occurring great floodserves but to remove one film of sand from the floor andto leave another in its place as the waters subside. Soslow is the undermining action that no eye can ever detecta change though the waters rise ever so high. Yet thischannel is but one of five distinct levels which the riverhas occupied from time to time, until it has found in turna lower course, leaving its sands as a record upon each,here and there sealed down beneath a mass of stalagmite.What untold ages have elapsed since first the river flowedthrough these upper channels!

But an examination of the top of the Mendips points toa vaster antiquity still. The published horizontal sectionNo. 17 of the Geological Survey gives an excellent ideaof the plateau of Mendip, which stretches from immediatelynorth of Wells to the neighbourhood of Compton Martin.[26]This plane of denudation would never have been reachedsave by the long-continued action of subterraneous streams,an assumption supported by the existence of the greatdepression crossed by the road from Wells to Priddy.That depression of nearly 100 feet in depth and severalmiles in length, hollowed in the hard CarboniferousLimestone, here dotted with every known type of swalletor swallow hole, has been obviously formed by the slowaction of swallet streams prolonged through vast periodsof time. Every atom of the millions of tons of solid rockrepresented by this depression has been borne down thecourse of the subterranean Axe. Tributary to this depressiona little valley has been eroded across the Old RedSandstone anticline immediately to the north, and init are deposited masses of Dolomitic Conglomerate, thecomponent pebbles of which were derived from the surroundingrocks. The same valley existed, therefore, inpre-Triassic time, and as there was obviously no otheroutlet for its water, the cavities into which it flowed—thatis to say, the swallets and subterranean channels—musthave existed also, and are therefore pre-Triassic in date.Though at first sight this appears impossible, inasmuch asthe known course of the resulting Axe River is throughTriassic Conglomerate, I propose to show that such aconclusion is necessary and inevitable. Long ago I wasstruck with the fact that at Wookey Hole the TriassicConglomerate attains an abnormal thickness, and measurementshave shown that at the far end of the cavern thereis certainly a thickness of over 350 feet of this rock. Asthere is no sign of any approach to the Limestone againstwhich it must abut, nor any change in the character ofthe Conglomerate itself at this point, I think that we mayfairly conclude that the total thickness of it must be atleast 500 feet. Now this is a vast deposit, far exceedingany known to exist elsewhere, and it requires a special[27]explanation to account for it. Only one explanation ispossible. The Conglomerate is here filling in some greatpre-existing valley in the Mountain Limestone. That isjust what I should expect.

The great Limestone cavern formed by the action ofthe swallet streams in early Triassic times collapsed, andformed a Limestone ravine, into which was rolled a greataccumulation of fragments of the Limestone derived fromthe slopes and crags above. With the whole of this partof England these beds were subsequently submerged,remaining so during the deposit of the whole of theSecondary beds; and on their emerging once more frombeneath the sea the lines of drainage were re-establishedalong the old courses, where these had not been chokedwith sedimentary material. Forcing a way through theConglomerate which then impeded its flow, the riverformed those cavities which we see. Indeed, it may wellbe that the successive levels cut by the Axe through theConglomerate may represent stages in the uplifting ofthe land, the lowest channel being the last and largest,as it has been formed during an extended period ofstability. But we are not without evidences of anothersort as to the existence of some of our swallet ways atthat remote period. The cavities found in the Holwellquarries, near Frome, filled in with Rhaetic material containingbones and teeth of fishes; those of Gurney-Slade,near Radstock; and numbers which from time to time arelaid bare in the Limestone quarries, all filled in with Triassicsediment, show that penetrating waterways of considerablesize then existed. There was, too, at Charterhouse-on-Mendip,north of Cheddar, a fissure, possibly a swallet,which, being open, received an infilling of Liassic materialthat is known to extend to a depth of 300 feet. Hadthese channels been closed by a narrow aperture temporarilyblocked, no infilling but by water would have taken[28]place when the land sank beneath the waters of theTriassic and Liassic seas.

Furthermore, in the position of the entrances of manyof our swallets there is corroborative evidence to the sameeffect. The great circular swallet on Rookham, near Wells,situated far from any existing line of drainage, yet withalone of the largest cavities on Mendip, shows that greatchanges have taken place since it was an active waterway.The position of the caverns of Compton Bishopand of Banwell, far removed from any stream or any lineof drainage possible with the present contours, provesthat the configuration of the country has utterly changedsince they formed the points of engulfment of any streams.The Coral Cave (as we have called it) at Compton Bishopdescends abruptly into the earth, and its outlet must havebeen far below the level where now the Triassic Marlforms an impervious barrier. The waters of Banwell Pondrise through the Marl, forced upwards through beds whichdo not yield water and ordinarily retard its passage.Doubtless the Marl when it was deposited covered someearlier outlet from the Limestone. The waters of St.Andrew's Well, at Wells, are forced upwards throughDolomitic Conglomerate and overlying Pleistocene gravel,the former of which was doubtless deposited upon whatwas once a free and unimpeded outlet from the MountainLimestone, similar to that of Cheddar. The water ofRickford, near Burrington, resulting from the streamsengulfed at and around Burrington, is forced up throughthe Secondary beds, which have been similarly depositedupon the pre-existing outlet. All these things help to demonstratethat what I contend is true, viz. that our cavernsas a whole are pre-Triassic in age. The Long Hole atCheddar, high in the cliffs above Gough's Cave, lends itsevidence too. Contrary to all the other caves at Cheddar,it was a channel of intake for the water which formed it.[29]Doubtless it is a fragment of a larger cavern, which, beforethe gorge of Cheddar itself was formed, existed in themass of rock occupying the whole area. At the northernend of the Limestone defile of Ebbor, near Wells, theravine is carved through Dolomitic Conglomerate, whichhas been much worked for iron ore. The fact that thisConglomerate was deposited in a depression in the land,at the head of the present ravine, yet without entering it,suggests that here was an entrance to a series of caverns,the collapse of which produced the gorge.

The Devil's Punchbowl, near the Castle of Comfort Innon the Mendips, is, in all probability, a collapse of theremarkable Lias beds which there occur into some pre-existingcavity in the Mountain Limestone below,somewhat in the same manner as the Shake Holes in theGlacial Drift on the Yorkshire moors were formed. Noone questions the existence of the cavities beneath beforethe deposit of the Drift, neither do I doubt the existenceof swallets beneath the Trias and Lias before these weredeposited on the Mendips. The question naturally arises,Why do we not find in our caverns remains of all theages that have elapsed since that time? Why are onlyPleistocene remains discovered? Surely, because we havenot found them it does not follow that they are nonexistent.The recent discovery of Pliocene remains in acavern at Doveholes, near Buxton (Derbyshire), is clearproof that we may search hopefully for similar remains inthe Mendips. It must be borne in mind, that the furtherwe go back in time, the more certain we are to find thatthe contents of any Limestone cavern would be completelymineralised, until the whole of the contents may havebecome cemented into a solid mass. Where runningwater is present, attrition may have destroyed them, orborne them onwards to those great depths where, constantlysubmerged as they must be, we can never hope to[30]penetrate. I am aware, however, of the existence, in theEastwater Cavern, of very ancient chokes of water-bornematerial, from which I have some hope of obtainingremains.

I might mention the demonstrated antiquity of thebosses of stalagmite in Kent's Cavern at Torquay, andfrom it argue the immense age of the great masses ofstalagmite in the Mendip Caves, but, recognising thevariable rate of deposit of the carbonate of lime in differentcaverns, and indeed in different parts of the same cavern,no useful purpose would be served thereby. The hugeBeehive of Lamb's Lair at Harptree, the large boss in thefirst great chamber at Wookey Hole, Gough's "Niagara"at Cheddar, the tall and slender pillars in Cox's Caveat Cheddar, and the taller "Sentinel" pillar at WookeyHole, all demand for their formation a prodigious lengthof time, which it is but folly to attempt to compute withour present information. Certainly many thousands ofyears are required for some of them, and it should beremembered that we have then arrived merely at the timewhen the floor upon which they stand had received its finalform, the action of running water having ceased.[2] Whocan doubt then, that, as we stand in the great waterwaysof the profound depths of our hills, we are looking uponscenes which have varied little since remote ages, and thatin some form or other these waterways played an importantpart in the degradation of the earlier and loftierMendip range?

It is worthy of remark in this connection that theveteran M. Martel, commenting upon the caverns ofMendip, says, "In consequence of the existence, on the[31]flanks of the Mendip Hills, of deposits of Triassic DolomiticConglomerate (Keuper) of Rhaetian beds, and of possiblyGlacial alluvia, unconformably on the Carboniferous Limestone,the outflow of the water in the risings operates inthree ways: (A) by large fissures in the Limestone itself,when it flows out freely, as at Cheddar; (B) through thecrevices in the Dolomitic Conglomerate (the Axe atWookey Hole, etc.); (C) where the outlet of the water fromthe Limestone is hidden by alluvia (St. Andrews Well, atWells). The consequence of this arrangement is that itwill be possible—notably at Wookey Hole, when the explorationsnow going on have enlarged the new galleriesrecently found—to ascertain whether the Dolomitic Conglomerateis there shown in long beds of ancient shores,regularly superposed on the Limestone, or rather accumulatedin filled-up pockets, in hollows pre-existing inthe Limestone; that is to say, there will be a materialverification of Mr. Balch's hypothesis (already outlined byBoyd Dawkins in 1874) of the very ancient excavation ofcertain caves of the Mendip Hills, even before the Keuperperiod. The lie of the Conglomerate under the vaultedroofs of Wookey Hole appeared to me to favour this idea.And it is necessary to wait till formal proofs have beengathered together here, that caves were hollowed out therebefore the Trias. I recall, on this subject, that long ago Iconcluded, with Messrs. De Launey, Van den Broeck, Boule,etc., that the formation of caves could commence in themost distant geological epochs, and that the pockets ofphosphorites, among others at Quercy and the Albanets ofCouvin (Belgium), testify to caves or abysses of at leastEocene times."

CAVE EXPLORING AS A SPORT

We are called a nation of sportsmen; yet the firstcriticism we level against any new sport, not our own, isthe question, usually unanswerable and always irrelevant,What is the use of it? One may then, with a certainshow of propriety, point out that cave exploring is asport not entirely lacking in utilitarian or scientific objects.It belongs, in fact, to that large class which originated assomething else than mere pastime. Mountaineering andhunting are typical representatives of that class. Theearliest mountaineers were geographers. Cave exploringwas first of all taken up as a branch of archæological andpalæontological research, and then as a general inquiryinto the physical nature of caves. But a science thathas discovery as its principal object, and hardships andadventure as its natural concomitants, is bound to attractas many sportsmen as scientists. The geographicalmight be called the sporting sciences. And so there arenow many ardent cave explorers who would blush to becalled speleologists, their sole motive being the enjoymentof the game, and scientific results purely a by-product.Thus the science of caves has given birth to a sport thatsubserves its aims in the same irregular way as rock-climbingand peak-bagging subserve the aims of geography,geology, meteorology, and other sciences.

Speleology itself is, comparatively, a new science.Cave hunting, the search for human and animal remains,has been an important bypath of scientific investigation[33]since the days of Dean Buckland and the discoveriesrecorded inReliquiæ Diluvianæ, 1823. Professor BoydDawkins has in recent decades done still more valuablework for palæontology. Speleology is a word of bothwider and narrower meaning; in the widest sense coveringall kinds of knowledge about caves, their geography,geology, hydrology, their fauna, their palæontology. Butmost speleologists confine their attention to the physicalcharacteristics of caves. This side of the inquiry haspractical utilities. At Vaucluse, for instance, nearAvignon, M. Bouvier in 1878 explored the channels ofa gigantic siphon that carries the waters of an inaccessiblereservoir into the Fontaine de Vaucluse, a famous "rising."His object was partly scientific, and partly to determinethe nature of this permanent source, so as to utilise itswaters to regulate the level of the Sorgue, to extend theirrigation system of the neighbourhood, and to securewater-power for manufacturing purposes. The Katavothraof Pod-Stenami were enlarged by an enterprising engineer,and protected by iron gratings, after their subterraneanexits had been explored, and so utilised to regulate thedrainage of the marshy plains of Laibach, and to preventperiodical inundations. In our own country, undergroundexploration has brought to light valuable water-supplies,and enabled us to safeguard the public interests bypointing out sources of pollution. Caves are mostabundant in the districts where those great fissuresknown as rakes occur, which are rich in minerals,especially lead, calamine, copper, gypsum, and fluor-spar.During the short period in which cave work hasbeen taken up as a sport, discoveries have been made,which of course it is impossible to particularise, thatmay be the source of considerable profit in thefuture.

The majority of those engaged in this physical exploration[34]of caves are French. France possesses a Sociétéde Spéléologie, the secretary of which, Monsieur E. A.Martel, author ofLes Abîmes, is a most indefatigable andcourageous explorer, and the man who has made thescience an important and a living one. But M. Martelhimself awards the title of "créateur de la spéléologie"to a forgotten predecessor, Dr. Adolphe Schmidl, whopublishedDie Grotten und Höhlen von Adelsberg, in 1854.In this country, although such brilliant discoveries havebeen made of extinct animals and prehistoric relics ofhumanity, cave exploring of this kind is a new pursuit.M. Martel says, inIrlande et Cavernes Anglaises, 1897:"In short, the underground of the calcareous regions ofthe British Isles may be considered as being, topographically,very insufficiently known; this is the convictionimpressed on me by my own researches in 1893."Something has been accomplished since that date. Twoor three clubs, consisting chiefly of climbers, and a fewspeleologists working independently, have effected athorough examination of the great caverns of the Peak,the extraordinary system of underground waters, hugecavities, and profound abysses in the West Riding, andthe beautiful caverns of Somerset. But the ground thatremains unexplored, the opportunities for adventure andthe possibilities of discovery are such as may probablyastonish those people who think there is nothing of thesort left in Old England.

Caves are formed in calcareous strata by the chemicalaction of water laden with carbonic acid, and by themechanical action of streams. In consequence of theoriginal structure of the Limestone, the joints of whichrun at right angles to the bedding planes, these erodedhollows have two dominant forms: the vertical pot,swallet, or hole, produced by the widening of a master-joint;and the horizontal water-channel, running in the[35]same direction as the line of stratification. But thestrata being commonly tilted, these pits and abyssesare often a long way out of the vertical, and the cavernsthat follow the strata very steep. Many of these ancientwatercourses are now dry, but others are still traversedby streams, and present the explorer with most formidableobstacles. The complete exploration of any cave systemwould involve the tracing out of all its passages from thepoint where the stream or streams enter the earth to thepoint of exit. But I know not a single instance wheresuch a task has been worked out in its entirety. In manycases the streams enter the ground merely as smallrivulets, and begin to excavate passages practicable toman only at a considerable depth. "Siphons," or traps,as they ought to be called, complete or partial chokes,and a variety of other causes, may put insuperableobstacles in the explorer's way.

Take two of the most important cave problems stillawaiting solution, one in Yorkshire, the other in Somerset.A large beck is precipitated into the abyss of GapingGhyll, 360 feet deep, and emerges from an opening in thehillside, a mile away, close to the mouth of IngleboroughCave, which was itself an earlier exit. Several partieshave descended Gaping Ghyll, and followed the passagesat the bottom to a distance of more than 1000 feet. Thenimpenetrable water-sinks, and muddy chambers with nooutlet, have been encountered, and the communicationwith the lower cavern has hitherto proved undiscoverable.Both the dry galleries and the canals of IngleboroughCave have been explored, with great toil and daring, toa considerable distance upwards, with similar results;and though many speleologists are still absorbed in thisproblem, there is little hope that it will be cleared upwithout adopting the drastic and costly measure of cuttingthrough the obstructions. The other problem is that[36]of Wookey Hole, the cave in Britain which has the longesthistory, and which is still yielding interesting discoveries.A number of streams disappear into the earth on theMendip plateau, 2 miles away and 700 feet above, andfind their issue in the source of the Axe at WookeyHole. Two of the Mendip swallets have been exploredto a great depth. Swildon's Hole, an exquisite series ofterraced galleries and stalactite grottoes, has been penetratedto a depth of 300 feet. But a more determinedattempt has been made to reach the bottom of theEastwater Cavern. This was discovered in 1902 by myfriend Mr. Balch, of Wells, by means of opening theswallet, where a tiny brook ran away through smallcrevices in a Limestone ravine. A far-extending cavewas thus disclosed, full of intricate ramifications, thatexplain in a graphic manner how new galleries areformed and old ones left dry and deserted, as the result offloods and partial chokes. We have, in the longest routediscovered in this complicated system, reached a distanceof 2000 feet from the entrance and a depth below thesurface of 500 feet. At this point no absolutely impassablebarrier has been met with. There is reason to hope thatwe may still advance farther into the mysterious regionbetween it and Wookey Hole. But the formidabledifficulties of the journey hither have set a limit toendurance. Hundreds of feet of creeping through steep,narrow, and contorted passages, compared with which aseries of drain-pipes would afford luxurious travelling;perpendicular drops of 50 and 90 feet, with no convenientledges at the top for letting men down; and, in addition,the necessity of transporting great quantities of tackle tothe bitter end of it, have made a twelve hours' day undergroundas much as we could stand. The difficulty mayperhaps be got over by means of a subterranean bivouac.Unfortunately, it would not do to leave the apparatus in[37]position for long beforehand, as it would deteriorate sorapidly. In Wookey Hole itself, we have not yet succeededin reaching a farther distance than 600 feet fromthe cave mouth; there a submerged tunnel has stood inthe way. But Mr. Balch has thoroughly explored theupper passages that honeycomb the rock above theknown caves; he has discovered a number of promisinggalleries, which are being slowly cleared of débris; and,among them, a series of the most beautiful incrustedgrottoes in Britain. A season of drought may reveal anopening up the river-course.

Innumerable similar problems still await solution.Some of us have been engaged in trying with pick and crowbarto engineer a way into the swallets above Castleton,which send their waters through the heart of the hillsdown to the caves in the dale of Hope. One of these,which we have penetrated to a distance of 350 feet, mayturn out to be the entrance to as wonderful a chain ofcaverns as those of Eastwater. Long Kin Hole, HellnPot, and other tremendous cavities in the Ingleboroughdistrict, still promise good sport. Of all the varieties ofcave forms these vertical holes are the most impressive,and also the most perilous to explore. No exploit standsout more finely in the record of that intrepid explorer, M.Martel, than his single-handed descent into Gaping Ghyll,the first ever accomplished. In the Cevennes, however,he has reached the bottom of abysses still more profound,though without the unpleasant accompaniment of fallingwater. One of the most awkward of the descents describedby him is that of the Aven de Vigne Close (Ardèche), 190mètres in depth. This strange pit is almost a corkscrewin shape, comprising five perpendicular drops, the bottomof one being a few feet from the top of the next. Tomanage the final pitch, with a chain of rope ladders 40mètres too short, it was necessary to get six men down to[38]the "Salle à Manger" at the foot of the fourth stage,others remaining as sentinels at the head of the variousstages. Some of these waited on their narrow perches foreleven hours, in the dark, with nothing to do but listento the distant noises of their comrades at work. Oneman, hanging at the end of a rope, succeeded single-handedin fastening a pulley to the free end of thesecond ladder, and so let down the third ladder to therequired extent. This critical operation was carried outunder grave difficulties, the nerves of the whole partyhaving been shaken a few minutes earlier by the accidentalfall of a heavy lamp, which was within an inch of killingthe men beneath.

Elden Hole, in the Peak of Derbyshire, a yawningcavity 200 feet deep, with an inner cave 65 feet deeper, hasbeen descended several times recently. On the firstoccasion, through the inexperience of the party, I had theprivilege of spending nine hours in the hole, in a state ofuncertainty as to whether it was in the power of the othermen to get me out. On the next occasion, we let downa dozen men safely. But there still remains the possibilitythat excavation might clear up the puzzle as to the connectionof Elden Hole with other swallets and caves inthe vicinity. The old miners believed that it had communicationwith the natural chambers in the SpeedwellMine; and that is a problem which will entail explorationin collapsible boats along the flooded levels. The greatchasm in the Speedwell, which used to be reputed bottomless,has been proved to be only 90 feet deep. It has anupward extension, in the same steep rake, which has notbeen climbed, nor its top so much as caught sight of. Itattains a height, most probably, of at least 400 feet. That isa problem worthy the mettle of our most skilful cragsmen.In the Blue John Mine, a vertical fissure has been climbed,by a party properly roped up, to the height of 130 feet,[39]between walls splendidly adorned with polished and translucentstalagmite. Ladders may sometimes be rigged up,one above another, to reach hollows in the roof of caves.In this way a handsome grotto was discovered above PeakCavern. When these vertical fissures are open to the sky,it is a simple matter to fix tackle, and even a windlass, forletting men down. When they open in the floor of a well-nighimpracticable gallery, as in the Eastwater Cavern,the difficulties of securing pulleys and ropes are serious.There our troubles are aggravated by the proximity ofdeep, gaping chasms at the foot of each pitch, lying inwait to receive falling bodies. Nevertheless, by an ingeniousarrangement of life-line and pulley, the entireparty gets safely to the bottom of the gulf and back again,although it is usual in such situations to leave a sentrybehind at the top. Grandest of all these undergroundcavities in England is the great chamber of Lamb's Lair,in the Mendips. The approaches and subsidiary chambersof that marvellous cavern are magnificent in the richnessof their incrustation and their colouring; but this mightyhall surpasses the rest by far. Floor, walls, and roof, ofa dome-shaped chamber 110 feet high, are a mass ofsculptured transparencies, fantastic reliefs and glowingenamel, all the colours of the rainbow being producedby the different veins of minerals. Only a strong partyof experienced climbers or cave workers, fully equipped,should venture to explore this fine cavern in its presentdangerous state.

No chapters inLes Abîmes are more absorbingthan those describing the exploration of undergroundwaters. By means of collapsible boats, M. Martel exploredthe concealed streams that tumble into the canyon of theArdèche. In 1890-91, M. Mazauric, with enormous toil andconsiderable danger, traced out the labyrinthine ramificationsof the Bonheur at Bramabiau (Gard). The Tindoul[40]de la Vayssière (Aveyron), with its yawning abyss andpowerful subterranean torrent, and the Causse de Gramat(Padirac), both entailed the descent of a deep chasm andthe navigation of large streams. At Padirac the exploringparty made their way in four boats along a river,with frequent portages caused by dykes of stalagmite,and discovered some of the most exquisite and romanticstalactite scenery in the vaults through which the riverflows.

As a sport, cave exploring ranks high. The exertionit entails is exceedingly severe. The innumerable obstaclesand difficult problems to be faced make incessant demandson our inventiveness, adaptability, and presence of mind.The exposure, the hardships, the dangers that must beencountered, form an admirable discipline. Those whoconsider these any detraction from the merits of the sport,must condemn, not one sport, but a whole class. Runningrisks, we must remember, is always foolhardy, but tonullify danger by means of science and skill is an aimworthy of the noblest kinds of sport. It will, of course, beobjected that the lack of exhilarating conditions, and ofthe stimulus of fresh air, deprives the sport of the usualbenefits of outdoor games. But the air at the bottom ofa cave 100 or more feet deep is usually as pure andsweet, and not seldom as dry, owing to its free circulation,as that on the hills. Then the darkness and the sense ofimprisonment, you say, are not conducive to healthy enjoyment.But a cave explorer, enthralled by the manifoldinterest and excitement of the pastime, will never admitthis. The variety of entertainment it affords constitutes apeculiar charm.

Only to judge by the number of climbers that havetaken up cave work as a pastime, there must obviouslybe a natural relation between this sport and rock climbing.Certainly, there are many methods common to the two[41]sports, and the expert cragsman has an immense advantageover others when he takes to cave exploring. Butthe methods and appliances of the mountaineer arerestricted by artificial regulations. There are manythings that must not be done, even to enable a climberto ascend an otherwise inaccessible peak or to avoidserious peril. In cave work, on the other hand, thedifficulties and dangers are multiplied so formidably bythe singular conditions, of which darkness is but one,that such prohibitions would be absurd. When one maybe called upon to climb a wall of mud, or a sheet ofslippery stalagmite, or to traverse water-swept rocks withan unfathomed pool or swallet underneath, every safeguardmust needs be utilised. Any mechanical means ofaccomplishing, facilitating, or expediting a passage islegitimate in cave work; ropes, pulleys, ladders of ropeand wood, windlass, rafts, boats, crowbar, pick, shovel—allthese, and an enormous variety of other things, have theirplace in the cave explorer's equipment.

One might write a volume on the equipment of caveexplorers. Hardly any other sport requires so formidablea variety. I must limit myself to a few words. Theexplorer's dress should be a boiler suit, made all in onepiece from neck to heel, and with no pockets or buttonsto catch in the jagged Limestone, plenty of both beingprovided inside. He must renounce any hankering afterwaterproof garments, the proper precaution against theeffects of wet being to wear thick woollen underclothing.His boots should be nailed after the manner of those wornby rock climbers. Candles are the best illuminant, muchbetter than any lamp—acetylene, electric, or other. Buta supply of magnesium wire should be carried, with waterproofedmatches in water-tight boxes; and a powerfullimelight, burning ether instead of hydrogen, for the sakeof portability, is a useful auxiliary. Boats have been used[42]in some of the caves in the Peak, in Wookey Hole, andin the cavern of Marble Arch, explored by M. Martel,in Ireland. Plenty of rope—not of the Alpine Clubmaterial, but hempen—is necessary, and a few ropeladders often come in handy. The only rule of thegame that I should like to insist upon is, that nodamage should be done to the beautiful features of acave. It is a rule observed by every cave explorer worthyof the name. The temptation to acquire specimens mustbe resisted.

The first thing that the cave explorer, eager fordiscovery, has to learn, is not to lose himself. In manycases no special precautions are necessary, but if thereare numerous bifurcations, specific measures must beadopted. Often it is sufficient to station a hurricane lampor a good-sized candle at the cross roads; a surer method,but one that is rather troublesome, is to unreel a threadas we advance. Such a cavern as Goatchurch, inBurrington Combe, Somerset, is a perplexing maze,where one loses one's bearings completely two minutesafter looking at the compass. The mass of the hill isshivered into innumerable fragments, of giant size. Passagesstriking off along the fractures often lead one backimperceptibly to the point of divergence. At the EastwaterCavern, in the same district, after I had alreadygone four times through the enormous aggregation ofshattered rocks at the top, where a human body is like abeetle in a heap of macadam, I tried in vain to make myway out without using the life-line. Although there isbut 100 feet of it, one takes half an hour to get through.The original explorers spent a much longer time indiscovering a practicable route. For my own part, I waslost in a few moments, and compelled to return. Theimprudence of two men in the Bagshawe Cavern, inDerbyshire, who went too far in advance in their anxiety[43]to be discoverers, led to an uncomfortable experience bothfor them and for their rescuers. This very extensivecavern has a number of ramifications. The two men whowere following reached a distant and unexplored part ofthe cave, only to find that they had missed their comrades,the sand and clay on the cave floor being still perfectlysmooth and untrodden. They failed to discover thewanderers in the neighbouring passages, and lost theirown way for a time before they got back, through thewinding tunnels, low-roofed fissures, and deep canals,crawling, scrambling, and wading breast-deep throughicy water, to the place where they had parted. Theyhoped the truants had found their way back, but therewas no sign of them, and preparations had to bemade for a second journey. After a fatiguing quest,that lasted several hours, they found the missingadventurers in a remote part of the cavern, nursingtheir last shred of candle and waiting to be rescued.The experiences of some youthful explorers in WookeyHole, who found themselves on dangerous groundand all their matches gone, are described on anotherpage.

There is a romance about cave exploring that is almostunrivalled. The conditions of the sport are so weird andexciting, so strangely different from everything we areaccustomed to. To be so near to, and yet so far from, thescenes of our everyday life; to be launched on a voyageof discovery on an English river, or to be the first to gazeon some miracle of fantastic crystallisation only a fewmiles away from a large town—these are among theattractions of the sport, at least in its present stage.There is nothing in this country to compare with theprodigious caves of Kentucky or the terrific subterraneandefiles of Adelsberg. One might as well lookfor the magnificence of the Alps among our English[44]mountains. Yet the caves and gulfs of Derbyshire andYorkshire have a grandeur of structure and diversityof character, and the Somerset caves a brilliance ofcrystalline deposits, that are fully as admirable andimpressive.

EXPLORING WOOKEY HOLE

"Where Albion's western hills slope to the sea,
There is a cave, and o'er its dismal mouth,
Whence come to quick, mysterious ears hoarse sounds
Of giant revelry, the ivy grew
And shut the old sepulchral darkness in;
And by its side a well, whence ever full
And ever overflowing, silent, deep,
And cold as death, the waters creep
Adown the broken rocks in search of day.
Above it frowns a fretted, stony brow,
And only from the setting sun e'er came
Within that place the joyfulness of light."

Hardly anywhere else in Britain is the mind bornedown with such a sense of incalculable antiquity as atWookey Hole. Nowhere, certainly, is there anything likesuch a continuous record from ages inconceivably remote.To touch first of all upon periods that are historical andmeasurable, we have the name Wookey, which appearsto be the one bestowed by the ancient Britons; for it is arecognisable corruption—especially as the people of thedistrict sound it, "Ookey"—of the Celtic Ogo, a cavern,the same word, Ogof, as the modern Welsh still applyto several caves in the Principality. Clemens Alexandrinus,in the second centuryA.D., has a reference to the cavern,and there are periodical allusions in Latin and Englishwriters from that time to the present. In the MiddleAges its fame as one of the wonders of England was great.William of Worcester has a quaint description; he says,"Its entrance is narrow, and the ymage of a man stands[46]beside it called the Porter, of whom leave to enter theHall of Wokey is to be obtained." What became of thisjanitor is now unknown, unless he be represented by therecumbent monolith still to be seen outside the portal.References to the antiquities of Wookey Hole occur inLeland'sItinerary and in Camden'sBritannia, andthere is incorporated in Percy'sReliques a ballad, byan eighteenth-century virtuoso, Dr. Harrington of Bath,entitled "The Witch of Wokey," recounting an old legendof the neighbourhood.

"In aunciente dayes, tradition showes,
A base and wicked elfe arose
The Witch of Wokey hight."

So it begins, and goes on to relate, in the sham antiquestyle of the day, how a malevolent old woman was for hermisdeeds changed to stone by a "lerned clerk of Glaston."The Witch, a black, aquiline profile in stone andstalagmite, is with her culinary utensils the chief attractionto sightseers in the first great chamber, or, as it is sometimescalled, the Witch's Kitchen.

It is impressive enough to stand beside the verymodern-looking paper-mill, where the infant Axe, stilldazzled by its sudden entry into the sunlight, is harnessedto assist in the manufacture of such workaday commoditiesas Bank-note paper, and to see before one thingsthat carry the memory back all those stages; yet it is butthe last few pages of the voluminous history that we areconsidering now. Professor Boyd Dawkins, who won hisspurs as a palæontologist by his researches at WookeyHole, discovered in the neighbouring Hyæna Den, whichis really a branch of the old cavern, human and animalremains whose antiquity, compared with the periods justreviewed, is as the age of Stonehenge compared with thatof a man. In the less known passages of the Hole itself,[47]such relics have constantly been found in the course ofour investigations. Potsherds, celts, bone implements, thecarbonised embers from ancient hearths, all sorts of refuselying in odd corners, have continually brought us, as itwere, face to face with the time when man was little morethan the king of beasts. Whosoever would read in thedeeper chapters of this vast chronicle must be referredto the fascinating pages ofCave Hunting; there will beonly an occasional glance at the human history in thisrecord of a different class of exploration. Palæontologicalresearch has not been our object. Several of my companionshave made some valuable discoveries in this line,and are intent on making more; but my own originalmotive, and that of several others, was the sport, as muchas the scientific results, to be enjoyed in endeavouring towork out the great problem of the waters that have madethemselves a road through the underworld of Mendip, andfound an escape from bondage at Wookey Hole. Thiscavern has been known so long and so familiarly, that itmust have seemed as if there were nothing more to befound out about it. It will, surely, be a surprise to manyto learn what important additions have recently beenmade to the extent of its known and accessible passages,and what progress there has been in explaining the secretsof its water system. We are, in all probability, on thebrink of yet more startling revelations.

Drayton complained, in "Polyolbion," that the renownof the Devil's Hole in the Peak of Derbyshire, then as inthe present day, had robbed the Somersetshire cave ofsome of its glory.

"Yet Ochy's dreadful Hole still held herself disgrac'd
With th' wonders of this Isle that she should not be plac'd:
But that which vex'd her most, was that the Peakish Cave
Before her darksome self such dignity should have."

Many things here bring to mind the Derbyshire cavern,[48]which several of our party had explored pretty thoroughlybefore we did any serious work in Somerset—the approachalong the deep wooded ravine cut through the DolomiticConglomerate, the river pouring out from vast reservoirswithin the earth, the legendary associations, and themystery shrouding the stream's subterranean course.From the drainage area about Priddy, 700 feet above,on the top of Mendip, these waters find their way downthrough a multitude of channels. Most of these passagesare quite unknown, but the two most important, of whicha good deal will be said presently,—the Eastwater Swalletand Swildon's Hole,—have been explored to a considerabledepth. In the latter we have got to a depth of 300 feet,but natural obstacles and other difficulties have preventedus from following the stream-course farther. Mr. Balchhas traced the Eastwater Swallet, which he opened in 1902,to the depth of 500 feet below the point of absorption—almost,that is to say, down to the level of Wookey Hole;but an enormous thickness of rock still remains unexploredbetween the farthest points attained, from below upwardsand from above downwards. Most likely, when we getfarther, if we succeed in passing the present obstacles, weshall soon find ourselves entering the canals and watercaverns that lie on the same level as the great naturalreservoirs of Wookey Hole; in other words, we areapproaching the plane of saturation. Exploration in theEastwater Swallet is still being carried on, though perforcevery slowly; and concurrently therewith, efforts are beingmade, not without success, to trace the passages in thelower cavern farther and farther back.

The summer tourist, conducted through the threeprincipal chambers of Wookey Hole by a guide armedwith a can of benzoline, for making stalagmites intotorches, comes out having a very imperfect knowledgeof the geography of the cavern, and a totally inadequate[49]idea of its beauties. I well remember how little I wasimpressed by my first visit, under these conditions, manyyears ago. The weak illumination seemed to reveal onlythe proportions of some rather large cellars, pervaded byoily pools, into which the contents of the can were pouredand set on fire, producing an unearthly glare through thedarkness and the waters; and a number of dingy and unconvincingnatural effigies, black with the accumulationof soot. Our exploring party in March 1903 saw thesethings under an illumination such as had never beenkindled there before, and I for one was quite unpreparedfor the revelation of brilliance and spaciousness and beautythat we were to witness.

"Wokey Hole," says Bishop Percy, "has given birthto as many wild, fanciful stories as the Sybil's (sic) Cavein Italy. Through a very narrow entrance it opens intoa large vault, the roof whereof, either on account of itsheight or the thickness of the gloom, cannot be discoveredby the light of torches. It goes winding a great wayunderground, is crost by a stream of very cold water,and is all horrid with broken pieces of rock: many ofthese are evident petrifactions, which, on account of theirsingular forms, have given rise to the fables alluded to inthis poem," the story, that is, of the blear-eyed hag whowas turned into stone. This quaint description is truein every particular. The first cavern, or the "Witch'sKitchen," has a weird similitude to Gothic architecture.Arch springs from arch up to the lofty summit, and thewalls and vaulting are full of canopied recesses, with wildfoliations of glistening calcite wreathed from niche toniche.

Below us, as we enter, a broad deep pool stretchesaway into darkness. Could we follow the gently movingcurrent in a boat, we should enter another great vault,whose existence the ordinary visitor never suspects.[50]There, in a small passage beyond the water, Mr. Balchdiscovered human remains. Whilst we peered into thegloom, the limelight was burning up, and now it flashedacross the cavern to where the black scowling head of theWitch overshadows terraces, basins, and wild imageries ofspectral stalagmite.

"A glow! a gleam!
A broader beam
Startles those realms of endless night,
While bats whirl round on slanting wing,
Astonished at this awful thing.
The rocky roof's reflected rays
Are caught up in the waterways,
And every jewelled stalactite
Is bathed in that stupendous light,
One moment only; then the caves
Are plunged again in Stygian waves;
The fairy dream has passed away
And night resumes her ancient sway."

The Vicar of Whiteparish, near Salisbury, wrote theseexpressive lines after seeing Wookey Hole lighted upwith magnesium. Our beam of light was less transitory,and gave us ample leisure to contemplate the gloriesof this magnificent chamber. Its walls for the most partare coloured a rich red, which absorbs light readily andmakes photography a slow business. The first exposuretook half an hour. Against the warm red, the pearlystreaks of stalactite and stalagmite shine in exquisiterelief. There is a superb mass of stalactite near theWitch; to say truth, the eye is confounded by the wildgrouping of fantastic piles of dripstone around thatuncouth head; the colours of the rocks and the flashingcrystallisations are reflected in the pellucid water, andconfused again with our glimpses of the river-bed, smittenby the moving shaft of light. On the nearer side of thecave, where a narrow arch leads into an incrusted grotto,a gentle stream has deposited a fairy-like series of fonts[51]and stoups, ending in a pure white sheet of dripstone,over which the water murmurs. The surface of all thesefabrications is diapered over with a network of delicatepearly ridges; so that here you see a mass, as it were, ofpolished brain coral, and there madrepores and alcyonaria,where the deposits have continued their growth underwater. Some of these efflorescences are like petrifiedfilaments of water weed. The foul scurf and soot thatcovers the Witch's cooking apparatus and other accessorieswould, doubtless, disappear under a fresh deposit ofpristine white, would the guides but cease for a twelvemonthto drench them in benzoline, for the delectationof such as love conundrums in stone. Still, these thingsare but a small part of the scenery, when all is lighted upas we were able to light it. Our work done, a Bengal firewas set off, and the glimpses it gave us along the waterwayto the inaccessible chamber beyond added vastnessand mystery to the scene.

The next chamber is a loftier vault, and the archingis more decidedly Gothic in its suggestiveness. Two lowarches at either side form the portals, far above which aseries of pointed arches spring to a height of 70 feet,their summits converging in a polygonal cleft, like thelantern of some cathedral dome. Then we make our wayacross the sandbanks, between the pools, into the largestchamber of all, with a roof of enormous span, whosebreadth dwarfs its height, arching over the sleeping riverand the broad slopes of sand, whereon grotesque Limestonemonoliths take the likeness of prehistoric monsters sleepingby the waterside. Through the clear water we candiscern a submerged arch communicating with moredistant caverns. There is a tradition, coming down fromthe mediæval historians, that unfathomable lakes liebehind the barrier. This is probably true in so far as itpoints to the existence of enormous reservoirs of water[52]beyond the accessible parts of Wookey Hole, the theorybeing confirmed by the behaviour of the silt at flood time.Were the hatches belonging to the paper-mill opened, andthe water lowered a few feet, an attempt might be madeto solve these problems. Mr. Balch did, in fact, at a timewhen the water was partially lowered, make his way intotwo unexplored chambers, fed by tunnels submerged a footor so below the surface.

The older and the newer caves and passages of WookeyHole lie at five levels, one above the other like fivestoreys, the topmost of all representing the oldest channelof the subterranean Axe, which has in the course ofages forsaken first one and then the other, boring freshpassages in the Conglomerate. Of these five storeys, onealone, the nethermost, is known to the uninitiated visitor.Portions of the other four had been explored from time totime by Mr. Balch, who in 1903 made such discoveries ofunknown continuations as fill us with hopes of penetratingdeeply into the mysterious region beyond. Climbing intothe Upper Series from a spot near the threshold of theWitch's Kitchen, we made our way eastward over dry rocks,and came speedily to the junction with another passagefrom nearer the cave mouth. Only a thin leaf of rockseparates the two, for it is characteristic of all these upperpassages that they run almost parallel to each other whilstrising to other levels. Altogether, we doubled back onour original direction three or four times, creeping throughholes in the walls partitioning the corridors, and ascendingto the top of several lofty bridges, formed by fragmentsthat have fallen from roof and walls and wedged themselvessecurely. The construction of these bridges is oftenmarvellous to see. In one case a number of rocks forman irregular arch, at the top of which a keystone wedgesthe whole cluster together. Obviously they must havefallen and come together practically at the same instant.[53]This was what happened hard by with two great bouldersthat fell down the rift and caught each other in mid-air.Another impressive natural structure is known to explorersof Wookey Hole as the Spur and the Wedge. The hugehorizontal peak of Limestone projecting into the chasmbrings to mind a famous passage in Mr. Rider Haggard'sShe. This spot was the scene of a droll adventure thatbefell one of my companions years ago. With severalother boys, he wandered into these passages, whensuddenly the one candle they had with them went out.A boy had been commissioned to bring a supply of matches,but it was ascertained that he had only one left, which onbeing struck promptly went out. In this emergency, thelads could do nothing but sit still until help arrived. Theyhad no food, and in trying to feel the time, they broke thehands of the only watch. They computed that they hadbeen in durance three days when the rescue party reachedthe spot, but the protracted and hungry period of waitingturned out to be only eight hours. Their resting-placewas the flat back of the pinnacle, with a 60-foot drop onone side and jagged rocks on the other.

In two places in these galleries there are fine displaysof stalagmite on the wall, in the form of corrugated sheets,the ridges of which, stained red with ferrous deposits, hangstraight down like a series of organ pipes. The wallsglisten here and there with minute crystals. But themost striking sight is where the Dolomitic Conglomerate,of which the walls are composed, appears in clean-cutsections. One of these, which has been successfully photographed,shows the differently coloured pebbles, chieflyMountain Limestone with a few of Old Red Sandstone,embedded in the matrix, and surrounded with distinctlayers of cement, all as brilliantly defined as the concentricrings of an agate. Hard by is a corner where Mr. Balchdiscovered the bones of a man; they were mineralised,[54]but it was impossible to tell their period, or even whetherthey represented an interment, or were merely the remainsof some wanderer from his tribe who had perished in thisforlorn spot.

Sleeping bats hung from many a coign, and would notbe awakened even when lifted down. Big cave spiderscrawled over the walls in the parts adjoining the open air,where the breeze found its way in, although we could notsee through the narrowing crevices. Here and there thecocoons of the spiders hung from the roof in white, woollyballs. At the farthest point reached was a settlementof jackdaws, with a number of untidy-looking nests,and there we could hear a thrush singing in the treesoutside; for we were close to the main cliff, and the riverwas flowing out beneath our feet, under a great thicknessof rock.

By the natural falling in of the roof, the first greatchamber of Wookey has broken through into the galleriesabove, and certain passages of the Upper Series now openhigh up in the vault of the Witch's Kitchen. One ofthese openings has been known for years; another, whichwe reconnoitred carefully in March 1903, has now had itsbarrier of cave earth cut through, with the result that agroup of stalactite chambers of wonderful beauty has beendisclosed, with untold possibilities of further advance.Boxing Day 1903 was spent in an exploration of thesenew chambers. Climbing on my shoulders, Mr. Balch gothand-hold in a chink of the Limestone, and pulled himselfup 10 feet. Here a stalagmite peg held the rope ladderwhilst we clambered after, entering a cross gallery thatgives access by another short scramble to the loveliest ofthe new grottoes. When the discovery was made, Mr.Balch and his assistants had to keep watch and ward dayand night, until a door had been fitted up, and every holeand crevice securely blocked; for the entire village was[55]quickly on the scene, and irretrievable damage might havebeen committed.

The grotto is irregular in shape, and the incrustationsare disposed without order or system. From every nookand corner in the superimpending rocks bundles ofstalactite spears are thrust; bosses and pillars spring fromthe floor, and sometimes meet the descending shafts. Ofall these frail pillars, the finest, rising on the very edge ofthe rift we had ascended, seems to support the wholeponderous roof, like the fragile column left by a dexterousarchitect, to cheat the eye, in some cathedral vestibule.Certain of these hanging shafts are shaped like the barbedhead of a spear, a slanting stalactite having interceptedand coalesced with the dripping calcite from an inch or twoaway. A creamy, brownish yellow, with a golden lustrelike that of amber, is the prevailing tint; but, here andthere, plaques of dazzling white shine out against theburning magnesium.

Crawling in and out among the stalagmite pedestals,grievously afraid of injuring the diaphanous fabric, weemerged in a very low chamber of great area, right acrosswhich a grille of translucent rods, each a foot high andranged in regular line, fills the narrow space between roofand floor. This extraordinary and strangely beautifulrailing is some 30 feet long, and only in one spot is itpossible, by dint of careful wriggling, to pass between therods into the farther parts of the chamber. Mr. Balchentreated me not to attempt this. When he tried it, afortnight ago, he had indeed got through to the series ofcaves beyond, but, in returning, a projection had caughthim at the lowest spot, where the chamber is only nineinches high, and he had struggled hard for twenty minutesbefore he could move an inch. Two of us, notwithstandingthis advice, ventured through. After draining off apool of water that was held back by a thin rim of dripstone,[56]we traversed the low chamber and a short tunnelbeyond, climbed a vertical cleft, and entered another lowchamber of immense length and breadth, whose variousextensions we explored until the accumulated deposits ofboulders and cave earth stopped our advance for the timebeing. In returning through the tunnel and the lowchamber with the grille, we tried successfully to diveunder the archway and wriggle into the opening headforemost, in spite of two opposing stumps of stalagmite.By these tactics we escaped the worst of the squeeze.

Whilst engaged in this excursion, we had heard thesound of hammering somewhere away in the heart of therock. It was our three friends attempting to break intoa promising gallery, which ought to cross the vestibule ofthe main cavern and connect the two groups of uppercaves. We were not long in joining them; and now withpick, hammer, and crowbar we attacked the barrier inforce. The chief obstacle was a great flat rock standingon end across the unexplored opening, and propped upby a heap of boulders, which we gradually smashed upor removed to one side. Still the big fellow would notbudge, and we had to sap his foundations by degrees.Yet this huge rock was but a fragment that had fallenfrom the edge of a vast and threatening leaf of rock, whichnow hung over our heads like a monstrous guillotine.The upper caves are waterless, and it soon became desirableto send one of our number to fetch us a drink.Presently we heard a plaintive cry from the distance:his candle had gone out, and he had forgotten the matches.Going to the rescue, I found him groping about on a shelfof rock, 30 feet from the floor, hard by the Spur andWedge; he had lost his bearings altogether. On hisreturn, we made another onslaught upon our rockyadversary, the five of us sitting on his shoulder and pushingagainst the wall, whilst our leader waxed grimly[57]facetious as to what would happen to us if the shockbrought down the guillotine. Slowly and painfully wetilted the mass of rock over, but only a few inches, leavingjust room enough for a thin man to crawl behind.Squirming eagerly into the opening, I looked under, andwas disappointed to see that, if wide, it was still heapedright to the crown of the arch by the rubbish flung therelong ago by the river. Nevertheless, Mr. Balch was notdissatisfied. Though parts of these ancient waterwaysare choked with débris, it is unlikely, nay impossible, thatthe main channels should not remain open. Our day'swork had taken us on another stage in our slow journey.The labour of removing the new obstacle will be considerable,but the result is sure.

In 1904 we had the pleasure of escorting that veteranspeleologist, Monsieur E. A. Martel, through the old andthe new caves at Wookey Hole. About the same timeefforts were made anew to force a way into unexploredterritory, with not uninteresting results. Many hourswere spent one day by three of us in a hole that we haddiscovered just within the doorway of the cavern, a thingthat had most unaccountably escaped observation hitherto,though right under our noses. The opening pointed inthe direction of the lower cave mouth, where the Axecomes out; but it certainly did not look very promising.Crawling in, we found ourselves in a steeply descendingpassage, almost completely choked by stones and caveearth. But at the end of the first portion it was noticedthat the floor dropped suddenly, indicating a chamber orgallery below. An afternoon was spent in the laborioustask of shifting rocks, small stones, and earth, and passingup the fragments, great and small, from hand to hand,until they could be placed in safe positions near the mouthof the hole. Eventually, an ancient channel through thesolid rock was disclosed, and at the end of 60 feet or so[58]a broad low chamber appeared, floored with rocks andearth, and roofed in with solid rock at a height of 12or 14 inches. Pushing on, the leader speedily found hewas jammed between floor and ceiling, and could go nofarther without more engineering; but an elder wand wasprocured, a candle tied to the end of it, and this rough-and-readytorch being pushed forward, it was possible tosee some 35 feet ahead into the low chamber, in thedepths of which a row of spiky stalactites stretched acrosslike an alabaster grating.

To explore this chamber thoroughly, it will be necessaryto hollow out a passage in the soft floor. In alllikelihood, it crosses the present river-course at a levelonly a few feet higher. Quantities of pottery, bones,teeth, and fragments of charcoal were found in diggingout the obstacles. It seems most probable that the holewas stopped up by human agency in prehistoric ages;perhaps it was a place of sepulture. The obstacles werecarefully wedged together, and their removal caused muchdifficulty. It is not pleasant to lie on one's back in ahole, whose roof is only a few inches above one's face, andhave a block of Limestone rolled from end to end of one'sframe, without allowance for projections in either. In allseveral tons of material were shifted and carried out ofthe way. Much of the pottery had designs of a primitivecharacter worked on the surface; the more elaborate wasRomano-British. Considerable sections of amphoræ andother vessels have since been pieced together.

Next day I made a curious find at a point farther in.Where the path from the entrance rises over a bigaccumulation of rocks, just before it reaches the first greatchamber, a hole in the floor had been noticed. It had notbeen explored, but was waiting for someone capable ofstanding an exceptionally hard squeeze. The depthbeing uncertain, I had a rope tied on, and after a brief[59]struggle managed to get through the first hole, into acrooked passage of no great length, which brought medown to a small bell chamber. This had simply beenproduced by the piling up of huge quantities of rocks andstones on the floor of the original cavern, the wholestructure having since become thoroughly cemented andsolidified by the growth of stalagmite. There were manyteeth lying about, but the most interesting object was awooden bowl, slightly flattened out, and resembling thetop of a man's skull in shape and size. It felt soft, likea piece of cork, but was perfectly sound. What its agewould be one could not tell within a century or two. Itis now in the possession of Mr. Troup of Wells.

STRENUOUS DAYS IN THE EASTWATER
SWALLET

From two to three miles north of Wookey Hole, on thetop of the Mendip tableland, is a broad, shallow valley,surrounded on every side by higher ground. It is a grey,desolate tract, with few trees dotted over its surface, but athick belt of wood on the south, the dark green of whichin summer, and the black stems in winter, make thegrey landscape seem the more arid, gaunt, and desolate.The ruined engine house of a deserted lead mine does notadd to the attractiveness of the scenery. But that is soonlost to sight in the vastness of the rolling tableland, whichswells up in the distance to 1000 feet above the sea onPen Hill to the east, and again to the same height atPriddy Nine Barrows on North Hill, the general browntints of the heather and bracken showing that the Old RedSandstone comes to the surface on these and the othersaliences of the plateau. Within this shallow basin therock is Limestone, and the causes of the existence of avalley without any visible outlet for its drainage are atonce manifest. In many places the surface of the groundis scored and pitted by innumerable depressions of diverseshapes and sizes; roundish basins, steep funnels, craggytroughs with streams running in and disappearing, andmere dimples, grass-lined and perfectly dry. Throughthese swallets, or swallow holes, the whole of the drainagefinds a vent, and all the material excavated by the forcesof nature in the process of hollowing out this valley, has[61]been carried off in the same way. The work is still goingon. At Eastwater a little stream, flowing down a longravine, suddenly comes against a Limestone cliff, andbegins to burrow. Less than a mile away, anotherstream, big enough to be called a brook, pours into a cleftin the ground and is seen no more. This second swallowis known as Swildon's Hole, Swildon being a corruptionof Swithin. Years ago, in the course of a lawsuit, it wasproved that the waters about the village of Priddy, whichstands on the edge of this upland valley, find their wayinto the Axe, uniting their streams somewhere in theheart of the hill between this point and Wookey Hole.When there were storms on the hilltop, or the uplandwaters were fouled artificially, the Axe came out turbid.That the area drained by the underground Axe is a largeone is proved by the size of the river, which must beformed by the junction of a good many streams of thevolume of Eastwater and the Swildon brook. Probablythat area extends as far east as Hillgrove, where a seriesof swallets in a woodland ravine are now being enlargedby Mr. Balch, with a view to an exploration of the underlyingcaverns.

In 1901 Mr. Balch's party made a descent into Swildon'sHole, and got to a depth of 300 feet below the point ofabsorption, which is at the same level as the EastwaterSwallet and that at Hillgrove—that is, 780 feet abovethe sea. Difficulties having been put in the way of a morecomplete exploration by the owner of the field in whichthe swallet is situated, he turned his attention to theneighbouring stream of Eastwater, which, unfortunately,runs away through holes impenetrable to man, and thereforehad not promised so easy a route into the unknown.Undeterred by the obvious difficulties, Mr. Balch set towork early in 1902, and, as he describes, made his way atlast into the open passages underneath the swallet. In[62]the course of two or three visits he reached a point nearly500 feet below the cave mouth, and distant about 2000feet in horizontal measurement.

He invited a large party to descend with him on March18th, 1903, for a more elaborate exploration. Besidesthe leader, Mr. Balch, experienced cave explorers camefrom Oxford, Derby, Holmfirth, Glastonbury, and Wells.Driving up from Wells early in the morning, we donnedour overalls at the mouth of the swallet. Everything wasin readiness for the adventure, and at eleven o'clock orthereabouts the first man descended the artificial hole,20 feet deep, into the enormous accumulation of looserocks that extends for more than 100 feet into the headof the cavern. The blocks forming the sides of thisshaft, and many of those beyond its foot, had been carefullyunderpinned with timber. Everything bore witnessto the labour and perseverance spent in engineering anentrance. The baggage having been let down by a rope,we pushed on through the confusion of rocks by a maze ofpassages resembling the intricacies of the well-knownGoatchurch Cavern, at Burrington, although the rocks,instead of being huge rectangular masses, were shatteredinto the most irregular forms and sizes, leaving holesbetween scarce big enough for a human body to squeezethrough. The first explorers were two hours in finding away through this bewildering labyrinth. Some of ourmen went head foremost, others crawled on their backswith feet in front. The rocks were water-worn andjagged, and often so rotten with the action of water ladenwith carbonic acid, that a finger could be thrust in up tothe hilt, as into clay. We formed ourselves into a chainto hand on the luggage; this was a trying business, forwe were taking down more than 500 feet of rope, besidesa pick, a shovel, a bucket, various steel pulleys, anample stock of candles, and provisions for three meals, to[63]humour which through these unaccommodating passageswas worse than coaxing one's own body along. Bothhorizontal and vertical openings occurred here and there,and had to be avoided carefully, one of the most importantof these being a flood-way formed by thestream entering the swallet. It was curious to find awithy stick making desperate efforts to put forth leavesin the darkness, and succeeding in producing a longwhite sprout.

Suddenly the noise of falling water was heard, and theleading men called for the rope ladder. The masses ofloose rock end abruptly. To the right a steep tunnel,called the 380-foot way, carries a small stream down; tothe left is a large, irregular chamber; and beyond it, themain passages of the cavern. The ladder being secured,each man resigned himself to the inevitable drenching, anddescended into the rugged cave at the head of the 380-footway. A camera was got down so far, but most ofthe apparatus was left at the parting of the ways. Ourroad was now decidedly easier. The water-channel wasrugged, but the roof rose fairly high, and there were fewboulders. A large tunnel, cut in the solid rock, broughtdown a tributary stream on the right; on the other side,a horizontal tunnel was marked down for further investigation.The real termination of the 380-foot way has notbeen discovered. At present there is no passing beyonda choke of stones and gravel that fills it nearly to theroof; but Mr. Balch proposes to remove this.

We returned to the horizontal tunnel. It led intoan extensive sloping chamber whose shape is peculiarlycharacteristic of this cavern. Roof and floor, roughlyparallel, are inclined at an angle of fifty degrees. For along distance there was space to creep along under theroof, then the space grew less, and at length the leadingmen shouted that they could get no farther. Being rather[64]slighter in build than those who were in front, I made aneffort to pass them, and succeeded by clambering along ata higher level. A hole between some choke-stones and astalactite gave me admittance to a continuation of thisextraordinary chamber. Then, dropping into a dry water-channel,I wriggled downward and downward, followingthe noise of some dislodged stones that rattled away to aconsiderable depth. At last I found it impossible to getany farther, though two more feet would have led me intoa sudden widening that looked rather promising. Thenext man behind was unable to get within 50 feet ofthis point.

After an exceedingly painful journey back to themouth of the tunnel, we sat down to lunch, beforere-ascending the rope ladder, and carrying our baggagethrough a series of awkward holes and pits, all delugedwith water, into the big chamber at the head of the mainpassages. In this chamber, whose walls, floor, and roofare formed of gigantic blocks seemingly on the point ofcollapsing, is an opening in the roof, through which astream comes tumbling in. At the farthest corner therefroma large opening leads to the bottom of a chimney oraven. Great quantities of clay on walls and roof showthat this cavern has frequently been filled with waterthrough the choking up of the lower exit. The streamruns away into the rocky floor at the lower end of thecave, and a few feet above it is a flood-way, a short, lowtunnel, through which we crawled. Then begins one ofthe most interesting portions of the cavern. In one ofthose broad, low-roofed fissures, inclined at the same angleof fifty degrees as the general dip of the strata, and formed,in fact, by the widening of a bedding-plane in the Limestonestrata, a deep, winding channel has been cut by thestream we have just passed. It has been called, from itslikeness, the Canyon. For a considerable distance our[65]path lies down the Canyon, and with our heavy burdenswe find the passage far from easy. As far as possible, wekeep near the top of the ravine, straddling across. Sometimes,however, there is no help for it but to drop right tothe bottom. Before we reach its termination, we have toclimb out on the smooth, sloping floor of the main fissure,and wriggle forwards lying on our sides or on our backs.Foot-hold and hand-hold being singularly scarce hereabouts,we shall find this one of the most troublesome placesin returning. On the right, we have a glimpse through ahole here and there of another great low-roofed fissuresloping at the same angle; then there are cross roads,with a tunnel on the left admitting to a stalactite chamber,and a passage on the right leading to the lower end ofthe Canyon.

We now reached the most constricted portion of themain channel. It is a low, roundish tunnel, with an Scurve at the distant end. A good deal of our locomotionmight be likened to crawling through drain-pipes; wewere now coming to a sort of trap. The S bend has tobe taken with the body lying on its right side. Once init, the explorer cannot turn round, since the diameterevery way only just admits a human body, and the threecurves are close together. My candle went out half-waythrough, and to unjam my arm and get it down for thewaterproof matches was a difficult and protracted operation.Moving the luggage through was a very severe task,the width of the hole at one spot being only nine and ahalf inches.

We issued into a good-sized passage. Immediatelyon the left a twisting fissure went down to the head of thefirst perpendicular drop; but, leaving this for a while, wespent nearly an hour exploring the lofty chamber straightahead of us. It rises to an unknown height in a verticalfissure, narrowing gradually. At the bottom is a deep[66]cutting, which some of us passed by back and knee work,at a height above the floor. On the left, that is the eastern,wall are openings into a parallel tunnel with good stalactites.At the far end both this tunnel and the passageitself are blocked with clay and gravel.[3] On our secondvisit, a day or two later, I explored a tunnel in the otherwall 10 feet from the floor. It led into another of thevast sloping fissures already described, which I was toomuch exhausted to explore very far. These fissures, allinclined at the same angle, and either parallel or else lyingin one plane, are most impressive features of the EastwaterCavern; their extent is evidently enormous, and it seemsas if only a few frail pillars of jammed stones served toprevent the great mass of the hill from settling down andcrushing roof and floor together. On a more minutesurvey it may turn out that these are all portions of onehuge fissure, merely partitioned off by different chokes.

It was four in the afternoon when we entered thetwisting fissure leading to the first vertical descent, andtwo of the party had now to return. Through an oversightin not bringing a short rope for harnessing the pulley,nearly two hours were spent in rigging up the tackle,the situation being awkward for letting men down safely.We were ensconced in a little chamber, the boulder floorof which opened into the top of a narrow rift wideningdownwards, where, about 60 feet beneath, the wallsfunnelled into a yawning pit 60 feet deep. This pit hadbeen explored previously, and was found to be choked atthe bottom; it formed a safe and certain receptacle foranything lost or dislodged by persons descending the cliffabove it. The configuration of our hole was such thatonly one man at a time could get a steady pull on the[67]life-line, which ran over a pulley. A manilla rope wastherefore let down from the same belaying-pin, for a manto climb up and down by, so far as he was able, the life-linebeing used merely as a safeguard. One by one theexplorers dropped over into the abyss. The last three orfour had the best of it, since, with a hauling party below,full use could be made of the pulley.

We were now drawing nigh to the final tug of war.A quarter of an hour of indescribable wriggling broughtus to a narrow and lofty rift, into which as many of theparty as it would accommodate wedged themselves, rightover the second vertical drop. Much the same tacticswere resorted to here, save that, instead of a fixed pulley,each man in turn had a large steel pulley belted to him,through which ran 200 feet of rope, one end fixed to awedged boulder beneath us, the other end in the handsof the hauling party. A 90-foot manilla was, as before,allowed to hang free, as a guide-rope, over the crags, andenabled each man to do something for himself and assistthose above. Only four men essayed this last descent.

The gigantic cavity into which we now dropped is oneof the most savage and impressive things it has ever beenmy lot to see. At the top, over the heads of the haulingparty, it runs up into the rocky mass of the hill as avertical chimney, under the mouth of which lay whatappeared to be a deep black pit. We alighted, one byone, on a sloping shelf that traversed the side of the cavityat a considerable height. Creeping along this ledge, wesaw at the end of it a huge cavernous opening descendinginto darkness, with a mighty rock wedged across it like abridge. The black, gaunt walls on each side of us werecraggy and rifted; their surfaces glistened with streamingwater. Our ledge ending abruptly, we dropped, handover hand, on the rope, to the edge of a large pothole,into which a stream was rushing. At this point a tunnel[68]goes off to the left, and, as it had not been explored, I wasasked by Mr. Balch to proceed down it. Two of us creptand clambered and slid down a very dirty watercourse,till, at a distance of perhaps 50 yards, we found ourselvesatop of a high clay bank, closely overhung by rocks,with a stream rumbling along to the south-south-west. Igot within 10 feet of the water, but without a rope to getus up again we would not venture farther. We had nowbeen in the cave nine and a half hours, and were too muchfatigued to undertake new work. It was ascertained,beyond reasonable doubt, that a fine series of potholesthat exist in the continuation of the great cavity mustdrain into the stream just discovered. Beyond those potholes,to pass which involves much hard work, is anothercavity, and beyond that what?—at present no one cantell. All we know is, that the water finds its way ultimatelyinto the vast reservoirs inside Wookey Hole; butwhether there are other vast cavities, or merely narrowcrevices and impassable clefts between, is a question thatwill require labours almost Herculean to solve.

In scrambling back along the ledge in the big cavity Igave the final shove to a dangerous loose rock weighingsomething like six hundredweight. It fell into the ravinebeneath, and hurtled onwards toward the chain of potholes,making the whole grim place ring with a crash ofechoes. It took us two hours and a half to return tothe cave mouth, although we were unencumbered withapparatus, for we had left the ropes and pulleys in placefor another descent. Getting seven men up the higherof the two vertical pitches was a tough undertaking at theend of an arduous day, and when we returned throughthe famous S tunnel more than one explorer seemeddisposed to snatch a sleep on its procrustean bed. Wehad been twelve hours underground when we revisited theglimpses of the moon.

It had been proposed to continue the exploration nextday, but no one was fit for such a repetition of exhaustinglabours. The day following, a party of three was musteredto recover the apparatus that had been left in the depths.Two of us reached the head of the nethermost pitch, andafter hours of severe work got everything up to the mouthof the swallet. Once more we drove back over Mendipin the dark. All around us on the desolate plateau wasimpenetrable gloom, but in the northern sky, and it seemedbut a few miles away, the lights of Bath and Bristol flaredacross the heavens like two immense conflagrations.Never does one feel the sublimity of the open, windyearth, the starry sky, and the free sense of space, soprofoundly as after striving for a long day to breakthrough the barriers that shut us out from the regions ofmystery under the hills.

SWILDON'S HOLE

An insignificant crevice, a hole scarcely wide enough totempt a dog or fox, alone gives admittance to what isperhaps the wildest and most magnificent cavern inBritain. Swildon's Hole, it has already been stated, liesat the same level, 780 feet above the sea, as the EastwaterSwallet and that of Hill Grove. It lies in a separatetrough, within the same basin as the Eastwater stream,with whose waters it unites somewhere in the bowels ofthe rocky hills, to flow out of Wookey Hole as the riverAxe, of which it may be considered as the principalfeeder. A few years ago the actual swallet was visible,the brooklet running away into holes under a bank ofearth and rock crowned with foliage. More recently, inorder to make a small fish pond, the landowner has madea dam above the swallet, which is entirely concealed bythis means, an entrance remaining, however, into the mazeof cavities and waterways through a narrow crevice at theside. Mr. Balch was the first person to recognise the importanceof Swildon's Hole as a chief feeder of the Axe,and in 1901 he made preparations to explore it. Butthrough some delay, three members of his party were thefirst to enter the cave, without him—namely, Messrs. Troupand H. and F. Hiley. A short while after, Mr. Balch wasable to carry out a more extended exploration. Then forsome time no one entered the swallet, which graduallybecame choked with stones and litter brought down bythe stream. Very few had ever heard of the cave, and[71]hardly anyone realised that one of the most beautifulpieces of underground scenery in Britain was lying thereunseen, and one of the most important of hydrologicalproblems remaining quite unsolved.

The next visit took place about Christmas 1904. Mr.Troup, who had been one of the first in the cave, took thelead of our party. My other companions were Messrs.Bamforth and E. E. Barnes, but we expected to be joinedsome hours later by Mr. Balch and Mr. Slater.

When the first explorers entered this cavern somelittle while ago, they met with serious difficulties owing tothe presence of ancient chokes or dams that held backpools of water, but they were assisted by the dryness ofthe weather. We, on the contrary, made our descent aftera period of heavy rains, and the volume of water thataccompanied us down was twentyfold as great. We hadone advantage, however: the original discoverers were withus to point the way. With luggage reduced to a minimum,two ropes, plenty of illuminants, food, and two cameras,we passed through the uninviting entrance, and attackedmethodically a close-packed mass of débris that had beenwashed into a narrow gut since the former visit.

Whilst we lay at work, the sound of falling water inthe depths below broke on our ears, a musical butominous salutation. The obstacle wasted two hours ofvaluable time. Wriggling through at last, feet foremost,our legs came out over the rift, a narrow chasm some20 feet deep, with the head stream of the caverntumbling in over a choke-stone at one end. Our goodswere let down carefully into the hands of the first man,who lodged them in a sheltered spot whilst we scrambledhastily down through showers of spray. Now begana painful advance into the depths. Along the tiltedbedding planes, down the perpendicular joints of theLimestone, widened by the water into broad, low chambers[72]and deep shafts and canyons, we forged ahead, hugging thestream, which grew larger and angrier as tributaries cameswishing in from walls and roof. At one point the waterswept horizontally along a straight canal, but was stoppedat the end by a recent choke, and now tumbled througha hole in the wall into a huge pothole. Through this layour road.

The water poured down a staircase of similar basins,where to keep clear of the stream was impossible. So farwe had kept tolerably dry, but as we clung to this wateryladder I pricked up my ears at the remark, "Will youhave your back or your stomach in it?" Crouching onall fours, with back pressed against the low roof, and lookingbetween my legs, I watched the performances of mycomrades, as each in turn went through the final archway.Not one escaped a severe wetting. But I was going tobe more wily—at least, I thought so. With hands andknees in the rushing stream, I squirmed hastily butcautiously through. I seemed to be getting on famously,and gave a spurt. That moment the rocks ended; theywere undercut. I found myself sliding down a waterfall10 feet high, and floundering in a big pool at the bottom.Drenched we were; but what better preparation could wehave for the troubles ahead? This part of the cavernshows traces of enormous changes in the course of thestream, which has planed down great masses of stalagmite,the growth of ages, when this section of the tunnels wasdry or all but deserted by the streams, which founda way down by the horizontal canal or some higherchannel. Between this first water-chute and the secondlies the most nerve-trying part of the journey to thefarthest point hitherto attained. It is a succession of loftyrifts, giving into each other at right angles, the watersweeping from one to the next through curving fissuresand sudden falls. For a while we kept above the canyons[73]on a water-worn shelf, all that remained of a low, flattishchamber that sufficed for the small streams of older times.This giving out, we scrambled along the cliffs of thecanyons, which seemed in the gloom without top orbottom, bestraddling the rift, or with feet on one side andback to the other pushing on from hold to hold. TheLimestone grips would have been amply sufficient for thismode of progression had they not been drenched andslippery. Below us the waters raced and bellowed. Atthe junctions of the canyons they sounded on all sides atonce; the invisible hollows all round seemed to be alivewith angry voices, mad to be at us. What if a thunderstormburst over Mendip now? Such thoughts wouldoccur, although we knew we could climb into safety onthe upper shelves of the canyon; for with a water-chuteabove and another below, a little flood would make usfast prisoners.

At the Well, the stream tumbles suddenly into a deepround pit, in which it is churned to foam before beingdriven out with accelerated speed along a rugged gorgeto the second staircase of potholes. Shreds of magnesiumribbon dropped into the Well lit up such a turmoil of watersas one might see in some gigantic turbine going at fullspeed. Two of us now went ahead to report on the conditionof the next stage. The gorge was too wide forclimbing, but we found a footing on the rocks in the bed,then squirmed through a narrow fissure, and began todescend the potholes. These were deep basins, with highwalls on the upper side where the stream poured in, andthe other side broken down by the force of the torrent.Below them lay the second water-chute, a big fall pitchinginto a hole underneath a low arch, and sliding out into aturbulent pool. It was a sort of culvert, with very littlehead-room above the water. Had we not come throughso many tribulations already, and had we not known of[74]the glories that awaited us in the great stalactite chamberbeyond this last trial, we should certainly have been turnedback by this obstacle. After some little hesitation weresolved to attempt it, and went back to the head of theWell for our companions. One of the cameras had alreadybeen left behind; it was decided to leave the other here.The leader went down the water-chute on his back; therest adopted all the other attitudes possible short of acomplete header. But it made little difference; all got amost effectual drenching.

Running the gauntlet beneath another tributary, whichcame swishing in just over our heads, we pushed on intoa high and ample chamber, where in times gone by avolume of water had accumulated in a sort of giganticcistern. The rocky roof was flat and smooth, its cracksand fissures fringed with meandering lacework of stalactite.In front, the rocky mole that once held up thereservoir was cloven into a series of Limestone seracs,between which the stream found its way down into theremoter cavities. Masses of clay, some 15 feet thick,deposited by the ancient waters, still flanked this ruggedportal into the unknown. Bones of sheep, cattle, horses,and lesser mammals lay about in profusion, enough toreconstruct whole skeletons; with them were the relics ofanimals now extinct on Mendip, deer and other creatures.Higher up sherds of Samian pottery had been found,brought down by the stream from the rubbish heaps oflong ago. What struck the imagination as still morewonderful was that in this sunless spot, 300 feet below thesurface, there were creatures that lived. Empty snailshells were abundant, but yet more plentiful were tinysnails that were actually crawling over the clay, feeding,no doubt, on water-borne vegetable matter. Gossamer-likewebs stretched across many chinks in the Limestone, butthe microscopic spiders we could not see. What flies did[75]they live on? Surely not the caddis, whose corpses layabout in plenty on every shoal.

From this chamber the stream quickly descends intothe great Water Rift, one of the most wonderful things inthe whole cavern. It is but a few feet wide, but its heightis enormous. The walls go up like mountain cliffs, but arelost in gloom instead of mist. Here tremendous changeshad taken place since the former exploration. At thattime the rift was blocked up in one place by a vastbarrage of rock and stalagmite, that came down to thestream and forbade human progress save by one straitand difficult way. At a height above the water a holeascended seven feet into the barrier, its orifice all but closedby a fringe of stalactites. Contriving to enter, the explorerscrept up this pipe, and down a corresponding oneon the other side, coming out on a cliff face overhangingthe continuation of the Water Rift, to attain the bottomof which was an abstruse gymnastic problem. A littlefarther on they reached the utmost limit of their journey,where the stream beats violently against the terminationof the rift, is hurled sideways, and finds an outlet througha low crevice, whence it tumbles in a 40-foot cataractinto an unknown pool. Our main object to-day had beento descend this 40-foot pitch; that was the reason whywe had encumbered ourselves with two long ropes. Butnow all was different. In the short interval that hadelapsed since the former visit, the strength of the ungovernabletorrent had swept away the whole of this vaststructure, the work of thousands of ages—for the Pyramidsare recent erections compared with these products ofunimaginably slow crystallisation. Hardly a vestigeremained; and now the current dashed unimpeded fromend to end of the Water Rift, and the incessant thunderof the cataract deafened ears already attuned to the noiseof the higher falls and canyons. Probably the removal of[76]stones and dams by the former party, in making theirway down, had contributed largely to this extraordinaryevent.

Nothing could be done in the face of such a volume ofwater. We turned, accordingly, out of the main passageinto a lofty gallery or transept that branches off to thewest, the general direction of the cavern being due south.To say it branches off is slightly incorrect, for it is reallythe course of a tributary brook, and quite possibly mayhave been in remote times the channel of the main stream.At all events its shape and magnitude indicate that it wasonce a very important section of the cavern. Scramblingcautiously along the sides of the toppling fragments of themole, we crossed a deep gap and entered the gallery. Atthe portal a great hollow corbel of stalactite stood out fromthe wall, like an enormous stoup, its huge rims curved overlike the petals of a flower. It stood there in solitarygrandeur, but it was a token of transcendent gloriesbeyond. A few more steps, and we saw that we were onthe threshold of a fane more beautiful than any made withhands. The rocks to right and left were sheeted withcrystalline enamel, its surface powdered thickly with aminute splash deposit, so frail that it gave one a twinge tocrush the lovely efflorescence as we moved. One couldnot go a step without destroying hundreds of these delicatespicules, the work of untold ages of water action. Moregreat corbels stood out from the walls as we advanced;they were richly moulded with concentric rings of stalagmite,and these again were carved and chased withwonderful reliefs. From the corbels sprang huge pillarsright to the roof, pillars 40 feet in height; and from theircapitals shining curtains hung down in ample folds, heavyas Parian marble, and as lovely in hue. One would havecalled them white, had we not seen, hanging from a clefthigh up in the lofty walls, a mass of curtains as white as[77]arragonite, the whitest thing there is. So dazzling wastheir immaculate purity that the rich creamy surface ofthe other incrustations showed dusky in comparison. Wewere veteran cave explorers, yet it seemed to us that allthe caves we had ever seen in Britain could no more viewith this than parish churches with cathedrals. Ateach turn there was a new and more enthralling vista:more pillars, ampler curtains, piers and arches of Orientalmagnificence, fluted and moulded into wildest fantasies.It struck one with a curious wonder to think that all thesesplendours had lain here unbeheld by living eye, untouchedby a gleam of light, until one casual year in the twentiethcentury.

But the photographer was exercised by other feelings.He was here, but where was his camera? It had seemeda Herculean labour to bring that much-enduring instrumentdown to the 300-foot level, but he declared thatthe task was not superhuman, and, furthermore, he wasdetermined to do it. He could not do it alone, however;that was obvious. The expedition, therefore, came downout of the stalactite gallery. Two went through the water-chute,two remained just outside it, to assist in the lastand most dangerous stage of the transportation. Wewaited a long time; in fact, we had leisure enough toexplore an interesting side gallery whilst the others madetheir way to and from the head of the Well. At last theirwelcome shout was heard. Standing in the water, withlight held low under the arch, we caught sight of a hand,and then of a wading and much-crumpled-up man, luggingthe camera, which he kept out of the foaming water withadmirable skill. We grabbed it, and put the preciousinstrument in a place of safety; ten minutes later theflashlight was at work, taking our breath away with itsgorgeous revelations. The photographer had his troubleseven here, though not such as to be compared with those[78]of the water caverns we had recently traversed, where atthis moment two of our party, following us down, wereengaged in photographing the canyons and the falls, underdifficulties that few cameras have ever been confrontedwith. Here there was no marble pavement suitable to thesplendours of the walls; nothing for the camera to standon but an inch or two of slippery ledge, with a depth ofmud in the middle that none of us cared to fathom. Theonly place that could be found at one spot for the flashlightwas the top of my unfortunate head, which Igenerously put at the photographer's disposal. On it waslaid a piece of stone, on which the gun-cotton was spreadand sprinkled with the powder, which, when it went off,made me shut both eyes for fear of the shower of sparks,and so I missed the glorious blaze of light that illuminedthe cavern.

These stately columns, soaring vaults, and sweepingmarble draperies were strangely out of proportion to thenarrowness of the place. But now the sinuous aislebroadened out, and the style of the architecture waschanged entirely. We were at the junction chamberwhere, in the remote past, two big streams came downfrom the yawning passages to the left and right, and methere, probably as the main stream of the cavern. Theroof is a spacious dome, hung with resplendent candelabra.But the unique feature of the place, the thing that impressesitself on the memory as one of the most dazzlingcreations of the wonder-working calcite, is the stalagmitebridge. Bridge, I say, but it is more than a bridge, forits complicated arches support a beautiful piazza, with ahuge array of dripstone terraces, crystal basins, massivepedestals, and obelisks of stalagmite, which all but fillsthe chamber and extends some distance up the alcovesbehind. Standing on one of the great hemispheres ofdripstone, one could put one's head among the pendulous[79]shafts above, and see how each was marvellously twisted,moulded, and fantastically embossed and gemmed withflashing crystals. The splash formation covered everythingbeneath the roof, save portions of the polished floor,with millions of tiny spicules. We had to move aboutcautiously, not only for fear of doing damage, but to avoidgaping pitfalls in the bridge, the surface of which wassmooth as ice.

Whilst we were at work photographing a distant shoutwas heard, and soon the two men who had followed usdown arrived at the big chamber. But our party wasagain reduced to its original four by the departure of twoother members, who were to go back by the aquatic routein order to pick up certain articles that had been depositedon the way down. We ourselves hoped to get to thesurface by another and a drier course. At the previousexploration two men had missed the rest of the party,and found their way, after divers adventures, through theramifications of the cavern, to what they described as agreat stalactite chamber, which was presumably ourgallery. When they reached it, however, no one wasthere, nor any trace of human presence; either theexplorers had finished their work and departed, or thepair had missed their way altogether. It was believedthat they had come down to this very spot by the galleryjoining this one on the north, and we purposed followingthat passage out. But this, as we presently discovered,was all wrong.

Two of us now went off on an exploring trip into thegreat passage running west. At once we encountered aseries of huge obstructions. This passage was of the usualrift pattern, and, save for holes and crevices between, waswholly blocked up by large masses of tumbled rocks.One of us climbed to the top of the Cyclopean pile, whilstI attempted to make my way along at the middle height,[80]but eventually found it easier to crawl through the culvertsand water-gaps, regardless of mud and wet. Even amongthe piled-up rocks there were charming little nooksadorned with rich incrustations. When the rocks endedthe open tunnel began to ascend rapidly; then, after awhile, we came to another tunnel joining it on the north.This, though smaller, was the more important passage;the other shortly came to an end in a lofty grotto, bountifullytapestried with curtains and tassels of stalactite. Weclimbed the northern passage, through several brilliantdisplays of incrustation, and reached a level approximately70 feet below the surface, by aneroid; there we could getno farther. But, unknown to ourselves, we had broughtback important information.

We had noticed mysterious bits of string at two pointsin this series. When we reported the discovery to thetwo men left behind, they at once saw its significance.The two men whose route down to the stalactite chamberhad caused so much perplexity had used a ball of stringto mark their way out—these were the relics. Our casualtrip had, perhaps, saved us from a night of blind wanderingin the unknown branches of the great tunnel on the north.All being in readiness for our departure, we now proceededto take up this providential thread. It was not an easytask. Often not an inch of string remained undecayedfor many hundreds of feet together, and often we nosedthe walls and floor, eagerly but in vain, for droppingsof candle grease left by our predecessors. The way wasdry, that was a relief, after six or seven hours in wetclothes; but it was a tighter squeeze than the other, andthe sharpness of the turns was often aggravated by aportcullis of crystals on our backs, and acheval de friseof stalagmite spear-heads against our stomachs. All thewhile we wondered whether we should really find theexit, or whether we should have to return and undertake[81]the canyons after all. Mr. Balch compared our task offinding the desired exit to an attempt to ascend from themouth of a river to some unknown point upon one of itstributaries, with nothing to indicate which way to take.This puts the position clearly enough, I think. Therewas no string to be found in the higher parts. At lastthe man in front disappeared feet foremost through theugliest hole we had yet seen, out of which the noise ofwaters sounded ominously. A cheering cry came back tous; he had found the rift, where we had descended sevenhours ago into the route through the canyons. A fewmore yards of determined wriggling, and the candle leftby the other two men hove in sight. We found they hadgot out two hours ago. The stars were shining from a clearsky, and a keen frost was on the fields, but the excitementand the success of our adventure were stimulant enoughto keep out the cold.

THE GREAT CAVERN AT CHEDDAR

The ultimate goal of our researches at Cheddar has beenthe discovery of the underground river-course. Not manyyards below the entrance to Gough's, or the Great Cavern,a large body of water wells up at the foot of a cliff,spreading out into a beautiful mere, half encircled bycrags; flows on thence through the village, performing agreat deal of industrial work on its way; and, finally,proceeds a mile or two farther as the Cheddar Water, tojoin its brother, the Axe, which has a similar origin. Butless is known about the darksome course of the CheddarWater than about the stream flowing out of Wookey Hole.With its tributaries, it has doubtless been the principalagent in the formation, not only of the caves, but also ofthe famous Cheddar gorge, which bears every evidence ofhaving been produced by the gradual destruction of aseries of caverns. Yet this important stream has actuallynot been met with hitherto at any single point of itscourse underground, and we have anything but completeinformation as to its sources on the uplands of Mendip.The owners of the Great Cavern, the Messrs. GoughBrothers, tell me that they intend to blast away about10 feet of rock immediately overlying the exit of the river.When the stream is very full, water often bursts forth herefrom cracks and joints several feet above the normal level,and they imagine that there must be a chamber of someheight just within. This, however, in my opinion, is nota necessary inference, since every cavity and crevice behind[83]the outlet would at such times be heavily charged withwater, under pressure, and the large cavities might be along way back. It is curious that the water in a lowtunnel recently discovered in Cox's Cavern, which liessome distance from Gough's, and at a lower level, risesand falls in unison with the movements of the water-levelof the river outside, although that always remains 10 feethigher. Cox's Cavern is occasionally flooded, yet thewater never rises to a point within 10 feet of the riverlevel. Obviously the subterranean connection must be ofa complicated and roundabout form.

At the time of my first serious attempt to explore thecaves of Cheddar, when our party contained Dr. NormanSheldon, Mr. J. O. Morland, and Mr. Harry Bamforth, twoof whom have not since been able to join us in Somerset,I had not the advantage of knowing Mr. H. E. Balch, andwe were utterly unaware of the great work he had beendoing in the cave region adjoining Wells. On the otherhand, we received invaluable assistance from the brothersGough, who are not only proprietors of show caves, buttake a sincere interest in underground exploration.Their father, who died in 1902, was the discoverer ofthe caverns that bear his name, and was actively atwork pushing his way farther and farther into the rockybosom of the hill up to the year of his death, at a goodold age.

The Great Cavern was discovered in 1898. The partsopen to visitors extend in a generally easterly directionfor some 600 yards, and consist of natural chambers andpassages, connected here and there by artificial tunnels.We began work early in the morning, carrying into thecavern a large quantity of ropes, ladders of wood and rope,and plenty of illuminants, including a 2000-candle-powerlimelight, which with its lens or condenser is one of themost valuable aids in subterranean work. Many openings[84]are seen overhead and in the walls of the cavern as thevisitor advances, some of which end abruptly, whilst otherslead into small grottos and galleries. One of the mostconspicuous chimneys, or perpendicular caves, has at itsbase a peculiar staircase of stalagmitic basins, formed bythe deposits of a calcareous spring that is now dried up.These basins are known as the "Fonts." Our conductorshad been in the habit of climbing about 50 feet up thislofty chasm, over the crust of stalagmite, and a wire ropehad been fixed to assist visitors in ascending to a broad,deep ledge. Above this point the rocks were muchsteeper. No one had ever succeeded in seeing the top,and at first we thought it would be impossible to ascendany higher without some sort of apparatus. We sent fora ladder, and meanwhile Dr. Sheldon and I tried toclamber over the jutting arch of rock that formed the firstobstacle—a cave-pitch in a gully or chimney we shouldcall it in climbing parlance. To our surprise, we succeededin reaching the continuous channel or gutter above it,which ascended at a high angle, with sheer walls to rightand left, and the other side of the huge shaft overhangingit. The holds were shallow and slippery, and with onehand grasping a candle we found the ordinary difficultiesof a rock-climb multiplied enormously. Half-way up mycandle went out, but my companion was now well ahead,and I groped my way after him with confidence. Whena shout from below announced that the ladder had beenhoisted up to the platform above the "Fonts" we werewithin a few yards of the top. At a height of 120 feet(by the aneroid) above this platform and of 170 feetabove the floor of the cavern we found the shaft completelyblocked up with débris and clay. We were in asubterranean pot, or swallet, of large dimensions, formedin remote ages by a big stream, which had worked throughits Limestone bed, and continued its path at a deeper level.[85]Whether this was the main stream that now flows in anunknown course hundreds of feet below, or only a tributary,it is at present impossible to tell. Mr. Bamforth's limelightwas now projected up the chasm, revealing grandmasses of superincumbent rock on the farther side, whilstthe view downwards, past our friends into the dark bottomof the pit, was very curious. Roping ourselves togetherfor the descent, we kept near each other for fear of a slip,and took the utmost precautions not to dislodge any stoneson the heads of those underneath. The limelight wasa great advantage, although many dark reaches had to becarefully inspected with a taper before we could securefoothold. When we got to the critical bit at the bottomwe found the ladder placed ready for us.

Not far from the entrance to the "Fonts" is the mouthof a low passage on the other side, with a hole at the farend of it, that our guides thought must communicatewith the underground river which, they conjecture, has itschannel not far below this spot. We crawled into thisburrow and fixed ourselves in the confined space roundthe black pit, which we found, by throwing in stones, hadwater in it. With a rope round my waist I climbed downthe fissure, whose sides were of sharply corrugated rockthough they looked like wet clay. About 30 feet down thehole grew so narrow that I could not turn round; I couldjust reach the water with my foot, but found that it wasquite a small pool. Another "well," nearer the cavemouth, was explored after our further operations had beencarried out. It was situated at the extremity of anotherburrow, but was much larger in circumference. Steadiedby the rope, I climbed to the bottom and found a largepool of great depth about 30 feet below the edge. Nocurrent was perceptible, and its connection with runningwater is hardly probable. Some years later, a perfectskeleton of a man was exhumed from the clay beneath[86]the stalagmite in this burrow; accompanying it werenumerous flint flakes. Some peculiarities indicate thatthe find was that of a man of early Neolithic age. It isshown by the Gough Brothers at the entrance of theircave.

While some of the party were photographing the"show place," a lofty dome-shaped cavern with its sheetof stalagmite poured over the cliff like a petrified waterfall,two of us retraced our steps from "St. Paul's," as thisbeautiful sight is nicknamed, to the branch leading to theother principal shows. "Solomon's Temple" is a wonderfulgrotto, walled, roofed, and floored with gleaming whiteand ivory calcite, and set at the top of another great fallof stalagmite which has flowed on and on in a gentlestream and covered the floor of a lofty cavern with dimplingwaves of crystal. Nor are these all its attractions,for on turning round the spectator sees on the oppositecliff a broad and voluminous sheet of stalagmite, ripplingdown, spouting and foaming over the rocks like a waterfall,but still as marble and white as frozen snow. Wehad seen all these things before, however, and were anxiousto move on to new ground again.

In the fork between the main passage and this bigcavern is a large irregular opening, with disorderly blocksof Limestone heaped up on its floor. We picked our wayacross these, and at a height of 40 feet reached the edgeof an abrupt rock some four yards high. We droppedover on to an earthy floor, and going a little farther foundourselves in a domical chamber with three low exits.First of all exploring that on our left, we had a look at aslanting shaft filled with a "ruckle" of big shatteredblocks wedged insecurely, above which are two smallchambers incrusted with stalagmite, but with no apparentexit. We climbed down again, and tried the third opening.It led through a series of caves and narrow clefts[87]into a larger chamber, all maintaining the same easterlydirection, and there we found two possible ways onward.The first of these brought us in a few moments to thebrink of a steep cliff, which seemed to be one wall of aconsiderable cavern. We preferred to wait for the limelightbefore venturing to let a man down into this unknownabyss, and meanwhile to examine the other passage. Afew minutes' crawling brought us to a great pit, whichsounded very deep when we threw in some fragments ofrock. Apparently it was the chasm that had beendescribed to us as 300 feet deep by one of our guideswho had descended part of the way. We approached theedge with respect, and as a preliminary step let down arope ladder into the upper part, which is strangely twisted.At a depth of 20 feet I found a possible landing-place;the second man joined me, and by dint of carefulmanœuvring the third got down to the same spot. Withan 80-foot rope tied on, I now explored the nextsection of the chasm, and was delighted to find that therewas just enough rope to reach a slope of big rocks at thebottom. A little more scrambling brought me into avast chamber, the floor of which was piled up withenormous blocks, while the lowest part seemed to offertwo possible routes onwards. One of these proved to bea mere hollow, but the other was evidently the channel ofa stream, and apparently led onwards into further caves.But the roof was extremely low, and it was quite impossibleto wriggle through. One of my companions, who had nowjoined me, also failed to squeeze through the opening, andwe decided to leave it until the hole could be enlargedwith pick and shovel. The alleged 300 feet was found byaneroid to be exactly 100 feet. In a corner of this loftycavern was a steep fissure which seemed to be well worthexploring. The bottom half of it was completely walledin by an enormous flake of Limestone that had come down[88]from the roof, and looked as if a touch would send ittumbling on the heaps of rock at the bottom of the cave.We scrambled up the fissure at the back of this, andreached a promising gallery; but, to our disgust, this wasentirely blocked up with clay and mud at the top, and itwas impossible to proceed. Gaining the summit of thehuge Limestone flake, we lit up the cave with magnesiumwire, and were deeply impressed by its height and thegrandeur of the shattered crags bristling on walls, roof,and floor. Everything was black, save one long, drippingcascade of stalagmite on the wall over against us; itsunsullied whiteness shone weirdly out of the gloom as thefierce light fell on it. Just at that moment voices wereheard, and from a rent in the rocky wall in front the intolerablebeam of the searchlight came right in our faces.The remainder of the party had followed us up, andreached the spot where we had first looked over into thedeep chasm. Revealed in all its extent by this penetratinglight, the cave reminded us strongly of the enormouschamber that we had explored a few months earlier in thelowest part of the Blue John Mine in Derbyshire. On theway back one of the acetylene lamps fell down the pit bywhich we had entered, and was completely smashed. Withno other mishap, we made our way through the tortuouspassages and amongst the chaos of tumbled rock massesback to the cavern under "Solomon's Temple."

Two of us explored the openings above "St. Paul's" afew days later. A 30-foot ladder was placed against thecorner of the stalagmite fall, and a yard or two of scramblingtook us to the top. On the left was an ascendingvault, with openings to right and left. Taking the latterto begin with, we found it gradually trend downhill anddwindle away into a series of holes scarcely big enoughto let a human body pass. Squeezing through with agood deal of trouble, I reached a flattish cave with a floor[89]of rock and stalagmite all cracked and fissured. Thewhole of this part seemed to have been shivered by somelarge movement of the rocky strata. One of the fissuresgave entrance to a passage underneath the floor; but thisspeedily narrowed, and when it was impossible to getfarther I found myself right underneath my companion,who was holding my rope and paying it out as I advancedfrom his original position in the outer passage. No otherexit being discoverable on this side, we crossed to thepassage on the right, and after a few yards of crawlingunder a depressed roof we found ourselves on the largestexpanse of stalagmite either of us had ever met with. Ithad flowed down from fissures high up on our left andspread over a wide, rocky slope; it had then contractedand poured over a cliff immediately on our right. Westill kept the rope taut, and moved about cautiously, forthe crystalline floor was extremely slippery, and thecliff immediately beneath us would have made the slightestaccident serious. A broad flat roof of rock overhung thefloor of stalagmite closely, and was covered with thin pipesand reeds of stalactite. We soon ascertained that we hadreturned by a different route to the crown of the petrifiedcascade in "St. Paul's," although a craggy partition separatedus from our route up the ladder. We explored theedges of this huge surface of stalagmite, which we couldnot measure, having no better light to guide us than a fewtapers, but which could not be much less than 100 feet wide.Where the deposits came down through crevices at the topthey had settled in jewelled and diapered masses of themost fantastic patterns. Our situation was, however, tooprecarious for lingering in this strange spot, and withoutanother man to back one up it was impossible to explorethe hole at the top. We gave up our quest reluctantlyand returned towards our ladder, incrusted from head tofoot with the thick, plastic clay. A convenient knob of[90]stalagmite enabled us to give the rope a hitch whilst wescrambled down to the top of our ladder.

One other passage from the main cavern was explored,with a curious cluster of vertical cavities near its extremity.The end of the passage was coated in every direction withtinted deposits, among which we noticed beautifulspecimens of the branching stalactites that were calledanemolites by the explorers of the Blue John caverns, whothought they had acquired their abnormal shapes throughthe irregularity of evaporation caused by air currents. Iclimbed 30 or 40 feet up one of the openings in theroof, whilst Dr. Sheldon explored another. At the topwe found no exits big enough to afford a man passage.A wider cavity in the middle of the roof looked morepromising. A ladder was adjusted, but fell short; but mycompanion, with considerable risk of a dangerous fall,clambered up to the rocky slope and over the piles ofjagged blocks that well-nigh filled it. This too failed toafford us a passage, and the daring climber had greatdifficulty in coming down, being forced to thread the ropeand let himself down on it to the ladder. During theoperation a flake of rock came hurtling down and hit theladder, but luckily did nothing worse than smash a rung.These cavities in the roof were extremely interesting, andno doubt are connected together and have a commonorigin in some neighbouring fissure or waterway.

FIVE CAVERNS AT CHEDDAR

The Cheddar gorge, which is the deepest and narrowestdefile, and on its south side presents the loftiest face ofabsolutely vertical rock in England, is not dissimilar,though far superior in height and grandeur, to the Winnatspass in Derbyshire. The huge chasm runs east-north-eastacross the dip of the Limestone beds, which are tilted uptowards the saddle of Mendip; one of its sides, consequently,is formed mainly of shelving rock, and the otheris almost continuously precipitous. If, as may be assumedwith confidence, the original cause of the ravine wasa stream or streams flowing through a chain of caverns,one would naturally expect to find openings on the abruptside through which the underground waters were successivelytapped, and followed the trend of the strata to alower level. This view is confirmed by observation.Except at the jaws of the defile, where both sides areequally high and precipitous, there are no caves on thenorthern side, but on the south openings both large andsmall are frequent, some narrow and lofty—"slitters," theyare called locally—the others low and wide, accordingas they originated in a vertical joint or a bedding plane.They occur at various levels, some on inaccessible shelveshigh up in the cliffs, others along the base. But the largernumber of these openings have in the lapse of time becomesilted up with clay and débris, so that the entrance is eithercompletely masked or it is impossible to penetrate farwithout toilsome work with pick and shovel.

After exploring the Great Cavern our party of fourdevoted some time to an examination of these openings, sofar as could be done without excavating. There are threeimportant caverns in close proximity to the Great Cavern,or Gough's. The best known is Cox's, a small butexceedingly beautiful stalactite cavern (see frontispiece).No one interested in caves would think of visiting Cheddarwithout seeing the Great Cavern, nor would any suchperson dream of missing Cox's. Each is the complementof the other as a piece of underground scenery. Thespacious vaults and vast stalagmite falls of the one fill onewith a sense of power and majesty; the other is a gem offantastic architecture, embellished with the most lawlessand fairy-like designs of the subterranean artificer, andunique in one respect—the wealth and diversity of themineral deposits that have dyed its multiform incrustationswith luminous tints. No sane man, however, wouldattempt to describe Cox's Cavern in detail, and aphotograph can give only colourless glimpses of itskaleidoscopic beauties. The cavern seems, at first sight,to be a solitary freak of nature, having no connection withthe general system of caves and streams. But since thevisit just referred to, several new passages have beenopened, among them the interesting water-tunnel with itsebb and flow corresponding to the movements of theCheddar Water outside, which, as already described, flowsat a higher level. Of three other good-sized fissures orancient channels radiating from the same large chamber,two after a while dwindle away almost to nothing, but thethird has indications of a channel striking downwards,which it might be worth while to clear of rubbish. Allthese passages were choked with clay until quiterecently.

The next cave also is of minor interest to the speleologist,although it contains many curious sights. It is[93]called "Gough's Old Cavern," and its entrance is closeto the mouth of the Great Cavern. It is an ascendingcleft, apparently not linked at present with the other caves,although it was once probably a sloping aven draininginto the big series of caverns that have been gradually cutback by the falling in of the defile. Whoever likes suchthings may find here plenty of those freaks and allegedsimilitudes that puzzle and delight the ordinary sightseer.On a stalagmite excrescence nicknamed the "Ribs ofBeef" we had the luck to see a far more interestingphenomenon. The calcite mass was clustered over with anumber of motionless black objects, which we found to beroosting bats, hanging head downwards by their claws.They were not disturbed in the least by our presence, andone that was lifted off gently just showed his teeth andclaws, and clung on again as fast as ever when replacedon the rock to resume his patient sleep. A photographof this curious sight was obtained by means of the flashlight.At the head of the cave are several incrustedgrottoes, where the process of deposition is still going on,roof and walls streaming with moisture. This part is notunlike the show places in the Bagshawe Cavern in thePeak of Derbyshire.

In many respects the Roman Cave is much moreinteresting. Its mouth is situated about 150 feet up thecliffs, almost immediately over the cave just described.Quantities of Roman pottery, coins, bones, and otherremains, have been discovered there, showing it to be oneof the places that sheltered fugitives after the evacuationof Britain by the Roman legions. The entrance is a broadanticlinal arch, and the main passage, high-roofed andascending gradually, runs east for perhaps a furlong.Then the floor, which has been covered with earth andstones, becomes rugged and rock-strewn, and suddenly wecreep through a lowly portal into a high and gloomy[94]chamber, the shadowy corners of whose roof our lights aretoo feeble to explore. To all appearances this was the endof the cavern; but we had been told that the passagetakes a turn here and goes on nearly a quarter of a milefarther. We scanned every part of the walls as far up aswe could see, but no accessible opening disclosed itself.In a recess on one side a number of fallen rocks werepiled up and wedged between the converging walls. Toexamine the cavity from a vantage spot, we climbed witha good deal of difficulty to the top of these, and there, toour astonishment, a wide passage sloped up at right anglesto the one we had entered by. A curious slit in the wallopened into a perpendicular fissure that was situated rightin the roof of the latter, and through the hole we caught aglimpse of our friends following us up. Three men nowpushed on up the new passage and entered a chamberwhose sole exit was a small and uninviting hole. Wecrawled and scraped through, and on over sharp stonestill at last we could get no farther. We had evidentlydoubled back over the main cavern, and that we could notbe far from the open air was shown by the presence of abewildered bat, who flew to and fro in the confined spaceand hit us in the face several times. And in the extremerecess of this narrow branch a steady draught of air blewin through a crevice and nearly put the lights out. Throughan oversight we found ourselves at this point reduced totwo tapers and a bit, and to economise we kept only onealight at a time, so as to have enough for the returnjourney. All went well, however, and the sole difficultywe met with was in getting down over the wedged blocksin the big chamber, a climb that proved extremelyawkward when taken the reverse way. In many parts ofthis cavern we noticed prodigious quantities of moths onthe walls, as well as many huge spiders. But a moreinteresting thing was the vegetation naturalised in the[95]caves, examples of which we found in other Mendipcaverns as well. It will be advisable to have themexamined by a botanical specialist. All I can say aboutthem now is that they consist of extremely slenderbranching tendrils, some white and translucent, othersbrownish, thin as cotton.

It was late in the afternoon when we entered theRoman Cavern; it was dark now, and the stars were out.Returning in advance of the others, I sat down just withinthe majestic gateway of the cavern, a flattened arch about100 feet wide resting on enormous rocky jambs, and lookedout across the deep wooded abyss where Cheddar lay,its lights reflected here and there by the dark waters ofthe mere, towards the craggy heights of Mendip opposite,just sinking down towards Sedgemoor. The Great Bearwas shining brightly right in front—it almost spannedthe breadth of the cave mouth; and the solemnity of theplace and the hour could not but bring to mind the miserablefugitives who sat in this forlorn asylum, hemmed inby foes, and looked out on the same giant constellationthrice five hundred years ago. The place is admirablyadapted for defence. A rear attack was of course impossible,whilst a frontal attack by way of the cliffs wouldbe easily repelled; and a tolerable water-supply was to befound inside the cavern. The huge natural glacis of the fortressis covered to-day with a dense tangle of ivy and otherclimbers, through which we made our way heedfully, for aslip would have been easy in the dark, and a terrible fallthe consequence.

Next morning we strolled up the defile and looked atthe mouths of several caves that are now choked up. Twofurlongs above its entrance the ravine makes a doublecurve like a gigantic figure three. The two crescents ofbeetling Limestone, with their jutting horns, that appear tothe astonished beholder underneath like towering pyramids[96]and slim aiguilles, rise to a vertical height of 430 feet,and, being absolutely unassailable, they fill a crag climber'smind with admiration tempered by regret. What enhancestheir grandeur, while it softens the savage aspect of thesheer and ledgeless precipice, is the bountiful vegetationclinging wherever it can find a hold, dark shrouds of ivyand darker masses of yew standing out against the greyrock in beautiful relief. Would the indomitable scramblerswho haunt Lakeland at Easter, we asked ourselves, haveforced a way up these tremendous "chimneys" if theCheddar cliffs had been pitched somewhere in the latitudeof Wastdale? We went so far as to reconnoitre onealluring fissure, 200 feet or more in length, but the gapbetween its base and the first feasible lodgment was insuperable.Not far away a long talus of scree marks the footof an easy though rather sensational way to the cliff top.Passing it by, we stopped at the mouth of a vertical fissurethat opens on to the roadway. It expands slightly inside,and the roof soars higher and higher; then the floor breaksaway, and the two men who descended the next 80 feethad to be steadied by the rope. The walls were wet andsoft, being incrusted with a sticky calcareous substance.At the bottom of the precipitous slope the magnesiumribbon revealed the enormously lofty walls of a narrowchamber, whose farther extent was blocked up by anaccumulation of rocks and débris.

Returning to the open air, we ascended to the cliff top,and, skirting each promontory and rounding the edge ofevery bay, proceeded towards the mouth of the defile onthe lookout for openings. Not far from the highest pointwe had noticed from the road a series of dark cavities.One man scrambled along a ledge to the uppermost ofthese, and found that it was merely a shallow niche, andanother, on a ledge some 50 feet lower, proved to beonly 20 feet deep. He made a determined effort to reach[97]another fissure on the same level as the last but sunderedfrom it by a wide space of cliff which was covered withdense brambles. Holding on to the prickly stems, andfighting his way through, he got near enough to see intothe fissure, but was quite unable to enter it for a closerexamination. An opening in the cliffs at a lower point,but still some 200 feet above the road, led a long way intothe recesses of the Limestone strata, making two widecurves to the right, but maintaining a generally easterlydirection. The passages were very low, narrow, andawkwardly shaped, involving a great deal of unpleasantcrawling; and when we reached the stalagmite grotto atthe end we found that it had been pillaged of every bit ofcalcite that could be removed. This cavern, the "LongHole," must have been the channel of a stream that onceflowed from somewhere on the other side of the gorge,through the mass of rock that has now been swept away bythe forces of disintegration. Though several hundred feetlong, it is but the tail end of the cavern that once existed.

The remainder of our time was devoted to two of theBurrington caverns, on the opposite side of the MendipHills, and to a fruitless search for a large chasm or swallethole into which the drainage from the now abandoned leadmines on the top of Mendip used to fall and ultimately findits way to Cheddar, where it poisoned the trout stream. Ascore or more of years ago I saw these mines, still inworking order; but now the dried-up pools and the wildernessof refuse, with fragments of ruined buildings, look asold almost as the remains of the Roman mines. Of theimportant opening that we sought there is now no trace;it may have been filled up intentionally and the streamallowed to revert to its old channel, whence it had beenturned artificially. Hard by, in the Long Wood nearCharterhouse, and elsewhere, there are smaller swallets thatwe were already acquainted with; and there are others at[98]Priddy, the waters of which find an exit farther to theeast.

The ground we were on is well known to readers ofWalter Raymond's romances, and we were much interestedwhen it was pointed out that the lonely house facing uswas the actual Ubley Farm that figures inTwo Men o'Mendip.

THE BURRINGTON CAVERNS

Burrington Combe is a smaller Limestone defile on thenorth side of Mendip—that is to say, the opposite sideto that of Cheddar. It is smaller, and because of itsproximity to Cheddar it has to suffer disadvantageouscomparisons. Anywhere else the grandeur of BurringtonCombe, the magnificence of its crags, with dark, heather-cladBlack Down lowering behind them, and the beautyof the copses that lurk in its corners and clamber up itsprecipices, would excite the admiration of guide-booksand attract crowds of tourists. Like the Cheddar defile,Burrington Combe was doubtless formed by the gradualdestruction of a series of caverns, and there remains ofthat series a number of caves or openings of blocked-upcaves on either side of the ravine. Of these the mostimportant and the only one well known to speleologistsis Goatchurch Cavern, which was explored by ProfessorBoyd Dawkins in 1864. The next in importance isAveline's Hole, discovered in 1796, but not explored till1820, when about fifty human skeletons were found lyingside by side with their weapons, a stalagmitic crust sealingbones and implements to the floor. This cavern has sincehad its mouth silted up by drainage from the road, so thattroublesome excavation will have to be undertaken beforeit can be entered again. It would well repay a thoroughexploration, for it is reported that a natural pit, coveredby a slab, has never yet been descended, and leads probablyinto important cavities. Foxe's Hole is interesting[100]for its curious bosses of tufaceous stalactite. A nearlyvertical cave, Plumley's Den, has been stopped up with aplug of timber and stones at the depth of 80 feet, inconsequence of a fatal accident to a man who tried todescend it in 1875. At a level probably a few feet belowthat of the caves whose destruction was the origin of theCombe, a good road with a grassy margin now ascendstowards the top of Mendip, where it joins the old Romanroad that runs from "Severn Sea" to Old Sarum, alongthe crown of the ridge.

Our waggonette when we left the Bath Arms atCheddar was piled up with ropes, cameras, gas cylinders,condensers for the searchlight, and an incredible amountof needful and superfluous things, for we were quiteunable to say what would be wanted. Climbing to theminiature mountain pass across Mendip at Shipham washard work for the horse, and we walked up the hill. Dr.Sheldon and Mr. Bamforth were my companions. Ourclothes, still richly daubed with the clay and mire of theCheddar caverns, made our appearance both business-likeand picturesque. The north side of the Mendips is verydifferent from the bleak and craggy slopes on the south.From the broad bare top of the hills down to the valleystretches, almost continuously, a deep mass of trees thatlooks in the distance like a wall of dusky verdure. Wedrove between orchards where great bushes of mistletoegrew on nearly every tree, till we were within a fewhundred yards of Burrington village; then, turningtowards Mendip, we drove through more orchards, tillsuddenly the rocky entrance of the Combe appeared andwe heard the clink of pick and crowbar in the Limestonequarry not far from Plumley's Den. Half-way up thegorge makes a sudden bend towards the east, a littlebelow which point a shallower ravine comes in on theother side. About 120 feet above the bed of this dry ravine[101]is the entrance to Goatchurch Cavern. We coaxed thehorse over the stony turf and up the ravine till the roughnessof the ground and the thickness of the bramblebushes stopped him. At this point we were met by thelord of the manor, Mr. James Gibson of Langford, whois the owner of the Burrington caves. His men assistedus to get our apparatus up to the cave mouth, and afterwardsconvoyed us and the luggage throughout the lessdifficult parts of the cavern.

A few years ago the entrance to Goatchurch Cavernwas an insignificant hole, through which adventurous boysused to crawl as far as the first considerable chamber,where Professor Boyd Dawkins found a few remains ofextinct animals. Owing to the depredations which weremade by neighbouring villagers in search of specimens ofcalcite, Mr. Gibson recently had the entrance enlargedand closed with a padlocked gate, the public beingadmitted only on certain days of the week or byappointment. It is a pity this step was not taken beforemany of the finer stalactites had been carried away. Inthis long chamber, the floor of which is covered withsheets and bosses of dripstone, we entered some of thefunnel-shaped openings in the roof by means of a ladder,but soon perceived that no discoveries were to be madethat way. At the end of the chamber a precipitous holegoes down to the left, and fixed ropes are used for gettinginto the lower galleries. We found ourselves at onceentering on a maze of passages, where the presence of ourguides saved valuable time. So intricate and bewilderingare these ramifications that Mr. Balch tells me that he discovereda passage some years ago that led him eventuallyto a much deeper part of the cavern than had ever beenreached before, but every attempt to rediscover the passagesince has failed. In spite of our efforts to examineevery branch of the various passages, we also missed this[102]important link. It would seem that the solid mass ofthe hill has been shivered here into vast, roughly cubicalfragments, between which lie the irregular passages andnarrow chambers of the cavern. Many tempting gallerieslead the explorer on and on till they dwindle to a mererabbit hole, or till he finds himself wedged in the cleftbetween two enormous surfaces of rock. Disorderlyaccumulations of boulders and splinters cover the floor;there is hardly a level spot anywhere, and it is desirableto explore every yard carefully with a taper or a lanternto avoid the consequences of a rash step. We crawledon hands and knees and wormed along through insignificantholes, making our way into spots that hadprobably not been inspected before; but we always cameback to the main channel, where our guides were waiting,having made no noteworthy find.

Assembling again in a more roomy chamber, about140 feet below the entrance, we all proceeded along a tunnelthat showed evident traces of the action of a stream toanother chamber, where the sound of running water cameup from a grim-looking chasm. Only two of us wentbeyond this point. The rest secured the rope, whilst weclimbed down the steep hole into a large cavern throughwhich the stream runs from the swallet hole in the ravineoutside on its way to Rickford Rising, where it issues inconsiderable volume. The stream has a somewhat puzzlingcourse after leaving the cavern, for it runs undergroundathwart Burrington Combe and through the solid hillopposite, Burrington Ham. This stream, as ProfessorBoyd Dawkins pointed out, was doubtless the originatingcause of Goatchurch Cavern, running in at the presentmouth, which is now dry. The ravine outside has sincebeen hollowed out to a further depth of 120 feet, and thestream finds its way in at a lower level. The Professoralso describes a very pretty experiment. Having taken[103]the temperature of the stream before it enters the cave,he tested it again after it had run some distance underground,finding that it was here several degrees cooler.It is obvious that a colder stream must have joined it atsome unknown point midway.

The nethermost series of chambers and passages arenot very different from those above, their shape ruggedand irregular, and their floor heaped up with fragments ofall sizes. We reached no lower point than that attainedby previous explorers—that is, 220 feet below the entrance,as measured by aneroid. Squeezing with difficultythrough the deepest fissure, I found myself in a small cave,whence, turning round, I only perceived one exit. Itlooked and felt so small that I despaired of pushingthrough and turned to go back, when it suddenly occurredto me that this was the hole I had come in by, andthere was no other way out. Such little incidents oftenhappen in cave work, but most often in such a complicatednetwork of tunnels and fissures as the Goatchurch Cavern,where we were quite convinced that an important passageran due east until the compass assured us that the directionwas west. Clambering up a steep bank of stiff clayout of the lowest cave, we reached a vaulted grotto witha cascade of stalagmite flowing down one side. On theedge of this a sloping passage disclosed itself, lined withstalagmite, and we ascended it in the expectation offinding something new. It brought us by an easy scrambleback to the upper cave, whence we had descended on therope; and with little more deviation from the mainpassages we made our way back to the cave mouth, wherea well-earned lunch was waiting.

But little time was wasted in examining the silted-upentrance to Aveline's Hole and another cave mouth, andthe next halt was made at Plumley's Den. Tying twoAlpine ropes together, a pair of us descended this ancient[104]pothole as far as the artificial pile of débris that blocksit up. One man was hit rather severely by a dislodgedstone—a serious danger in caves of this sort—and inreturning he dropped and smashed his acetylene lamp.The hole is effectually plugged, a tree and a quantity ofstone having been flung in after Plumley's fatal mishap;and until Mr. Gibson carries out his proposal to removethe stones that block it, the 200 feet which are said,on doubtful authority, to lie beyond can never be explored.Mr. Gibson also proposes to bore a newentrance from the Combe into the lower series of cavesat Goatchurch. Above Plumley's Den a magnificent ribof Limestone, like those at Matlock, springs nearly to thehilltop; and over the way a picturesque pile of cragcomes out to meet it, and is known as the "Rock of Ages,"from the tradition that Toplady, the divine, takingshelter under it from a storm, composed his famous hymnthere.

Still piloted by our kind host, we walked acrossBurrington Ham and saw the brook which we had heardbabbling amid the silence of Goatchurch Cavern flowingout, a strong body of water, at Rickford Rising, after asubterranean course of about two miles from its sourceshigh up on Black Down.

Rickford Rising is in the Secondary beds, but a shortmile up the beautiful Combe at whose outlet it lies, aLimestone ridge comes down to the road. Hard by theextremity is a hole in the rocky ground, now almostentirely choked with stones, but not so many years agoan open pit. It is known as the "Squire's Well." Here,in times of continuous rain, a body of water issues forth,often flooding the road. It seems to be connected withthe water-channels that feed Rickford Rising, to whichit acts as a safety valve. To open it would not be a veryserious affair, and might discover something interesting.

At the back of Mendip Lodge, on the hill immediatelywest of Burrington Combe, the hilltop is cut up byinnumerable ravines ending in swallets, the water ofwhich comes to light again in a large stream in the Yeovalley near Upper Langford, about a mile away. Severalof these swallets look as if they would repay the troubleof a little excavation; and the size of the stream at thepoint of issue indicates the existence of large cavities inthe line of its subterranean course.

THE CORAL CAVE AT COMPTON BISHOP

A cave just discovered near Compton Bishop, on theskirts of Mendip, furnishes valuable evidence in corroborationof the theory that the Limestone caverns of thisregion were formed at a period enormously anterior tothat generally accepted. It is situated a little way up theslope of Wavering Down, only a short distance abovethe upper limit of the red marl laid down in the Triassicage, unconformably on the denuded edges of the CarboniferousLimestone.

We had been engaged in some exploring work in theCheddar caves, the results of which were of a negativekind, but none the less important, as modifying the linesof costly excavation. Accompanied by the Messrs. Gough,the proprietors of the great cave at Cheddar, we proceededlate in the day to Axbridge, where Mr. Balchjoined the party. Our goal was a certain cavern, exploredabout a century ago, and described by the antiquaryPhelps, but now little known. This purpose was, however,not carried out that day, for in making inquiries aboutthe cave as we passed through the village of Cross, wegot wind of a cavern that had never yet been explored,and was therefore treasure-trove to such ardent caveworkers. Two years ago, in blasting for stone to line adrinking-place for cattle, a farmer had blown a hole intothe top of a subterranean cavity. Two 30-rung ladderswere lashed together, so we learned, and a bold countryman,secured by a cart-rope, descended into the mysterious[107]hollow, alighting on a slope of shifting stones and earth,whence he could see a second chasm, black as Tophetand of unknown profundity, yawning beneath him. Noone would venture on this further descent; a rock wasrolled against the opening to prevent sheep or incautiouspersons from tumbling in, and there for the time beingwas an end of the matter.

Our first task was to withdraw this formidable plug.It was a sound, unfissured block of Mountain Limestone,weighing perhaps half a ton. We thought that six menwith a rope ought to move it easily; but we could notmake it budge. A spade and a crowbar were fetched, withwhich we laboured diligently for an hour; but the onlyeffect was to drop the stone deeper into the hole. A sledgehammerwas now obtained from the nearest smithy, andone after another we attacked the foe with might andmain. At length it yielded. Pieces flaked off, and at lastit split; the fragments tumbled into the chasm, and therock, diminished to half its former size, was rolled away.The job had taken two hours and a half, and it was nowdark.

Mr. Balch and I cast lots for the honour of the firstdescent: it fell to me. An Alpine Club rope was tied onas life-line, whilst a 70-foot cotton rope was to be used forlowering and lifting. Slung in a bight of the latter, I wascarefully let down over the cliff-like face below theentrance. The cavity formed part of a huge chokedswallet, which extended up into the hill above the pointwhere we had been working, and ran away obliquelyunderneath, so that I was coming down from a hole perforatingone corner of the roof. Over against the hole wasthe steep slope of earth and scree already mentioned, steepalmost as a wall, and the scree so loose that it seemed tobe in a state of suspended animation. As soon as onecame into contact with the treacherous stuff, an avalanche[108]of stones was launched, and I sought in vain for a spot whereit would be safe to unrope and await the next man. Thecliff down which I had been lowered was undercut by awide archway, through which I looked into a black, forbiddingpit gaping at the bottom. With nowhere to rest,and with the risk of falling stones, it was obviously wiserto finish the descent before another man started.

Tying the loose rope round me (for it was necessary toswing out under the arch), I was let down slowly, andbegan to slip over a smooth, greasy rock-face into theunknown cavity. At 60 feet from the ground I alightedat the top of a slope of stones, and was able to removethe ropes and scramble to the bottom. Lighting somemagnesium wire, I found myself in a bell-shaped chamberabout 65 feet high, opening above by the precipitousarchway into the upper cavity, and on the other side intoan ascending vault running north-west. All around werethe indelible marks of water action in the remote past.On the upper side the rocks were carved and pitted as bythe swirling of a violent torrent. But there was now no signof running water, only the drip, drip from the moist roof;and the outlet of the ancient stream at the bottom of thecavern was blocked up by a deep accumulation of débris.Among the countless fragments strewn all over the floorI found a large stone covered with a mass of dog-toothcrystals, clear as diamonds and large as walnuts. But atthe very bottom of the place was something even morelovely, myriads upon myriads of exquisite spicules ofcarbonate, some little more than specks of red, orange, andamber, but thousands like wee tendrils of coral three-eighthsof an inch in length. They were the growth, through ageafter age, of a splash deposit from the roof or from thestream that had disappeared. Such a formation is not rarein water caverns; but in such beauty of shape and hue it israre indeed, for these tender little crystal flowers took all[109]manner of forms, blossoming ofttimes into wreaths andclusters like a miniature coral. One of the most exquisiteand most puzzling features was that the dots and spiculeswere often arranged in set patterns, symmetrical and evengeometrical, in tiny circles, squares, and triangles, by therhythmic action of the waters that had left this beautifulrecord of their passage. We named the cave the CoralCavern.

As the descent had not been direct, and there might bedifficulty in recovering the ropes if once let go, it seemedmost prudent that no one should follow me down for thepresent. Climbing the slopes of rocks and scree that ledup through a lofty vault to the north-west, I reached aheight of considerably more than 100 feet above the floorof the Coral Cavern, the present floor of which is 90 feetbelow the point of entrance. The open way then came toan end abruptly, in a tiny grotto, at a distance of 240 feetfrom that point. But hard by there were funnel-likecavities penetrating the roof, and hinting at the proximityof a Secondary swallet hole on the hillside close overhead.Evidently, when the cave was in working order, intimes of indefinable remoteness, a big stream had run downthis steep vaulted passage, and united with the mainstream at the bottom, both then pursuing their way intothe fissures of the rock, and ultimately finding an exit intothe open air at some point now buried under Triassicdeposits. Enormous slabs of Limestone, smooth, andfitting close over each other like boiler-plates, formed thesloping floor of this tunnel on one side. These too were aconspicuous testimony to powerful water action.

At present the red marl of the Trias comes nearly upto the artificial entrance of the cavity. It is obvious thatwhen the cave was occupied by a stream, its waters musthave found a vent some distance below the upper limit ofthe marl; whence it necessarily follows that the marl has[110]been laid down here since that period. Much evidencehas been gathered in the course of our cave work in theMendips to show that many of the caverns are olderthan the vast accumulations of Dolomitic Conglomerateand other deposits of Triassic age, but nowhere is theproof put so clearly and concisely as by the new caveat Compton Bishop.

My stay underground was cut short by the fear that theothers would grow impatient. I was hauled up withoutmishap, save that at one point the cotton rope stuck fastin a cleft, and I had to pull myself up hand over hand onthe life-line. Two men then went down, with the resultwe had dreaded—the rope could not be got back to thelast man without extreme difficulty. Only after tying onstone after stone, and making many a cast in vain, didwe ultimately restore communication. He came up; theguardian block was pushed back into its place; and at alate hour we struck down the hillside home.

A day or two later we set out once more to findPhelps's Cavern. It opens on the very crest of the ridgeleading up to Crook Hill, or, as it is more commonly knownto-day, Crook's Peak, a sharp Limestone spur, runningsouth-east from the western extremity of WaveringDown. At the foot of the hill, near the road, we cameacross a small cave, called the Fox's Hole, which wesearched thoroughly for any continuation upwards ordownwards, but in vain. After a great deal of jammingand squeezing, we got in to a distance of 50 feet, wherea low chamber has holes between wall and floor that hadacted as a water-sink to some ancient system of cavities.But the floor was heaped with stones, and in spite of ourefforts to clear these out, we did not discover a single holebig enough to enter. This small cave is, doubtless, but thetail end of the cavern that once existed here; and, indeed,the large cavern at the hilltop must be little more than a[111]fragment of what it was. Crook's Peak seems to be themere skeleton of a hill. To account for the presence ofsuch a cavern at the summit, one must postulate a largedrainage area in days gone by, and a general configurationentirely opposite to the present. The higher part of thehill is but a Limestone shell enclosing these ancient, andnow waterless, caverns.

The big cavern is known as Denny's Hole. Descendingthe sloping side of an open pit, we found ourselvesunder an arch of mighty span, the crown of which wasformed by the rock-wall on the other side. Under thisarch the floor sloped precipitously into the jaws of thecavern; then the roof came close down, and the fartherpassages wound onwards as low tunnels, descendingsteeply into the entrails of the hill. It is easy enough toget to a considerable depth and distance in the largest ofthese, but the journey is not specially interesting, for theplace has been looted by adventurous rustics, and seriousexploration is at present brought to a standstill by theenormous quantities of loose stones filling every cavityin the floor. Coming back to the cave mouth, we werestruck by the grandeur of the vestibule, which has everyappearance of being the remains of a great subterraneanchamber, the pit-like entrance, through which we look upto the sky and the sunshine, being the remnant of a cave-tunnel,once perhaps of very considerable length.

Phelps had alluded to another chamber, of somebeauty, to be attained, at the expense of divers wrenchesand abrasions, by a certain tortuous passage leading outof the vestibule. After diligent search we found a holein the floor at one corner, but it seemed to be only a footor two deep. Kicking about for some time, with bodyhalf in and half out of the hole, I managed to shift someloose stones, and felt space below. But the space proved,on experiment, at least as excellent a place of torment as[112]Phelps's description had been able to do justice to. Thepassage doubled back upon itself at once, and twistedhere and there like a corkscrew. Only by obstinatewriggling were we able to worm a way down to the lowcavity at the bottom. Two blind passages started therefrom,and in one wall was a long, horizontal slit, with somebig place beyond, as we judged from the sound of thestones we threw in. In various cautious attitudes weinserted ourselves into the slit. The drop inside, thoughfearful to anticipate, was a matter of only a few feet.

The cave we found ourselves in was a sort of doublechamber, with vestiges of a partition across the middle;the whole was some 40 feet in length. At one end wasa pool of water, stagnant at present, or nearly so. Closeby, a low fissure sloped downwards to a vertical hole orpot that sounded deep; but we could not get near it forthe spikes of stalactite that guarded it on all sides. Thischamber, which we thought must communicate with theseries reached by the main passage from the vestibule,seems to have been hardly ever visited. We heard a storyof a lady's pet dog that had been lost here for a week, andwas not found, although a tempting reward was offered,until a farmer, who told us the story, explored the corkscrewtunnel leading to this cave. He found the poorbeast shivering on the edge of the slit we had come in by,afraid to jump. Even the farmer, who thought he knewall the ramifications of this perplexing cavern, did notseem to have reached this chamber, the natural ornamentsof which showed no trace of specimen-hunting.

Returning to daylight, we examined a cave vent inthe ground hard by, where a vapour was steaming upinto the chilly air. The penetrable portion was just bigenough to accommodate the six feet two of our tallestman. With some time left on our hands, we decided nowto walk on to Loxton, the next village, where another cave[113]was situated on a Limestone hilltop. There were only twomiles to walk, so we did not think it worth while to doffour cave panoply. Great was the speculation that ourunexampled appearance excited in the people we met.We could not be tramps—in fact, we hardly lookedrespectable enough; and yet our rucksacks, ropes, andcameras gave us an air of distinction that was puzzling inthe extreme. Faces crowded to the windows at everyhouse we passed, and at Loxton we had to run thegauntlet of satiric observation. As we asked our way tothe quarry at Loxton, the general conclusion was that wewere in quest of a job there.

This cave must have been a very interesting one longago, but now it is like those at Compton Bishop, only aremnant; and besides what has been destroyed by naturaldenudation, a great deal has been damaged by the gradualapproaches of a Limestone quarry on the side of the hill.This has exposed the outlets of several passages. Alabyrinth of low galleries remains, with a few largerhollows here and there; but of whatever beauty they oncepossessed they have long been denuded by the devastatingvillage boy, who has found the intricacies of LoxtonCavern a perfect paradise. It does not follow that thecave would necessarily not pay for a thorough exploration.If some of the lower reaches were carefully examined,entrances would very likely be found into still nethercaverns, of which these dry channels were at one time thefeeders. But the work would be peculiarly difficult onaccount of the smallness of the open spaces, and theresult uncertain. Yet the Limestone of the Mendips isso thick—the thickest in England—and the parts thathave been explored are so honeycombed with cavities andpassages, that every gateway into this strange underworldpromises more or less reward. It is somewhere in theneighbourhood of Loxton and Banwell that the famous[114]"Gulf" was discovered in the days of the old lead miners.In driving an extensive level through a hill, at a point80 fathoms below the summit, they came upon a giganticrift. A man was let down on a long rope—so traditionreports—and when he had descended to the full extentof it he was unable to see either walls or bottom ofthe tremendous abyss. We are probably on the track ofthis monster cavity, an exploration of which will entaillabour and fortitude. That and the exploration of theswallet at Hillgrove, when it is opened, are the twomost fascinating problems awaiting us in the immediatefuture.

LAMB'S LAIR

A few years ago the Great Western opened what theycalled the Wrington Vale Light Railway up the valleyof the Yeo, which borders Mendip on the north. A fewmiles beyond its present terminus lie the two Harptrees,in the heart of a sequestered countryside of great pastoralbeauty. Here, where nowadays all the pursuits are agricultural,a great deal of mining was carried on in yearsgone by, the relics of which are still visible in the surfaceworkings, grown over with grass. In the upland ravinesof Lamb's Bottom, near the top of the Mendip plateau,these are very numerous, and seem to be the work of bothlead miners and searchers for black oxide of manganese.Early in the eighteenth century a cavern of prodigioussize and beauty was discovered in this locality; but, byone of those curious accidents which are by no meansinfrequent in the history of caves, it was lost, and its siteremained unknown for a hundred and twenty years. Itsfame, however, was cherished by the country folk, and thetradition of its fabulous wonders induced a lord of themanor, a quarter of a century ago, to offer a heavy monetaryreward, which led to its rediscovery in the year 1880.This new exploration made some noise at the time, anda fair number of people ventured on a descent. Thedifficulties were smoothed down considerably. Ladderswere fixed in the shaft, which was strengthened by timbersupports, and in difficult parts of the lower galleries; solidbeds of arragonite were cut through, and a heavy structure[116]of timber, carrying a windlass, was built out on theverge of an abyss, to make accessible the floor of theGreat Chamber. Lamb's Lair is even alluded to, thoughincorrectly, in the fourth edition of Murray's Guide—thatfor 1882—and, for a while, great was the renown of itsunparalleled beauties. Then, as usually happens withcave scenery when there is any difficulty or any perilinvolved, the novelty and the popularity of Lamb's Lairwaned; and now for a long period the cave has beenderelict, the timber erections have become rotten anddangerous, and the only visit during many years previousto the one I am about to describe nearly resulted in acatastrophe.

Our party of four had been engaged in some arduouswork near Wells, and a descent into Lamb's Lair meanta long drive across Mendip, nearly to East Harptree. Wewere dropped by our waggonette, with a great pile ofapparatus, at a gate into a field. The field was part ofthe Lamb's Bottom ravine, and we had some difficulty inlocating the entrance to our cavern among the innumerableworkings and natural depressions that cut up the surface.At length we caught sight of the end of a ladder stickingout from a hole that was buried in brushwood, andstraightway we found ourselves on the brink of the 60-footshaft. The uppermost ladder was broken six feetfrom the top, and so was the second; neither was fit to betrusted. We supported the broken part of the top ladderwith a forked branch, and I took up my station on a ledge15 feet down, to steady the things as they were lowered.Each man was roped for the descent, for the crazy ladders,the decayed woodwork, and the loose stones in the shaftall threatened disaster. At last all our paraphernalia wassafe at the bottom, and now a muddy progress beganthrough a narrow, dripping cleft into a low tunnel, thatbrought us, after many windings, to the top of a fourth[117]ladder. This one was not so high, but it was quite asshaky as the others, and a member of the party got anasty blow on the shoulder from a beam connected withit, that gave way whilst we were passing the luggage fromhand to hand.

Descending still through an irregular passage, wesuddenly entered a roomy vault with stalactites on theroof. Here the glories of Lamb's Lair begin. In a fewmoments we shall be at the threshold of the incomparableBeehive Chamber, and thence, to a point far beyond whatwe can attain to-day, the poetry and witchery of cavescenery are at their finest. Stumbling over the irregularitiesof the crystal floor, we see dimly, by the light ofour candles, great luminous arcs bending over our heads;and then, catching sight of a regularly shaped hemisphererising out of the darkness and dwarfing the cave with itsenormous proportions, we realise that this is the BeehiveChamber. When the limelight is brought in, and itsfierce beams play upon the wild arcades and groining ofthis fantastic vault, we are astounded by the wealth andbrilliance and extraordinary variety of the incrustations:not a rib, not a corner of bare rock remains visible; everyinch of floor and walls and roof has been thickly coatedwith the calcareous enamel. The Beehive itself, 12 feethigh and enormous in girth, is not more astonishingfor its size than for the regularity of its shape. It isprobably the largest boss of stalagmite in England. Thesides are streaked with white and yellow bands, whichenhance the weird symmetry and polish of its appearance;and, on the summit, wide enough for a man to walkabout, we noticed that a number of stalactites, fallen fromthe vault above, had become embedded in its mass, andwere slowly being crusted over with the ceaseless deposits.All over the chamber there is a continuous patter of water-drops,carrying on the work of the ages, and laying film[118]after film of lustre on the imageries of this hidden shrine,which man has visited so rarely. To right and left ofthe Beehive the uneven floor descends into deep recesses—whichwe see as we draw nigh to be rocky porchesadorned with the most magnificent incrustations—leadinginto two passages. These two porches, the arch by whichwe have entered, and the wild vaulting that rises to an apexover our heads amid a profusion of glistening stalactites,are the dominant features of this piece of fairy architecture.But who can count or describe the gleamingvolutes and scrolls that wind over the walls in brilliantconfusion, the clustered corbels whence random ribs springtowards the roof, the lace-like fringe of delicate stalactitesthat hangs from every ridge, or the gnome-like fingers andghoulish faces, staring and pointing downwards, that oneseems to discern amid the disordered sculpture of roofand walls?

A broken bottle of paraffin and some pieces of cotton-waste,evidently the relics of the last party who hadused them to light up the Beehive Chamber years ago,were lying in a corner just as they were left. In one ofthe galleries I noticed the marks of fingers and the impressof the clothes of a man who had crawled along the clayfloor—as fresh as if he had been there an hour ago.This changelessness of everything fills one with a certainawe; but what impresses one as still more wonderful isthat all this consummate beauty and grandeur should lieconcealed and unknown in the midst of modern England,only a few miles away from important cities, but unvisitedby a soul for long periods of years, while the countrypeople seem hardly aware of the cave's existence. Werethe cave easily accessible, one can hardly question thatcrowds of sightseers would be attracted, and much of thecharm would be dispelled, even if its treasures were notransacked. For the present these are perfectly safe.

From the Beehive Chamber a passage winds downwardunder one of the glorious porches already described,and on and on between walls of calcspar and arragonite,toward the chief wonder of Lamb's Lair, the GreatChamber. The original passage was low and difficult,and early explorers cut a deeper way through solid bedsof arragonite, whose miraculous whiteness glistens onevery side as we advance. So enormous is the thicknessof this compact and fine-grained variety of the calciumcarbonate, with its delicate lines of crystallisation showingtransparently where it is shattered, that fully three anda half feet are shown in section, a wall of snowy brilliance;and one cannot judge how much more is hidden. Thetunnel widens into an arch of reddish rock, covered withsparry reliefs; then suddenly we find ourselves steppingon a plank, and out of the darkness ahead starts up thegaunt shape of a windlass. We have reached the spotwhere the gallery breaks into the upper part of the GreatChamber; under our feet is a black void, and furtherprogress is forbidden. The gallery ends on a slopingbevel, 10 feet wide, that dips steeply into the chasm.On this bevel, which overhangs by many feet the recedingwall of the Great Chamber, a timber platform was erecteda quarter of a century ago. It is a sort of cantilever, withthe windlass resting on the long arms. We moved herewith utmost caution, hardly venturing to place a footon the time-worn structure without holding on to therocks at the side. On the last occasion that the cavernwas visited, some years ago, a fatal accident was avertedalmost by a miracle. The rope broke while Mr. Balchwas descending; he fell about 60 feet, on to the brokenrocks beneath, checking his fall by catching at a tangleof line that was hanging near. His hands were cut tothe bone, and he lay at the bottom stunned for a quarterof an hour, and has hardly ceased to feel the effects of the[120]shaking. Naturally, he now felt little inclination toventure another descent, especially as he told usthat the rickety state of the platform has filled himwith grave doubts as to its safety if weight were puton it.

At present, beyond the stark shape of the windlass,darkness reigned. We flung blocks of arragonite out intothe void. There was an interval of silence, then a crashon the hard floor, and the missile burst into fragments.When the ray of our 2000-candle-power searchlightflashed across the abyss, we found ourselves lookinginto a chamber whose weird majesty held us spellbound.Its height is 110 feet, and the walls curve graduallyover in an irregular dome. Hardly a square foot ofthis mighty wall-space is blank. Stripes and reticulationsand pendulous lacework run all over it in enchantingdisorder. Here a snow-white flood of calcitedrops from an unseen cleft, there a cascade of manycolours ripples down from roof to floor. There aregreat sheets of opaline enamel, curtains drooping inmassy folds, silken fabrics wrinkled over the face ofthe rock, all giving one the sense of motion suddenlyarrested, and of light and colour captured from therainbow and sleeping here in the darkness, waitingyear after year for our lamp to awaken it to life andbeauty.

The cylinder of oxygen and the ether saturator werepushed out as far as we dared, and the camera was set upon the edge of the platform, to secure at least a glimpseof this hall of wonders. We were told what lay beyond.Another gallery, begemmed as richly as the one behind us,leads on and on, until a high chamber is reached, intowhich water pours over a sheet of snowy stalagmite,60 feet high. We could not descend into the GreatChamber, but we intended to light it up. A tinful of[121]Bengal fire was put into an iron saucer, hanging from astring by iron wires; and this with a light attached waslowered through the hole in the platform, whereon welay extended at full length looking over into the gulf.There was a fizz, and then the fierce radiance swept fromside to side of the huge vault, staining the sheets andcurtains and cascades of white a splendid crimson. Thewalls sparkled blood-red as if set with rubies, and theblue-black sheets of calcite marked by oxide of manganesewere empurpled by the glow. We fled before the pungentclouds of smoke that rose into our gallery, back to theBeehive Chamber, leaving that glorious hall once more tosolitude and silence.

The only other part we explored was the windingtunnel that begins under the second porch in the BeehiveChamber. It goes far away down, and is knee-deep in mirefor a considerable distance. At last, when it seems asif the Great Chamber itself cannot be far away,the passage ends in a choke. We had been in thecavern about five hours, when, after much hard work,we got our apparatus back to the foot of the shaft.Climbing ahead up the rickety ladders, the brokenrungs of which were caked with mud and clay, andkeeping hold of the life-line all the while, I found ourdriver waiting for us at the top, for we were an hourlate. Several dangerous stones were shifted in pullingup the luggage, and one man below not only receiveda nasty blow, but narrowly escaped destruction byanother stone that he just succeeded in warding offhis face.

We have since regretted that we did not test theplatform and windlass by a rough-and-ready method,and then descend by a long Alpine rope. The sharpledges underneath might, however, have rendered thisdangerous. We had not seen everything, but we had[122]seen enough to recompense us abundantly for the toil,the slight risk, and the dirt. Murray says that Lamb'sLair is the finest cave in Somerset; I would confidentlyventure further, and say that for transcendent beauty ithas not its equal in England.[4]

A CAVE IN THE QUANTOCKS

At Bridgewater, where we had arrived one wintermorning at sunrise, after a melancholious journey inunwarmed carriages across the flooded moors beyondGlastonbury, not a person had heard tell of a cave in theQuantocks. But the information we relied on, though acentury old, was definite enough to warrant the hire of atrap to convey us and our apparatus to a certain lonelycross-road, seven miles away, in a corner of the broadparish of Bloomfield. Climbing steadily through Enmore,we found the cross-road on a hilltop 800 feet above thesea, hard by a homely tavern, where we got cider for ourselvesand feed for the horse. To our west was theBeacon on Cotherstone Hill, and two miles farther theFire Signal Pits on Will's Neck (1261 feet), the highest ofthe Quantock Hills. But of the red-deer country that layaround us we saw little, and less as the day wore on, fora cold sea-mist came rolling up from the Bristol Channel,and would have given us trouble in finding our cave, hadnot a guide appeared providentially. It was a tatteredand weather-beaten countryman, who emerged from thetap-room and announced that he was the only person whoknew anything about the cave. He dilated in glowing termson its beauties—"It be very ornamental, sur, very ornamental."Fox by name and fox by nature, so he describedhimself—for he was both garrulous and egotistical—hewas fond of burrowing into holes. That he was a poacherto boot, we had no reason to disbelieve after a few minutes'[124]conversation. He led us by a veritable fox's path overfields and hedges, through a mist-drenched spinney, downto a dingle, where beetle-browed rocks overhung theentrance to the cave. A rusty iron gate barred theway, and was padlocked. Reynard proposed to make ajourney of several miles, at our expense, to procure thekey; but a broken link in the chain saved us time andcider.

There is not much Limestone on the Quantocks, andcaves are a rarity. At this spot an outlier of CarboniferousLimestone lies in close contact with beds of GreywackeSlate—a very unusual conjunction, which prepared usfor something new and strange in the way of crystallisations.Descending a few yards beyond the entrance, themain passage rises a little, and then drops graduallytowards a stagnant pool, beyond which it is impossible toget. The length of this portion is only 140 feet, and thedirection from north-east to south-west. Certain narrowpassages, however, bore into the Limestone on the north,and extend their ramifications much farther. Only one ofthese seems to have been known before our visit. In themain passage, near the pool, is seen the special wonderof Holwell Cave, a brilliant display of arragonite crystalsall over the roof. Arragonite usually occurs in massivedeposits of satin spar, distinguished by a perfection ofwhiteness when newly split, a whiteness that grows dingyvery soon if you try to keep specimens. Here it occursin quite another form—the coralloid, known as flos ferri;thousands of filaments or spicules ramifying from centres,and looking as soft as cobweb, though as brittle as blownglass. This delicate product is often tinged with a pinkstain like that of fluor-spar. Andrew Crosse, the electrician,who was carrying on his researches in the neighbourhoodwhen Holwell Cavern was found about 1800, thought thatthe crystal might have been distorted by slow degrees into[125]these fanciful shapes "through the invisible action ofelectric energy," an agent to which most mysteriousnatural processes have been attributed some time oranother; but the fibrous arragonite, scientists tell us, isby no means abnormal. It all lies on the Greywacke partof the roof; the adjoining Limestone has no arragonite,but is incrusted with the usual sheets and bosses ofcalcite, mutilated somewhat by visitors who have takenaway mementos.

"Ain't it ornamental, sur?" said our conductor; buthis exclamations were still more enthusiastic when themagnesium ribbon lit up the millions of arragonite crystalsthat covered the roof with a glistering efflorescence. Thenthe flashlight blazed out, as our camera got into action,and the old man was speechless with amazement. He hadknown the cave, boy and man, all his life, but never beforehad he, or anyone else for that matter, gazed upon all itsbeauties. Several photographs were secured—among themthe portrait of a sleeping bat clinging to the groining ofcalcite—and then the cave grew too smoky for furtherwork. So we went off to explore.

First we climbed into an opening high up in the northwall. It seemed to run parallel with the main passage,and soon we beheld daylight in front. Ere we reachedthe open air, however, we came to a steep drop, andfound that the branch had simply brought us back tothe vestibule of the cavern. Another opening, near theentrance, running due north, proved more interesting,leading eventually to a bell chamber, floored, walled, androofed with polished carbonate. Someone had reachedthis point twenty years ago, so dates and initials testified;but there were virgin passages branching off to left andright for us to investigate, as far as bodies of speleologicalslimness were admissible.

A squeeze through a crevice in the east wall led into a[126]parallel tunnel, depressingly low and painfully narrow,which seemed to run on indefinitely to the north. Thesoft clay floor showed it was at times the path of a heavystream. Northward, it shrank to a mere drain-pipe;southward it led by one joint and culvert to another, allat right angles, into other straight channels, all going inthe same general direction. My companion stuck fast alittle way beyond the first tunnel; I pushed on like aweevil into the maze of perforations, but met the samefate at last, not giving in, however, until I had been heldas in a vice at one point for a good five minutes, withboot jammed, candle out, and no room to get my handto the pocket where the waterproof matches were safelystowed away.

It was still possible to see a long way ahead, by candlelightand magnesium; and we made out that north of theknown cave lies a whole network of dry waterways, theprincipal channels running due north, roughly parallel tothe Limestone escarpment in which the cave mouth opens,and all connected together by rectangular branches. Onechannel brought us within view of daylight; but thecrevice was too small for anything but a rabbit, and wehad to return by the same arduous and abrading passageswe had come by. As old Fox would have said, the thingswe saw were "very handsome," but we could not tempthim to enter this uncomfortable region.

CAVE EXPLORING AT ABERGELE

Travellers on the North-Western to Holyhead orSnowdonia are familiar with several cave mouths thatform a prominent feature in the Limestone cliffs aboveLord Dundonald's castle, near the station of Llandulas.The most conspicuous is a vast antre near the cliff-top;and legend has it that this opens into passages runningfor great distances, and eventually descending beneaththe sea. (Welsh cave-myths are not less extravagantthan those of Derbyshire and Somerset, where storiesof dogs, geese, and other animals that have made longpilgrimages underground and come into daylight againdivested of feathers or hair, are still piously cherished bythe credulous.) The name attached to this group ofcaves, Tanyrogo—"under the cave"—is derived from theCeltic ogo or ogof, a cavern, and is almost identical withthe original name of Wookey Hole in Somerset. Aparty of explorers from Liverpool and Colwyn Bay haverecently carried out some researches in the Tanyrogocaves, and in those at St. George, on the other side ofAbergele; and while verifying their disbelief in thesupposed extent of the subterranean galleries, haveascertained many interesting facts as to the formationand the geological history of both series.

A grassy terrace runs along the cliff face to the gapingportal of the Ogo, the biggest of the Tanyrogo caves,which looks seaward and commands a magnificent viewover the coast and the Irish sea. The prehistoric men[128]who doubtless lived here once showed not only goodtaste in the choice of a site for their residence, but ajudicious eye for military possibilities; the place is allbut impregnable, save by starvation, the only accessbeing by this narrow ledge, which a handful of mencould defend against an army. Spanned by a noblearch is a colossal vestibule, rock-floored and dry. Butthis imposing entrance is a deception—there is nothingbeyond to compare with its shape and magnitude. Weswerved to the left, and at once found ourselves treadinga floor of wet clay, which began to ascend, and soonsteepened into a high bank leading up towards the roof.Creeping under an arch, we found ourselves in a transversefissure that may have run as far as the legends pleased,but grew too narrow in a few feet for any human beingto penetrate farther. A few rudimentary stalactites anda crust of pure white calcite adorned one small grotto;the rest was bare rock walls and rugged arches, springinghere and there high into the darkness, in fissures thatmust reach very nearly to the summit of the cliff. Abranch passage dwindled away still more quickly, andso did a minor opening that looks like a side door tothe main entrance.

The rock structure of the cave arches is displayed invery beautiful ways in this cavern, but the most interestingfeature is the remnant of an old cave floor. Thecavern was evidently formed in pre-Glacial times, andthe vast quantities of clay that plug it up almost entirelynow must have been carried in by the ice. After theglaciers had receded, the normal agencies began theirwork again; a stalagmite floor was formed by the dripof water from the roof, depositing a layer of calcite; thisin the course of time was broken down again, and nowleaves a kind of high-water mark all round the wallsof the cavity.

The line of the fissure creating the upward chasmsinside the cave can be traced in the external configurationof the cliff; in sundry vertical openings in the face, and inthe clean-cut walls, where sheer masses have fallen away,broken at the joints. Similar joints and fissures played apart in the formation of a lower tier of caves, which weexplored next. The first was only a yard or two wide,but very lofty, and its floor was composed of a level bedof sand and clay. This gradually rose as we walked intothe darkness, until the cave ended more abruptly eventhan the last. We noticed pebbles of Bunter sandstonein the floor, and the next cave produced many moreexamples of the same stone, which must have beenbrought from a long distance, the nearest strata correspondingto it being in Wirral. At the back of thisnext cave a bank of cave earth and boulder clay waspiled right up to the roof, so steeply that it was not tooeasy a climb to the summit. Arrived there, we found nopossible egress; but a horizontal tunnel, a sort of squint orhagioscope probably more than forty feet long, gave us apeep through the rocky cliff out to the sunlight. We setout forthwith to discover the outside orifice of this curioushole, and found it came out on a ledge in the face ofthe cliff, hard by an open platform which had a veryqueer look about it. On examination this proved to bethe floor of an old cave that had been destroyed bythe quarrymen. Half-embedded in thick clay were anumber of stalagmite pedestals, and a floor of stalagmiteunderneath several feet in depth, surmounting a thickbed of boulder clay stuck full of Bunter pebbles. It wasobvious that the quarrymen, coming across this mass ofuseless material, had not troubled to attack the solid layerof stalagmite above it. The remains of stalactites andstalagmite curtains still adhered to the neighbouringcliff.

The spot is well worth visiting, if only to see thisremarkable illustration of several consecutive chapters inthe history of a cavern. The destructive work of theLimestone quarry, having been checked at this particularpoint, exposes the whole thing as in a diagram; and theactual evidences are there just as they were produced bythe forces acting in successive epochs—the mouth of theoriginal cave, formed perhaps in pre-Triassic times; themasses of drift thrust in by the glaciers; and the newcave floor, with its growth of stalagmites. Since thecaves lie at a height of several hundred feet above sea-level,it is fairly certain that the moving glaciers exertedan upward as well as a horizontal force, shoving theplastic masses of clay and débris into the ascendingpassages, and caulking up, no doubt, a good manytributary galleries that are now unknown. The caveslook north, and the material pushed into them musthave come from seaward; there is, furthermore, no rockin the adjoining districts that could have yielded thiskind of pebbles: so that it appears the stream of glacierswhich flowed across from Lancashire and Cheshire, impingingagainst the contrary flow of ice from Snowdonia,must be held responsible for the presence of these densedeposits. All along the meadow-lands between the Limestonehills and the sea a series of risings or big springsare noticeable from the railway, forming large pools.These are the outlets of the drainage that has beenabsorbed by the Limestone strata, through which thewater has found its way until, meeting with an impermeablelayer of rock, or reaching the plane of saturationat sea-level, it has been forced to the surface.

The St. George's Caves are situated on and about awooded hill of Limestone near the village, which adjoinsthe low-lying lands of Morfa Rhuddlan, the scene of amurderous battle in the year 795. The Celt, with his[131]strong historical imagination, such a factor in nationalsolidarity, still remembers, though confusedly perhaps,some incidents of that calamitous fight. The old womanwho pointed out the situation of the caves drew ourattention to the ditch and rampart which run roundthe hillcrest, where it is not protected by cliffs. There,she said, the routed Welsh tribes had entrenched themselvesand fought desperately on until every man wasput to the sword. The wood on the hilltop is full ofgraves, she told us, and weapons often come to lightthere.

A great master-joint or fissure runs across the hilltowards the battlefield, and in it lie the caves, or ratherthe cave, for so far as we could make out they are allparts of one stream-channel. At the top of a cliff thatis now being worked for lime is a small orifice, a merefox's hole, blocked up against Master Reynard or thebadgers that often find a home in these small caves. Ahundred feet beneath it is a larger opening, which is saidto give entrance into several good-sized chambers; butthat also has been carefully built up with fragments ofLimestone by the quarrymen. We were driven accordinglyto seek the outlet of the cave, and this we found byfollowing the smooth, straight escarpment, produced bythe fault, in a wood close to the mainroad. A largestream once issued from the cave mouth, but has sincebecome engulfed in some internal swallet, and emergesa few yards lower down, welling out from a funnel ofcrystal water some 15 feet deep. The cave itself dischargesa stream only in flood-time. There, too, wewere stopped from penetrating far by the beds of claythat gradually rose to the cave roof; but in this instancethe deposits had been made by the stream, and were notthe results of glacial action pushing upwards. In fact,this is a cave with quite a modern history, one still in[132]working order, and used as a waterway at the propertimes and seasons by the stream that made it. TheTanyrogo Caves, on the other hand, have ceased foruntold ages to be actual water-channels, having beendeprived long ago by denudation above and behindthem of the greater part of their drainage area. Andsince that remote epoch they have gone through theseries of vicissitudes so plainly recorded in their presentphysiognomy.

CAVE DISCOVERIES ON THE WELSH BORDER

The other day, a Liverpool friend, who has a bungalowin the Ceiriog Valley, close to Offa's Dyke, told me hehad found a cave there, which had never been explored,but was reputed to go six miles underground, to theneighbourhood of Oswestry. He invited me to comedown and explore it, and I readily agreed, on thecondition that he was to seize the opportunity to makehis début as a cave explorer. On the side of the valleywhere the cave lies the hill falls steeply to the Ceiriog,and the densely-wooded cliff of Limestone that bathes itsfoot in the river is like a bit of Dovedale. Not so theother side of the valley, where different strata crop out,and the hills, with all their trees, rise more gently to thebrow overlooking Llangollen.

The cave mouth is about 20 feet above the river, ina cliff facing due north, in which the Limestone is tiltedat an angle of 45 degrees. It is recessed within a loftyarch, but the entrance itself is low, compelling us tocreep for the first few yards. After two or three bends,the roof as well as the floor rises, and the passage opensinto a chamber whose floor is heaped up to a heightof 10 feet with fallen débris, thickly plastered withmud. At first the cave runs due south, but the mainaxis of this chamber, which is lofty and measures about20 feet by 20, runs east-south-east. The roof risesabout 20 feet higher than the central heap of débris.[134]Water drips occasionally, but there are no stalactites.At the far end the passage turns south-east, and, thoughlofty, is narrow, the walls being parallel, and tilted at anangle of 20 degrees from the perpendicular. Then asecond chamber widens out, 50 feet long by 6 feetbroad, as muddy as the former. Rising 10 feet, thepassage continues to the east-south-east, but the wallsconverge for a time, forcing us to crawl, extended on oursides. Then it opens out again, and we climb over moreheaps of débris littering the floor, and all bedaubed withthick, tenacious clay.

Now the passage becomes loftier but narrower, andprogress has to be made by keeping near the roof, thewalls sloping at an angle of 30 degrees from the vertical,opening at one point into a small chamber with a falsefloor of jammed rocks, then immediately closing again,and so continuing for a distance of 60 feet. Thenarrowness is so great that one goes ahead only by dintof a continuous struggle against friction. Up to this,my friend had kept close at my heels, followed by hisman. But here the only way visible was down a stillnarrower rift bending off to the left, and the latter foundhis own diameter greater than that of the cave. We lefthim, and pushed obstinately forward, though we had notseen a sign of any person's former presence for a longdistance. Nearer the cave mouth matches and candle-greaseand the marks of crawling had been plentiful,local adventurers having got in nearly 100 feet.

Already we had struck the water in two or threeplaces, but had not found it in the main passage. Nowwe crossed a long pool or runnel of stagnant water, whichcame in from under the rocks to the south-east, andclimbed into a tight little curving tunnel that led backto it in a semi-circle. Beyond it, I found myself in arift chamber, with the water coming in from under the[135]rocks at one end, and flowing out in like manner at theother. There seemed to be no egress, till suddenly Inoticed that the niche in which I was sitting was the endof a small horizontal hole or dry water-pipe, striking offat right angles. But my companion had found thetunnel too much for him. The sides bristled with pointsof rock, and pressed in so close that one could onlywriggle through by fractions of an inch, stretched at fulllength on the left side. Now he made a stout attemptto get through underneath, in the water tunnel. I heardthe sound of wallowing, and then my friend's head andshoulders came splashing in at the bottom of the cave,his body dragging after through water and mud. Butagain he stuck fast, and announced that he would givethe thing up.

It was not wise to go on far alone, for fear of beingleft by any accident without a light; but in order to makea reconnaissance for future work I pushed through thewater-pipe, and to my delight found myself in anotherhorizontal tunnel running parallel to the main chamber.Crawling ahead, first over a clay-lined floor, and thenover splinters of Limestone mixed with stalagmites, Iemerged presently into an open passage, 25 or 30feet high, with the stream peacefully reposing inone long pool at the bottom. It appeared to go onindefinitely, and I might have gone farther, but for thepresent determined to leave off the exploration at thispoint. The parallel tunnel seemed to be going straightback towards the cave mouth, and it looked as thoughit might form a short cut home. As a matter of fact,this was a right branch striking off from the point whereour man had stuck fast. By crawling in his directionand shouting, I made him hear, and at last saw his lightthrough a chink only three inches wide. Fallen blocksof Limestone choked the tunnel at his end, where it leaves[136]the main passage near the roof, and in its present statethis branch of the cave was practically invisible. Weshifted several big stones, however, and in a few minutesmy friend joined me, pleased enough to find a way outthat saved the discomforts of his recent journey. He hadhad the misfortune to array himself in white flannels, andnow the state of his garments was so deplorable that hestraightway hid himself in the river, like the pseudoMarquis of Carabas, until more presentable clothingcould be fetched.

A veteran cave-hunter from Liverpool gladly joinedme in a second visit to the Ceiriog Cavern. Our hostcould not be with us, but sent a village youth as hissubstitute. This young man was very keen and plucky,and, as things turned out, saved the situation, for myspeleological friend, to his intense chagrin, failed to getthrough the narrow entrance to the parallel tunnel, andthe two of us had to finish the job by ourselves. Climbingalong the walls of the water-rift, we soon found it bestto wade straight through the stream bed, and finally,when the space grew more and more restricted, to crawlthrough the water. Toward the end of the rift a smalltunnel broke away to the left, and the water disturbed byour advance flowed into it and away down a small swallet.Wriggling through, heedless of a wetting, we came into asmall chamber with four exits, each of which we explored,marking off each with a cross or arrow to prevent ourlosing the route back. Every branch led eventually toother points of divergence, and ultimately to small tunnelsor pipes, through which the water flows in rainy weatherinto the head of the cavern. Having conscientiouslyexamined every one, without finding the mythical passageto Oswestry, we returned to the tunnel of the swallet.One of the bifurcations, it was interesting to discover, ledback unexpectedly into the water-rift. There were[137]numberless chinks and fissures, and holes in the roof,leading into this network of passages, all very interestingas a concise example of the whole history of the formationof a cave; but the farthest point reached was, by measurement,only a little more than 500 feet from the entrance.Only in places were there stalactites, and those smallones. There were stalagmite curtains on the walls atone or two spots, and patches of very white amorphoustufa. Curious filaments of cave-weed, white and brown,without a vestige of leaves, abounded throughout thecavern. Not far above the cave mouth I came acrossthe exit of the water, a beautiful spring, pouring downinto the Ceiriog, a few yards away.

On the top of the hill, in a disused Limestone quarry,there were traditions of a cave opening that had beencovered by a landslip for some thirty years. A man wasset to work digging it out, and a small fissure was disclosed,the old channel of a tributary leading into themiddle of a cave running north-north-east and south-south-west.The total length was 172 feet. The waterapparently entered at the top of the left passage andran away into a low bedding cave to the right. Thefloor is wet clay at present, but there are traces of largestalagmites, including one handsome "beehive"; and theroof is covered with beautiful white and amber stalactites.Our further attempts to uncover openings into the Limestoneonly brought us down to the solid rock, and wefound nothing to confirm the rumour that a cave existswhich carried a stream down to the Ceiriog, feetbelow.

THE EXPLORATION OF STUMP CROSS CAVERN

The explorers who have done so much work in Derbyshireand Somersetshire have also carried out extendedexplorations in some of the more remote caves of Yorkshire.Recently a party carried out farther investigationsthan any previous explorers in Stump Cross Cavern, onthe moors between Wharfedale and Nidderdale. Thiscavern, which is named after the ancient boundary markof Knaresborough Forest, and is situated near the summitof the moors, 1326 feet above sea-level, 4½ miles fromPateley Bridge and 11½ from Skipton, was discovered in1843 by miners searching for lead, as was the case withseveral of the Derbyshire caverns. The Greenhow leadmines are not far off, and the ground in many parts hereaboutsis riddled with old workings. No place could lookmore unlikely for caves than the flat field on the top ofthe hill, where a few steps lead down to a doorway intothe ground, close to the rough road to Grassington andAppletreewick.

The party of five, besides myself, Messrs. B. and F.Wightman, J. W. Puttrell, J. Croft, and H. Bamforth (allmembers of the Kyndwr Club), drove up from BoltonAbbey Station by way of Burnsall, and through variousdelays did not reach the cave mouth till nine o'clock onSaturday evening. With our photographic and otherapparatus we descended at once to a level gallery 50feet or so below the surface, whence several passages[139]branch off, and there we made a halt. To give a cleargeneral idea of the structure of this cavern is not easy. Itconsists of a number of galleries running in differentdirections at different levels, with a few intercommunications,and many continuations that have gradually becomechoked with clay and stalagmite and have for ages beenimpassable. Descending the steep stairway in a northerlydirection one soon reaches the first of the natural passages,which bears to the west. A gallery goes off to the right,west-south-west, and bifurcates, but is uninteresting, theearth and clay that show its proximity to the surfacerendering it very dirty. In the opposite direction, east-north-east,the corridor where we had placed the luggageand made our general rendezvous continues to a distanceof 120 feet, and then dwindles away into a low stalactitegrotto. Being so inaccessible and so little known, thevarious chambers have never yet been christened, exceptwith the vague and general names of Upper Caverns andLower Caverns, which have little meaning owing to theintricate conformation of the series. From our rendezvoustwo important tunnels, called the Lower Caverns, go off ina westerly direction from the bottom of a natural shaft20 feet deep. These were left for the present whilst wewent into the Middle Caverns, which strike off to the northfrom the same spot, and after many turns and twistsapproach the surface in the ravine of Dry Gill, south-eastfrom the entrance to the caves. Many chambers andpassages open out from this series, the largest and mostbeautiful being called, very inappropriately, the TopCavern. As it leads eventually to a charming piece ofcave scenery that we agreed to call the "Bowling Alley,"it might well be named after this.

I will now, as clearly as I can, follow the steps of theparty in their exploration of these Middle Caverns, andproceed afterwards with them into the other series.[140]Descending gradually, and passing many nooks andcorners where exquisite recesses are wreathed about bythe ivory-white incrustations on wall, roof, and floor, westayed to drink a ceremonious glass from the icy waters ofJacob's Well, a crystal pool curtained in with masses ofstalactite, and then passed on to one of the chief showplaces seen by the public, bearing the modest name of theChapel. Its great attraction is the series of massive pillarsof translucent white that seem to uphold the arching roof.In few of the caverns that I have explored is there anythingto compare with the stateliness of this pure colonnade,the cylindrical shafts of which are a good deal longer thana man's height, and modelled fantastically by the irregulardeposit of the calc spar. One column in this part of thecave measured three feet in circumference. A peculiarbeauty was the transparency of the material, a pure glassywhite through which the light of a candle shone clearly,whilst a light inside converted the hanging folds andclusters of stalactites into a beautiful species of lantern.On the walls were folds and ridges of snowy stalagmite,and from the roof hung stalactites of all shapes and sizes,myriads of threadlike growths hanging in a lacy fringe.Onwards the arcading and the array of pillars extendedinto a roomy vault, the end of which struck upwards, asalready explained, south-eastwards, toward Dry Gill.Though a perceptible draught comes through from theopen air, and the heaps of clay-coated blocks show thata swallet is not far off above, no way can be forced throughwithout excavation. Augmented by the arrival of two orthree local friends, the party descended, after lunch, intothe Lower Caverns. Unlike the other passages, with theircontinual windings and perplexing branches, these twoseries of large vaults, narrow tunnels, and almost impracticablecrevices maintain a westerly direction throughout,and the few branches strike off decisively to the right[141]or to the left. Two of us, being delayed by some triflingaccident, missed the others at the bottom of the shortvertical descent, and, unaware that there were two seriesof passages, crept on along the first that opened. Thishad the appearance of an old stream-bed, the groundbeing littered in places with blocks of Limestone, in othersclayey, and in some parts smoothed down by the rush ofa torrent. High in places, it often dwindled to a very lowpassage, through which we crept and wriggled after themanner of the serpent, ofttimes exerting no little strengthto push beneath the projections overhead. Here a shaftof glassy stalagmite, uniting floor and roof, tried to barthe way, and there it was impossible to advance withoutscraping against the vitreous threads that hung like hairsfrom the dripping rocks. We shouted to the others who wethought were ahead of us, but got no reply, and aftertwenty minutes of this painful progression began to thinkof returning. Noticing a hollow in the right wall, I askedmy comrade to wait while I examined it. Inside wasa blind passage and the round orifice of a small tunnel,into which I thrust my head and shoulders and thencrawled forward. It was not an inviting hole, being wetand an exceedingly tight fit, and I was on the point ofreturning when a voice was heard faintly in the distance.Listening intently and creeping on again, I heard thevoice more distinctly, and shouted. The voice repliedfrom below. I quickly realised that we two had missedthe others, who were following a lower series of passagessomewhere beneath us. Unable to turn round, and toofar advanced to return up this slippery tunnel, I saw therewas nothing for it but to push on, head downwards. In ayard or two, to my unspeakable relief, the hole grew bigenough to turn round in, just before I got to the end of it,and saw Messrs. Croft and Puttrell, 12 feet below me,holding out their hands and inviting me to drop. The[142]leap was a little sensational, but I had my turn of enjoymentin witnessing the grace with which my comradefrom above, who was now courteously invited to followme through the water-pipe, took the jump on to the clayfloor of the lower tunnel.

We returned later to the other westerly passage, at thetop of the water-pipe. Examining every opening carefully,we noticed many similar communications betweenthe two series, evidently proving that the upper was a veryancient stream course that had been tapped successivelyuntil the lower tunnel superseded it as a waterway.Pushing ahead, we soon realised that we had arrivedat the richest part of the whole cavern, though also themost inaccessible. The roof came down bristling withspikes and shafts of the purest calcite; the floor was onemass of crystallisation, ridged all over with the ripplinglines that form as the crust grows under water. Thisexquisite scene was continued for hundreds of feet,various and indescribable as a dream, whilst our marchonward over the sharp crystals of the floor and throughthe portcullis that closed every chamber was as painful asa nightmare. Loveliest of all was a long tunnel that onceheld many pools of water, half-encrusted over with a filmof carbonate. Only one of these lucid mirrors remained,but the dried-up basins were as beautiful now as ever, withthe bottom and sides covered by a coraline growth delicatein colour as in form. At the end was a small dome-likechamber, where we extended ourselves for a hard-earnedrest before facing the toils and tribulations of the journeyback.

We thought this expedition to the lower series hadexhausted the principal beauties of Stump Cross Cavern,but we were wrong. On our way to rejoin the other menin the Middle Cavern we were much impressed by twolarge curtains of stalactite, one of them folded and wrinkled,[143]and the other hanging straight down without a curve, butboth striped with deep bands of crimson, orange, andgolden yellow when a piece of magnesium was burntbehind them. These were equal in extent and brillianceto anything I have ever seen, even in Cox's Cavern atCheddar. A round tunnel, ribbed and groined withglistening dripstone, and a broad low arch set with pillarsand string-like stalactites stretched from top to bottom,led into the long, wide chamber that we dubbed the"Bowling Alley," on account of the stumps and pedestalsof stalagmite that stud the floor between the pillars.Beyond it a short passage leads into a grotto to the right,and a very difficult one continues some distance to theleft.

It was now past three in the morning. Tired andbattered to the point of exhaustion, but delighted with anexploration that far exceeded in interest all we had lookedfor, we returned to the cave mouth. An unpleasant-lookingbull which had with great suspicion watched us makeour nocturnal entry into the regions below had, greatly toour relief, got tired of waiting, and the coast was clear.Out of the everlasting silence and the shadows, lit sorarely by the glare of the magnesium and the beams ofthe limelight, we returned again, with the surprise thatnever fails, to the light of the heavens. Dusk was on thefar-extending moors and hills, daylight was creeping onover the sky, a pair of larks saluted us with a hilarioussong. Our driver was soon awake at the little inn, twofurlongs away, and in the freshness of the morning wecrawled down the break-neck road to Appletreewick,Bolton Woods and the Wharfe growing in light before us;and then at an exhilarating pace rolled up the dale to theRed Lion at Burnsall.

SWALLET-HUNTING IN DERBYSHIRE

"GIANT'S HOLE" AND "MANIFOLD"

Between Sparrowpit and the head of the Winnats theold road from Chapel-en-le-Frith to Castleton skirts whatis, geologically, one of the most important localities inDerbyshire. It runs along the side of a shallow uplandvalley, about 1200 feet above tide-level and two miles long,which is bounded on two sides by the curve of RushupEdge and on the other two by Elden Hill, Windy Knoll,and other Limestone acclivities. One of the great faultsof the Pennine chain traverses this valley longitudinally,the Yoredale strata having been thrown down to the levelof the Limestone, so that the middle of the valley is theboundary between the Yoredale rocks, shale grits, andmilestone grit on the north, and the Limestone plateau ofMid-Derbyshire on the south. The valley is completelyencircled by higher ground; there is no egress for streamson the surface. Accordingly other modes of drainage areto be looked for, and they will be discovered in a numerousseries of swallets situated along the line of the fault, thewater that runs over the impervious shales perforating theLimestone as soon as it comes in contact with it. Thisshallow valley, in fact, is the gathering ground for thewaters that pour into the abyss of the Speedwell Cavern,traverse Peak Cavern, and make their way to the open airat Russet Well and other springs at Castleton. Thatsuch is the case has long been proved by observations of[145]the temperature and colour of the waters, and by tracingchaff and other things thrown into the upland streams.But there exist hardly enough data to establish the theoryof the French speleologist, M. Martel, that Peak's HoleWater comes from Perryfoot, and the water of Russet Wellfrom Coalpit Mine, near Sparrowpit. All that is definitelyknown is that these waters run through the massive Limestonefor distances varying from two to three miles andreappear in Castleton, 600 feet beneath. Whether theyunite into one or two large streams, which form considerablechambers and caverns in the inaccessible regionbeyond the farthest known parts of Speedwell and PeakCaverns, is an interesting question, that tempts one toanswer boldly in the affirmative, since the action of undergroundstreams in Somerset and Yorkshire seems tojustify the assumption, if we take into account the extentof the vertical joints eaten away by the water in itsdescent of 600 feet, and the effects of periodical floods. InSomerset, in a situation exactly similar, two caves of 600feet fall and 2000 feet horizontal measurement haverecently been discovered by opening similar swallet-holes.Is there any hope of finding such hypothetical cavern orcaverns here by exploring, and if necessary openingartificially, any of the swallets between Perryfoot andGiant's Hole? The investigations recently carried out bya friend and myself do not make us hopeful that if thereare such caverns they will ever be made accessible.

We began our work at Giant's Hole, which opens inthe bottom of a little gorge between Peak's Hill andMiddle Hill. The brooklet that runs in at the cave mouthwas very low, and we passed almost dryshod over therough stones that cover the stream-bed for some 60feet. Giant's Hole has an arched entrance about sevenfeet high, and the first part of the cave retains the sameform. Then the walls contract, and the cave takes the[146]shape of a deep and narrow canyon, cut through solid rock,with the stream coursing along at the bottom over littlefalls and waterslides and through pools that are not easyto pass without a wetting. One hundred and fifty feetfrom the entrance to the cave is a lofty rift, near the topof which an upper gallery turns west, the general directionof the main passage being southerly. Passing this, wefollowed the stream downhill for another fifty or sixtyyards, and were then brought to a standstill by a partialchoke. At this point a quantity of stones and gravelcomes within two feet of the roof, and the water isdammed back in a pool a foot deep, so that there is barelya foot of clear space between water and roof.

Returning to the steep climb to the upper gallery, wescaled the wet and slippery rocks, and found ourselveson a shelf over the canyon. The shelf gave ingress tothe gallery, which rose gently in a westerly direction,with frequent twists and turns, and then turned north.In 150 feet it divided. We scrambled on; but all thebranches evidently approached the surface of the ground,becoming earthy, and we soon found it impossible to getany farther. This upper level, which for our purposeswas of less interest than the lower, is incrusted withdeposits throughout its length of 80 or 90 yards.There are stalagmite curtains and sheets of tufa on thewalls, the older rocks on the floor are cemented togetherwith a crust of polished stalagmite, and some of theboulders are covered with shining enamel. We found itbest to use an Alpine rope in getting back to the lowerlevel, the ledges underneath not being easy to find bycandlelight. Outside the sun was shining brightly, andthe light that streamed in at the cave mouth, through theferns and flowers and grasses that encircled it, was staineda fairy-like green.

Continuing our way through the gorge between the[147]sharp Limestone knoll of Peak's Hill and the bulkierMiddle Hill, we followed a stream that comes down fromRushup Edge, perforates the Limestone base of Peak's Hill,and comes out on the other side at a small cave. Inthree furlongs this stream is swallowed under a cliff some20 feet high, the ingress at present being through aseries of holes, where the water makes an intermittentroaring, almost like the throb of a hydraulic ram, as if asiphon were momentarily discharging. Older rifts areseen in the same line of cliffs, and can be penetrated for30 feet, but are now deserted by the water save at flood-time.Farther on is a deep depression in the hillside, bigenough to engulf a house. It is supposed locally to havebeen produced by the falling in of a cave roof, but it ismore probably an independent swallet, one of a series,nearly all funnel-shaped and long out of working order,that lie along a higher level in the Limestone than thosethat occupy the line of demarcation from the shales. Thebiggest of them is Bull Pit, which we come to later. Nextto the last pair of large openings into which streams arerunning, and which may be called the Peak's Hill Swallets,since their waters rise out of Peak's Hill, we come to alarge irregular series of trough-shaped hollows convergingon another swallet at this same geological border-line.The openings here are all little ones. But the next swallethas a cave above it, into which we entered. It does notgo far, but it has two ascending branches that can betraced to two small depressions in the Limestone wheretiny affluents have percolated and cut for themselves littletunnels in the rock. The next swallet beyond this has but asmall opening, although the hollow cut out by its rivuletsthrough the shales is hundreds of square yards in area. Anabrupt cliff walls in the hollow on the Limestone side, onlya few paces from which are naked patches of Yoredalerocks, clearly defining the boundary of the two series.

We now came to one of the most interesting openingsthat we have met with. It lies about 200 yards northof Bull Pit. As often happens, immediately above theswallet, in the Limestone, is a deep chasm almost perforatingthe escarpment. At the base of the escarpmentis a rounded archway with a turbulent stream running in.After securing a photograph we enter, and make our waydown stream easily for a little distance; then the cavetwists and narrows, and at a distance of 40 feet or so weare disappointed to find the channel too confined for usto force our way farther. Outside we had observed thatthe basin-shaped area had been flooded not long ago, andinside the vegetable débris that was plastered over thewalls and roof showed that the swallet must have beencompletely choked during the recent wet weather. Butthe peculiarity of this swallet was that the solid mass ofrock through which the stream had carved its way wasnot ordinary Limestone, but beautifully veined andcrystalline like marble, and its surface smooth andpolished. It had very much the same appearance as themarmorised Limestone found in the neighbourhood ofintrusive lavas, such as those near Tideswell. By theaction of the water it had been sculptured into fantasticshapes; in one place a corner had been cut through and asmall pillar left, joined to the rock at top and bottom.We scrambled with some difficulty into the chasm behindthe swallet. At the bottom, on the same side as theexisting swallet, was the broad and lofty arch of a cave,which went only a few yards in, otherwise it would havebroken through the escarpment. Right above the keystoneof the arch was a weathered group of stalactiteshanging from a ledge, and under them the brokenstalagmite floor of a tiny grotto. It is a rare thing tofind such deposits in the open air, and doubtless itindicates that the chasm was formed by the destruction[149]of a larger cave. A thick deposit of earthy mud coveredthe floor, and at one side a big hole penetrated this to adepth of six feet, the work of a stream that had perhapsnot run for ages. This deposit, though dry, was so softthat I nearly sank through into the hole. We found fourbirds' nests in this cave mouth, with eggs and young inthem, and were disappointed not to come across the eggof a cuckoo that flew out the moment before we entered.In the wiry grass not far away from the top of the cavitywe discovered a lark's nest with two eggs in it.

Bull Pit lies in the wood just above this opening, nearerthe road. It is a great open abyss, walled on three sidesby crags of Limestone nearly a hundred feet high, and withtrees growing all round the edges. This, no doubt, is avery ancient swallet that has not been in operation forages—belongs, perhaps, to the same period as EldenHole, which opens 200 or 300 feet higher, a mileaway, on Elden Hill. A little way on, near Perryfoot,we come in sight of another very ancient cavity, on theside of Gautries Hill. It is a gaping pit about 70 feet deep,with a noble arch inside, spanning the entrance to a broadcave. At present the cave mouth is silted up with sandand clay. All these rocky openings are the lurking-placesof beautiful ferns and mosses; the feathery fronds of theLimestone polypody, the late primroses, various saxifrages,and the delicate foliage of herb robert making a braveshow. The wilder birds take refuge there. A crow flewout of the hole on Gautries Hill, and one day onapproaching Elden Hole I was startled by a dense cloudof jackdaws, more than a hundred, suddenly rushingout. Farther down, from 50 to 100 feet lower, a host ofstarlings had built their nests on the walls of the chasm.Disturbed, they came flying up in twos and threes, beatingthe air in painful efforts to wing their way straight up andout of the hole.

At Perryfoot a stream is engulfed which M. Martelconsiders to be the source of Peak's Hole Water, and tobe identical with the stream that flows through the inmostpassages of Peak Cavern. It now runs into a cleft that istoo small to be explored. But at a comparatively recentdate it was swallowed in a number of large fissures ina crescent-shaped wall of Limestone 100 yards away.Most of these openings are impracticable, but at theextreme east I had already reconnoitred a promising cleftwhich we now proceeded to examine thoroughly. Thiscomplicated swallet, with the passages behind it, is knownlocally as "Manifold." Going east for 35 feet, the fissuredivides, one passage striking up towards the surface andthe other turning south. We soon had to crawl, thepassage being very low, narrow, and lined with objectionablestones. After 30 feet more we came to a wider place,with a sort of chimney on one side. Here was the solemark of humanity that we found in this cave, a stake thathad apparently been used to climb into the chimney.Nothing was gained by climbing it, so we squeezed ourway along the main passage. Now the tunnel grew intoa high but narrow canyon where we could stand upright,then it dwindled to a tunnel again, generally descending,but occasionally rising in what was once a siphon. Wepassed one or two branches, at the most important ofwhich the principal tunnel curved to the left and descendeda little more steeply over some small ledges and basinsbrimming with water. We began to feel sanguine aboutthe wished-for cavern, but presently the diameter of thetunnel grew so small that we could not advance anotheryard. My companion was some distance behind with hiscandle out, and I would not make a move until he hadgot it relighted, the consequences of both candles goingout at once being unpleasant and possibly dangerous.For a long way we could not turn round, and had to crawl[151]feet foremost. Just after repassing the junction mycompanion shouted that we were going wrong. He didnot recognise the passage. I remained at the junctionwhilst he went farther and ascertained that it was theright channel after all. Then I examined the branch. Itascended 20 feet and then divided, the left branch, whichwas earthy, plainly striking up to the surface, the rightbranch going back towards the swallet. Undoubtedlythere must be quite a labyrinth of dry water channelsto correspond with the numerous series of openings in thecliff, but the one we explored seemed to be the largest andmost practicable. Very tired and hot, not to mention thedirt, we made our way back to the exit, glad to feel thatour day's work was done.

The one thing that had impressed us most during ourexplorations was that all these swallets and water channelsare cut through solid rock. Only when the rocks areshattered or disintegrated, as in the cases alluded to inSomerset, would there be any possibility of enlarging aswallet artificially. And though we had penetrated to adistance of 400 feet at Manifold we had not found thepassages growing more roomy nor enlarged by the accessionof tributaries. So far, the prospect of opening upthe large fissures and chambers that must surely existdeeper in the rock seems unfavourable, unless the mainchannel of Giant's Hole can be unblocked.

EXPLORING NEW CAVES IN DERBYSHIRE

The new and exciting game of cave-exploring has beenpursued so strenuously during the last four years that onewould almost think the possibilities of fresh discoverieshad been exhausted. When a little while ago, therefore,rumours came in of a big cavern in Lathkill Dale, so bigthat people were said to have been lost in its recesses,they were received not a little incredulously. But afterthe usual allowances had been made for exaggeration andmyth, and the alleged casualties reduced to the misfortunesof a sheep-dog who spent fourteen days in the cavern,probably rock-bound on a ledge, it still appeared thatthere was something worth exploring. Accordingly twofriends, Messrs. W. H. and G. D. Williams, who wereresiding near Matlock, kindly undertook to find the caveor caves, and see what was to be done; and a native ofMiddleton was commissioned to make further inquiries.First, a letter arrived with the disappointing intelligencethat there was no cave on the Lathkill, nothing but oldmine workings: but hard on its heels came a wire to saythat a cave had been located and was being exploredtentatively. Then further messages arrived with mentionof another opening, but which was the reputed greatcavern was a question to be settled only by a regularexploration.

A day was fixed for the campaign, and my section ofthe party drove up early in the morning from BakewellStation on the Midland. Our friends were waiting at the[153]head of Ricklow Dale, a mile below the little village ofThornyash, and we proceeded without delay down thatstreamless canyon, first over smooth greensward betweenthe grim Limestone walls, then hopping from point topoint of huge, close-packed fragments, until we reachedthe uppermost cave mouth. It has a very imposingentrance, solid piers supporting a massive lintel, about 20feet wide. It opens in the west cliff of Ricklow Dale, ata height of 690 feet above sea-level, and is evidently thesource at times of a large stream. Ricklow Dale is reallythe upper part of Lathkill Dale, above the junction withCales Dale, and the head streams of the Lathkill originallyflowed down it from the neighbourhood of Monyash.But at a later period, seemingly, the stream betook itselfto an underground course, until it emerged into the openfrom this cave. At the present time the cave is swept bywater only when the deeper cavities of the rock overflow.This happened, for instance, a few weeks ago, when thecave discharged a considerable stream, and was for thetime being quite impenetrable to man. As the Messrs.Williams had been into this cavern a day or two before,we left it for the present, in order to try some unexploredopenings farther down the dale.

On the same side of the dale they had detected theentrance to something, whether cave or mine they knewnot, covered in by stones and earth. With pick andcrowbar an entrance was soon exposed, not much largerthan a badger's hole, and we crept through. At once itbecame evident that the hole was not a natural one; itwas no "self-cave," as the country people say, but anordinary level or a sough draining a lead mine. A poolof water filled the tunnel from side to side, stretching awayinto the distance; and as we preferred, if wading werenecessary, to postpone it as long as we could, we left thisalone for the present, and went on with our quest at two[154]other spots in the entrance to Cales Dale. Needless tosay, we had missed no opportunity of cross-examiningthe inhabitants of the district, but the results had beenabsurdly inaccurate and conflicting. Already a crowd ofrustic onlookers had gathered round, but the only individualamong them who knew anything about the regioninside was the afore-mentioned sheep-dog, who could tellus nothing. He, too, was the only one who showed anyinclination to join our underground party. In the upperCales Dale Cavern, as we named it, he actually went aheadof us, and put our candles in jeopardy with the spiritedwagging of his tail.

This cave is doubtless a very ancient channel of theCales Dale Water, which now runs through hiddencrevices till it meets the Lathkill; the span of its antiquitymay be gauged by the fact that Cales Dale has been cut200 feet deeper, and the cave left high and dry, since itwas a regular stream-course. I say dry in a comparativesense, for we quickly found ourselves confronted by ashort passage of extreme dampness. The main channelruns west for 150 feet, and then divides, both branchesdwindling rapidly to mere water-pipes. But near theentrance a branch strikes off to the right. Although theroof came down on our backs as we crawled, we managedto keep just above the surface of a shallow pool that layin the middle: but a second pool was almost entirelymopped up by our journey to and fro. The passage endedin a chamber where two can stand upright. Every bit ofthis little nook is covered with a creamy-white and brownishcoating of amorphous carbonate. It is like a small emptyshrine, with heavy curtains flowing over its walls, theirfolds and ridges flecked with innumerable scaly projections,like some delicate frilling. The rest of the cave is devoidof charm, though there are interesting masses of white tufaon the walls, as soft as putty.

At the bottom of the dale, almost exactly under andparallel to this upper cave, is a larger one, which we calledthe Lower Cales Dale Cavern. It is entirely concealed bybushes and nettles, and we had to remove a mass of blocksand detritus before we laid bare the two entrances. Eventhen, room could not be made for the broad-shoulderedmember of the party to get in. At the end of 15 feet ofvery tight wriggling there was more head room. Wewere in a straight tunnel, arched as evenly as a culvert,the floor covered with the gravelly deposits of a stream.Evidently it is a channel still used frequently by theCales Dale Water. It ran due west for 300 feet, with roomin most places for us to crawl on hands and knees: then itbent one point to the north. Here the stream had thrownup a low dam, behind which it had bored a series of holeson the south side, through which most of it gets away.Soon a wall of rock, shaped like the steps of a weir, confrontedus, at the top of which we found ourselves in awide, irregular chamber, the height of whose roof variedfrom 6 feet to 18 feet. We called it the Pot Hole Cavern,because of the number of water-worn cavities in the roof.The biggest of these cavities appearing to give entrance toan upper gallery, I climbed into it with the aid of acomrade's shoulder. It contained a pretty grotto, linedwith incrustations, but led to nothing. Deep horizontalfissures yawned on every side of the Pot Hole Chamber,and vertical joints split the interposing strata. All theexits, however, came to an end speedily except two, oneextending a point east of south, the other a point east ofnorth. I explored the northern branch before my friendsarrived. It had several short ramifications, in some ofwhich there were trails of rabbits, and other evidences of acommunication with the surface, such as pieces of soddenwood and deposits of soil; but it gave ingress for barely50 feet. The other branch seemed more important, and[156]as we were tired out and hungry, we left it until we hadreturned to the dale for rest and lunch, a waste of time,unfortunately, for it ran only for 100 feet farther.

We crept over a pavement of fractured blocks, into abroad, low passage that seemed to have been hewn bygiants out of the solid Limestone. All around were themarks of a powerful, swirling current, that had split andtorn the rocks asunder, and bored its way through theirjoints; yet not a grain of sand or a speck of mud wasvisible on their cleaned and polished surface. Fissuresand passages twisted away at the side, but returned ina few yards to the main corridor. In the roof werediscernible the clean-cut hollows whence slabs of Limestonehad fallen that still cumbered the floor. The largechamber that we reached finally was bestrewn and heapedup with such masses, and all the ways of egress save onewere entirely blocked up. This very soon came to anabrupt termination in a bell-shaped cavity, floored witha crust of stalagmite. But there were narrow fissures,a few inches only in width, running away in manydirections; a strong draught made the candles gutter;and the occasional presence of great volumes of waterwas made evident by the damage done to some of theincrustations. There was no sign or sound of flowingwater now; the silence was as profound and impressiveas the darkness. Yet this rock-strewn chamber was oncethe birthplace of a river. Hither, from countless fissures,the streamlets gathered together and poured through thehidden places of the hill, now in a rippling brook, and nowin a torrent, crashing and rending. At present the CalesDale stream finds its way to the Lathkill river by stillmore secret channels. But at no infrequent times, evenyet, the torrent thunders over the waterfall in the PotHole Cavern, the swallet is inundated, and a floodpours on through the long tunnel, and so into the open[157]stream-course in the dale, now dried up and covered withvegetation. Proofs of this were legible all around us.

Returning up the dale, we closed the mouth of theartificial level, and went back to the Ricklow Cavern.Although the portal is so majestic, the passage becomesanything but commodious at the end of a few paces.Once more we had to crawl over hard, water-worn rock,deeply fissured and thrown out of the horizontal; ourgalled knees and elbows could scarcely be induced to goat all, and the pace was miserably slow. Then the roofcame down so close in a horizontal fissure of huge extent,that there was nothing for it but to wriggle. My friendshad ascertained that 280 feet of this work leads into alofty chamber. It is one of those long, vertical fissures,not wide but enormously high, that are common in theCastleton caves. There were indications of galleries overhead,but we were too much exhausted to attempt climbingwithout a ladder. Only one exit was practicable,which led in 20 feet into just such another hollow, butstill wider and uglier of aspect. Filling the cavity to aheight of 30 feet was a mountain of shattered rocks, flungtogether pell-mell and wedged loosely. When we climbedit, the light of our candles showed that the structure washollow, and hardly more durable in appearance than ahouse of cards. Some of the rocks were held by pointsand corners, swinging on their long axes; a touch sentothers clattering down, as we crept with the utmostcaution up the adjoining wall. It was as if the interiorof the hill had been rent apart by an earthquake, and theheadlong stream of rocks caught suddenly and held bythe closing in of the fracture. We clambered to thesummit of this hollow mass of ruin, and lit somemagnesium wire. The formless walls went up into adark void above us, their ledges fringed with glisteningspikes and tendrils of transparent stalactite, revealed by[158]the glare. There had been visitors here before. Scratchedon the walls, but partially coated over by a crystallineenamel, were the initials "H. B.—R. A.," and the date1817; other scrawls were indecipherable. No doubtthis was the cave whose legendary renown had reachedour ears. Getting down our shattered staircase was amore formidable job than the ascent. One stone, asbig as a table, rocked like a see-saw when we setfoot on it.

Stalactites were not numerous in these caves, whichare not only very humid, but continually swept by water.Animal remains were plentiful, all recent, bones beingcarried in by beasts of prey and deposited by floods.As this process must have been going on for ages, thetwo Cales Dale caverns would probably yield good resultsto palæontological research.

A comic incident cheered my fatigued comrades whenwe regained the open air. In the morning I had broughtmy family up from Bakewell Station for a day in thecountry, a work of supererogation that now placed me ina curious predicament. The waggonette had gone off topick them up for the early train, and, to my distress,I found the driver had relieved us of all the luggage,including the rücksack which held my clothes, not tomention boots, pipe, and railway ticket. The alternativestared me in the face of proceeding to town in slimyoveralls or in attire of dangerous slightness. But thebroad-shouldered friend came to the rescue with hiscave jacket, a garment that fell about me like a baggygreatcoat, hiding the worst deformities, and with batteredhobnailers at one extremity, and a cap that had more stiffclay than cloth in it at the other, I made the best of myway home under the cover of darkness.

A VISIT TO MITCHELSTOWN CAVE

Mitchelstown Cave, the largest ever discovered inthe British Isles, is not situated at the town of thatname, in county Cork, but 10 miles away, in Tipperary,on the road to Cahir. Its entrance is in a small Limestonehill in the broad vale of the Blackwater, midway betweenthe Knockmealdown Mountains and the Sandstone ridgesand tables of the Galtees. The cave was laid open in thecourse of quarrying operations in 1833, from which timeto the present the work of exploration has gone on progressively,if at long intervals, and may, perhaps, continueuntil the extent of the passages known is considerablyenlarged. It seems now to be entirely forgotten that thespot has been famous from time immemorial for a wonderfulstalactite cavern. In October 1777, Arthur Youngwas taken into a cave, known as Skeheenarinky, afterthe townland, but the old Irish name of which wasOonakareaglisha. "The opening," he says, "is a cleftof rock in a Limestone hill, so narrow as to be difficultto get into it. I descended by a ladder of about twentysteps, and then found myself in a vault of 100 feetlong and 50 or 60 high: a small hole, on the left,leads from this a winding course of, I believe, not lessthan half an Irish mile." He goes on to describe thebeautiful scenery of the cave, which, he says, is muchsuperior to the Peak Cavern in Derbyshire, "and LordKingsborough, who has viewed the Grot d'Aucel inBurgundy, says that it is not to be compared with[160]it."[5] The odd thing is that the very existence of this cavernseems to have been forgotten since the discovery of itsmuch finer neighbour. Yet the trees and brushwoodguarding its mouth are in full view of the well-frequentedentrance to the other cave; and Dr. Lyster Jameson, whowas with Monsieur Martel on his visit in 1895, told mesome years ago that an opening had been pointed outto him into a lower series of caves, which I have littlehesitation in identifying with Young's cavern and thecave mouth I allude to.

Dr. C. A. Hill and I visited the spot in August 1905,intending to go through all the accessible parts of thehuge series now known collectively as Mitchelstown Cave,and also to examine the series referred to by Dr. Jameson,who had been unable to undertake their exploration.Our impression was that little or nothing was known ofthe latter series, and it was not until after our returnfrom Ireland that we were startled and puzzled by turningup an account inThe Postchaise Companion (1805ed., pp. 301, 302) of a cave in this place already knownand celebrated thirty years before the discovery of theMitchelstown Cave. The explanation probably is thatthe guides find one cave a more profitable investmentthan two. To show the second (or rather the first, sincethe other is the usurper) would involve twice as muchlabour, but would hardly bring in twice the income.Since 1833, then, the original cavern has been suppressed,so successfully that even the omniscient Baddeley neversuspected that there are two series, although he had readYoung's description and confused it with the other. Dr.Hill let me down a few feet into the old cave-mouth,just such a narrow slit as Young depicts; but we foundthat the rock was cut away immediately beneath, and[161]without more hauling power, the only way to get downwas to use a long ladder, and this we could not obtain.The guide told us that the hole led into nothing of anyinterest, and that the entrance had been used as areceptacle for deceased dogs and other excreta. Thiseffectually took away any wish to pursue our researchesin that direction for the present. Still, the old caveought not to be lost sight of; and we propose, if no oneelse undertakes the work, to explore the lower series onsome future visit to Ireland. The unscientific explorersof a hundred years ago may have left discoveries tofuture workers as important as those which remained forso many years after the early explorations in theneighbouring great cave.

What was done in the latter during the first year afterthe discovery may be read in an article by Dr. Apjohnin theDublin Penny Journal for December 27, 1834, anarticle reproduced from theDublin Geological Journal, vol. i.Dr. Apjohn carried out a most elaborate and painstakingsurvey to points considerably beyond the second greatcavity, now known as the "House of Lords," but failedto reach "O'Leary's Cave," the key of the fartherramifications, or to explore the tunnels connected with"The River." His plan, worked out to scale, and showingthe differences of level with great minuteness, remainedthe only map of the cave until M. Martel's survey in 1895.Meanwhile various adventurers had got to more distantpoints, particularly to the long chain of caverns runningeast to Brogden's, at the end of which M. Martel's chartstops. The French explorer does not seem to have brokenany fresh ground; but his plan, which appeared inTheIrish Naturalist for April 1896, with an account of hisvisit, was a brilliant achievement, especially when the shorttime at his disposal is considered, six hours for the wholeof the cavern. Parts of this chart were only hastily[162]sketched in, either from a rapid survey or from informationsupplied by the guide, as M. Martel explained to mein a conversation some time ago, and errors of detailwere, under these conditions, unavoidable. For instance,"O'Leary's Cave" is much larger than appears on theplan, and the "Chimney" is not situated at the far endof a passage, but actually opens in the floor of "O'Leary'sCave." The caves running east, again—O'Callaghan'sand Brogden's—are not such a simple series of straightpassages as they seem on the chart; our guide had considerabledifficulty in threading his way among the variousbifurcations. As will transpire later, there is a mysteryconnected with the name of "Cust's Cave," the real Cust'sbeing in a totally different part of the series, and a differentchamber altogether in shape. Unfortunately we did notgo prepared to carry out any survey, believing that allthis had been done; so that we can at the most pointout some places where the existing plans are at fault.We were also unfortunate in not being prepared to takea large number of photographs, the accounts we hadread not leading us to anticipate the actual grandeurand extent of the scenery. M. Martel compares theMitchelstown Cave with such famous continental cavernsas those of Adelsberg, Padirac, Dargilan, and Han-sur-Lesse,and it comes off but poorly in such a comparison.I have seen his lantern slides of these caves, and after exploringall the most beautiful caves discovered as yet inEngland, I venture to say there is not one English cave thatwould not come off badly if set beside any of these. Compared,however, with other British caverns, that of Mitchelstowncan hold its own easily; though individual chambersmay be surpassed, there is nothing like the same extentof brilliant subterranean scenery anywhere else in theseislands.

The tourist portion of the cavern, a fraction of the[163]whole, but yet a considerable extent of undergroundpassages, is deservedly much frequented. The spaciousvault, nicknamed the "House of Commons," vies indimensions and dignity with those in the Peak ofDerbyshire, but it is far surpassed by the "House ofLords." Seventeen massy columns of pure whitestalactite, surmounting enormous cones of terracedstalagmite, tower from floor to roof of this impressivedome, some 140 feet in span and 70 feet high. Thegrandeur of its height is lost somewhat through themountain of fallen blocks that rises from the entrancealmost to the apex of the roof. Behind this vast accumulationa sort of ambulatory runs round underthe walls, opening here and there into side chapelsand irregular cavities, all bountifully adorned with thefairy-like work of the Limestone carbonate. The so-called"Tower of Babel" is a majestic pillar rising fromthe summit of a pyramidal mass of stalagmite, 40 feetin circumference, that being also the measure of itstotal height. A crowd of other Limestone freaks, someaptly and some incongruously nicknamed, and manyextremely beautiful, are found in this chamber.

The cavities and passages that lie to the north-eastof the first great chamber are not often visited. Theystart from "Sadlier's Cave," which is not large butbewilderingly picturesque, and contains a superb pillar,"Lot's Wife," almost of the prodigious size of the"Tower." The "Kingston Gallery" is a straight rift,nearly 300 feet long, but only two or three feet wide,with sheets of snowy white sweeping down the walls,and breaking into whole garlands of scrolls and pennonsand curtains, which in places have been thrown rightacross the gallery, dividing it into lofty cells. Manholes,actually, had to be cut through these diaphanouspartitions to create a passage. From the cave at[164]the end, a lower passage, the Sand Cave, comes back ina parallel direction to the point of junction, and fromthe quantities of fine sand on its bed, was evidentlyan important stream-course after the Kingston Gallerywas drained of its waters. It has one unique feature,the succession of parallel rifts, called the "Closets," whichare connected together by rents in their dividing walls.Some of these are extremely narrow, and by candlelightit is impossible to see any limit to their height, depth,or length. Similar widenings of the master joints anddegradation of the Limestone separating them, are aspecial feature of the Mitchelstown Cave, and the keyto its ground-plan, with its maze of right-angles.

The great eastern vault, the Garret, which is only19 feet below the level of the entrance, does not fall,as stated by M. Martel, towards a series of chokedswallets, that originally carried the waters farther down,but rises towards inlets from the surface. Its frettedroof has fallen in at the upper end. A little to the southis a nameless series of charming vestibules, grottoes, andtunnels, meandering towards the insignificant lakeletcalled the "River." Here we spent the whole ofour first day. It is possible, we learned, to reach theeasternmost series of caverns by this route, which alsotakes one into the square cavity designated as "Cust'sCave" on M. Martel's chart. We chose the other way,that is, through the passage from the "House of Lords"to the "Cathedral."

In the tangle of contrary passages into which thisleads we lost ourselves several times, in the absence ofthe guide, and only recovered the thread by carefulobservation with the compass. Eventually we found theway into "O'Leary's Cave," which struck us as one ofthe most impressive chambers in the whole cavern. Itis not only much larger than is shown on the plan, but[165]different in shape. Apparently it is the most recent ofall in formation, although this may be only an appearancecaused by the falling in of the roof. Unlike the otherparts, where every bit of débris is sealed down by aglistening layer of stalagmite, this great cavity is heapedhigh with loose fragments, as free from incrustation as ifthe ceiling had collapsed yesterday. So wild and vast isthe configuration of "O'Leary's Cave" that, standing on thelower side and looking across a depression in the middle tothe ascending ground opposite, one fancied oneself, in thedim candlelight, gazing across a valley to a range of hillsin the distance. We spent some time vainly searching forthe horizontal tunnel supposed to end at the "Chimney,"and before the guide joined us were lucky enough to hitupon a string of chambers that seem never to have beenentered before. These run, so far as we could make outwithout actual measurement, right over the O'Callaghanseries. In fact there were openings in the floor which wemight have explored but for the aggressive and tenaciousclay bedaubing everything, apparently leading down tothese nether passages. Brilliant draperies swept downto the bold masses of stalagmite below the walls, andlong crystalline wands hung from the roof in thousands,so that we could not move without committing havoc inthis pendulous forest.

Conducted by the guide, we now descended the"Chimney" into the tortuous passages leading to the"Scotchman's Cave," which lies under O'Leary's. It isa small but very beautiful chamber, giving one the ideathat it has been hollowed out in a mountain of Parianmarble. Now we struck into the long series running eastthrough "O'Callaghan's Cave" to the farthest point yetreached. This was one of the principal channels bywhich the ancient waters descended, from openings nowunknown and inaccessible, to the labyrinth of forsaken[166]waterways we had left behind. Our guide, who astonishedus by the rapidity with which he got over difficult ground,was unable to make very speedy progress here. Theramifications are extremely hard to unravel, and he hadonly been in this part twice before, in 1895 withM. Martel, and twenty-five years earlier, as a boy, withhis father. Eventually, after many wanderings, we reached"Brogden's Cave," where hitherto all direct progress hadstopped. On the south side (not on the north, as shownin the chart) is the "Chapel," which M. Martel rightlydescribed as the most beautiful thing in the whole cavern.It is an arched recess, canopied with stalagmite of thepurest and most delicate lustre.

Whilst my companion rested, I joined the guide, whowas hunting for the passage to a cave where his fatherhad taken him thirty-five years ago. We discovered theopening at last, and after wriggling and squirming roundinnumerable twists and corners, we dropped over a lowcliff, beyond which a short wriggle brought us into along and lofty cave, magnificently walled and pillaredwith snowy calcite. Floor, walls, and roof were a spotlesswhite, wrought into intricate reliefs and embroideries bythe flow of the freakish stalagmite. The guide statedthat this was "Cust's Cave," and the one beyond, whereour progress stopped, he called the "Demon's Cave."M. Martel's chart shows a "Cust's Cave" of a totallydifferent shape and size, near the "River"; and, as thereis no mention extant of any cave beyond Brogden's, Itake it that this, the real Cust's, was unknown to him.Unfortunately I had followed the guide without bringingthe plan or a compass, unaware that we were going so farfrom the known parts of the cavern; and now, to mydisgust, the guide was unable to find the way out. Twicehe descended into a hole at our end of the cave, andemerged with the intelligence, "It's not there, sir." We[167]ransacked every opening in wall and floor, but failed tohit on any exit whatever. The guide grew alarmed, andrushed off to the farther end of the cave, wondering if wehad completely lost our sense of direction. He triedwhistling; but the hundreds of feet of rock between usand our companion were well able to guard their ancientsilence. Tired with these exertions, he next proposedthat we should put out the lights and rest for a while.Whether his idea was to husband the only provisions wehad, I could not say; but at any rate the situation didlook serious, since rescuers might have taken days todiscover our position in this remote corridor, of whosevery existence, probably, our guide was the only manin Ireland that knew anything. But where there is away in, there is a way out, as I very well knew fromseveral similar experiences; and after a pretty bad half-hour,we did manage to recover the trail, and got backto our friend, who had been completely mystified by ourdisappearance, and was almost as relieved as we byour return. After many hours of fatiguing work, wewere glad to follow our guide back through the labyrinthinepassages, by the most direct route to the openair.

Our chief regret was that we had relied too much onthe completeness of previous surveys, and had not takenmaterials for correcting the map. We had secured manyphotographs of the earlier chambers, but had not takenthe camera into the innermost cavities, where photographywould be most profitable. M. Martel's dictum can stillbe endorsed that there is a great field for research in theMitchelstown Cavern.

INDEX

Abergele,123.

Abîmes, Les,34,39.

Adelsberg,43,162.

Albanets of Couvin (Belgium),31.

Alfred (King),3.

Alps,43.

Anemolites,90.

Angels and Men (quotation),45.

Antiquity of caverns,18,21,25.

Apjohn (Dr.),161.

Arragonite,119,124.

Arthur (King),2.

Attrition, effect of,29.

Avalon, Isle of,2.

Aveline's Hole,99,103.

Aven de Vigne Close (Ardèche),37.

Avignon,33.

Axbridge,106.

Axe, the river,2,3,5,7,23,25,26,27,31,36,46,57,
      70,82.

Badger Hole,13,23.

Bagshawe Cavern,42,93.

Balch (Mr.),31,36,37,48,61,71,83,101.

Bamforth (Mr. H.),71,83,85,100,138.

Banwell Cave,22,28,113.

Barnes (Mr.),71.

Bath,10,69.

Bats,54,93,125.

Bear,14,23,24.

Beehive,30.

Beehive Chamber, Lamb's Lair,117.

Betsy Camel's Hole,14.

Bishop's Lot Swallet,8.

Bishop's Palace at Wells,5.

Bison,23,24.

Blackdown,3,17,99,104.

Blackwater,159.

Blue John Mine,38,88,90.

Bonheur (Gard),39.

Bos,14.

Boule (M.),31.

Bouvier (M.),33.

Bowling Alley,139.

Bramabiau (Gard),39.

Bristol,1,2,69.

Bristol Channel,3.

Brogden's Cave,166.

Brue,2,3.

Buckland (Dean),33.

Bull Pit,147,148,149.

Bunter Sandstone,129.

Burrington,17,28,42,62,97,99,102,104.

Buxton,29.

Cadbury,3.

Calamine,33.

Cales Dale,154,155,156.

Camden'sBritannia,46.

Camelot,3.

Canyon,64,65,72,73,81,150.

Carbonic acid (action of),4.

Carboniferous or Mountain Limestone,1,2,3,4,5,7,10,11,26,
      28,29,53,106.

Cascades,6.

Castle of Comfort,17,29.

Castleton,37,144,157.

Causse de Gramat (Padirac),40.

Cave-earth,21.

Cave Hunting,47.

Cave Man of Cheddar,85,86.

Ceiriog Valley,133.

Cevennes,37.

Chapel-en-le-Frith,144.

Charterhouse,17,27,97.

Cheddar,3,7,16,17,18,19,22,28,29,30,31,82,96.

Cheddar Water,5,82,92.

Chokes,9,34,63.

Clemens Alexandrinus,45.

Clevedon,4.

Coalpit Mine,145.

Compton Bishop,28,106,113.

Compton Martin,25.

Copper,33.

Coral Cave,28,105.

Corridors,9.

Cotherstone Hill,123.

Cows hounded over cliff,24.

[170]Cox's Cavern,83,92.

Cox's Hole,10,11.

Croft (Mr. J.),138.

Crook's Peak,110,111.

Croscombe,14.

Cross,106.

Crosse (Andrew),124.

Cust's Cave,162,164,166.

Dangers of exploration,41,43.

Dargilan,162.

Dawkins (Prof. Boyd),23,31,33,46,99,101,102.

De Launey (M.),31.

Deer,14,23,24,74.

Demon's Cave,166.

Denny's Hole,111.

Denudation,2,5.

Derbyshire,1,29,42,43,44,91,138.

Devil's Hole,47.

Devil's Punchbowl,29.

Dinder Wood,15.

Dolomitic Conglomerate,12,13,23,25,26,27,29,31,48,
      53,110.

Dovedale,133.

Doveholes,29.

Downside Monastery,12.

Drayton,47.

Dulcote,2,14.

East Harptree,116.

Eastwater,7,8,9,30,36,37,42,48,60,70.

Ebbor,3,7,13,17,29.

Elden Hill,149.

Elden Hole,38,149,150.

English Channel,3.

Enmore,123.

Eocene,31.

Exeter,1.

Exploration (dangers of),41,43,72.

Extinct animals,22,23,34,74.

Fairy Slats,12.

Fauna of caves,33,74.

Fissures,5,12,27,33,39,66,73,85,87,89,94.

Flatholm,4.

Fluor-spar,33.

Fontaine de Vaucluse,33.

Foreland,1.

Foxe's Hole (Burrington),99.

Fox's Hole (Compton Bishop),110.

Frome,1,7,27.

Frost (action of),6.

Galtees,159.

Gaping Ghyll,35,37.

Gautries Hill,149.

Geological Survey,25.

Giant's Hole,144,145,151.

Gibson (Mr. James),101,104.

Glacial drift,29,31.

Glastonbury,3.

Goatchurch Cavern,42,62,99,100,104.

Golden Cap,3.

Gough (Messrs.),16,19,28,82,93,106.

Grassington,138.

Gravel,8.

Great Cavern of Cheddar,82,83,92.

Great Chamber of Lamb's Lair,116.

Green How,138.

Grotten und Höhlen von Adelsberg, Die,34.

Gurney Slade,27.

Gypsum,33.

Han-sur-Lesse,162.

Harptree,18.

Harrington (Dr.) of Bath,46.

Helln Pot,37.

Hiley (Mr.),70.

Hill (Dr.),160.

Hillgrove,7,61,70,114.

Holwell,27,123,124.

Hope, Dale of,37.

Horse,14.

Hyæna,23,24,46.

Hyæna Den,13,22,23,24.

Hydrology,33.

Ingleborough Cave,35,37.

Inscriptions,22,30.

Irish Elk,23,24.

Irlande et Cavernes Anglaises,34.

Jackdaws,54.

Jacob's Well,140.

Jameson (Dr.),160.

Joints,5,11,13,71.

Katavothra,33.

Kent's Cavern,30.

Kentucky,43.

Keuper,31.

Knockmealdown Mountains,159.

Kyndwr Club,138.

Labyrinths,8,9,62.

Laibach,33.

Lake village,3.

Lamb's Lair,30,39,115.

Lathkill Dale,152,153,154.

Lathkill River,156.

Lead,33.

Leland,46.

Lewsdon,3.

[171]Lias,27,28,29.

Lion,23,24.

Llangollen,133.

Long Hole,19,28,97.

Long Kin Hole,37.

Long Wood,97.

Lower Limestone Shales,2,4,5.

Loxton,112,113.

Mammoth,23,24.

Manifold,150,151.

Marble Arch,42.

Marshall (Mr.),11,13.

Martel (Mons.),17,19,30,34,37,39,57,145,160,161,164,
      165,167.

Master-joint,34,131.

Matlock,104.

Mazauric (M.),39.

McMurtrie (Mr. J.),122.

Mendip plateau,36.

Middle Hill,147.

Mitchelstown Cave,159.

Monyash,153.

Morfa Rhuddlan,131.

Morland (Mr. J. O.),83.

Murray's Guide,116,122.

Natural wells,18.

Neolithic barrows,3.

Niagara (Gough's Caves),30.

Nidderdale,138.

North Hill,3,60.

O'Callaghan's Cave,162,165.

Offa's Dyke,133.

Ogo,45,127.

Ogof,45,127.

Old Red Sandstone,1,2,3,4,7,11,26,53,60.

O'Leary's Cave,161,164.

Ookey,45.

Oonakareaglisha,159.

Outfit,41,62.

Padirac,162.

Parrett,3.

Peace of Wedmore,3.

Peak,34,38,39,42,47,144,159.

Peak's Hill,147.

Peak's Hole,145.

Peak's Hole (source of water of),150.

Pen Hill,2,4,60.

Percolating water,6.

Percy'sReliques,46.

Perryfoot,145,150.

Phelps,106.

Phosphorites,31.

Pilsdon,3.

Pleistocene gravel,28.

Pliocene,29.

Plumley's Den,100,103,104.

Polyolbion,47.

Pot,34,84.

Pothole Cavern,155,156.

Potholes,6,68,72.

Pottery,21,22,58,74.

Priddy,7,8,17,48,60,61,98.

Primitive man,13,22,24,34,47,128.

Puttrell (Mr. J. W.),138.

Quantocks,123.

Quercy,31.

Radstock,27.

Radstock Coalfield,10.

Rain (action of),6.

Rakes,33,38.

Ravine formation,19.

Ravines,6,20,23.

Raymond, Walter,98.

Red Deer,23,24.

Reindeer,23.

Reliquiæ Diluvianæ,33.

Revolving stones (action of),6.

Rhaetic,27,31.

Rhinoceros,24.

Rickford,28,102,104.

Ricklow Cavern,157.

Ricklow Dale,153.

Risings (extent of flow),17.

"Rock of Ages," 104.

Rock shelter,15.

Roman Cave of Cheddar,93,95.

Roman mines,97.

Romano-British pottery,21,22,58,74.

Rookham,2,28.

Rowberrow Farm,17.

Rushup Edge,144,147.

Russet Well,144,145.

"S" bends,65,68.

St. Andrew's Well,5,28,31.

St. Dunstan's Well,10,11.

St. George's Cave,127,130.

"St. Paul's," 86,88.

St. Swithin's Hole,7.

"Salle à Manger," 38.

Sand (action of),6.

Sand Pit Hole,8.

Schmidl (Dr. Adolph),34.

Scotchman's Cave,165.

Secondary Rocks,5,12,18,27,28.

Sedgemoor,3.

Severn,4.

Shakeholes,29.

Sheldon (Dr.),83,84,90,100.

Sheldon (Mr., of Wells),17.

[172]Shipham,100.

Silt,10,11.

Siphons,33,34.

Skeheenarinky,159.

Slater (Mr.),71.

Smith (W. W.),45.

Snowdonia,130.

Société de Spéléologie,34.

"Solomon's Temple," 86,88.

Somerville (A. F.),14,15.

Sorgue,33.

Sparrowpit,144,145.

Speedwell Mine,38,144.

Speleology,32.

Spiders,54.

Springs,5,11.

Spur and Wedge,53,56.

Squire's Well,104.

Stalactites,10,76,77,80,89,118,140,142.

Stalagmite bridges,78.

Steepholm,4.

Stoke Lane,7,10,11,12,13.

Stratton-on-the-Fosse,11.

Stump Cross Cavern,138.

Subterranean streams,6,7,8,72.

Subterranean waterfalls,72.

Swallets, swallow-holes,1,5,7,8,12,26,27,34,60,61,84,
      148.

Swildon's Hole,7,8,36,48,61,70.

Tanyrogo,127.

Tennyson,4.

Thornyash,153.

Tideswell,148.

Tindoul de la Vayssière (Aveyron),40.

Tone,3.

Torquay,30.

Tower Rock,14.

Traps,34,65.

Trias,18,26,27,28,29,31,106,109,110,130.

Troup (Mr.),21,59,70,71.

Two Men o' Mendip,98.

Ubley Farm,98.

Undermining,4,6,25.

Upper Langford,105.

Van den Broeck,31.

Vaucluse,33.

Wastdale,96.

Wavering Down,106,110.

Wedmore,3.

Well (in Swildon's Hole),73,77.

Wells,2,5,7,8,17,26,28,29,36,83.

Wells Museum,14.

West Riding,34.

Weston-super-Mare,16.

Wharfedale,138.

Wightman (Mr. F.),138.

Wild Boar,23.

Wild Goat,23.

Wild Horse,23.

Willcox (Mr.),30.

William of Worcester,45.

Williams, (W. H. and G. D.),152.

Wills Neck,123.

Wind (action of),6.

Winnats,91,144.

Wirral,129.

Witch of Wookey,46.

Wolf,23,24.

Wookey,45.

Wookey Hole,5,7,13,16,17,18,21,22,24,30,31,36,37,42,
      43,45,52,60,70,82,127.

Woolly Rhinoceros,23.

Wrington Vale,115.

Yoredales,144.

Yorkshire,1,10,29,35,44.

Young's Cavern,160.

*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE NETHERWORLD OF MENDIP ***

Updated editions will replace the previous one—the old editions willbe renamed.

Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyrightlaw means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works,so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the UnitedStates without permission and without paying copyrightroyalties. Special rules, set forth in the General Terms of Use partof this license, apply to copying and distributing ProjectGutenberg™ electronic works to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG™concept and trademark. Project Gutenberg is a registered trademark,and may not be used if you charge for an eBook, except by followingthe terms of the trademark license, including paying royalties for useof the Project Gutenberg trademark. If you do not charge anything forcopies of this eBook, complying with the trademark license is veryeasy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose such as creationof derivative works, reports, performances and research. ProjectGutenberg eBooks may be modified and printed and given away—you maydo practically ANYTHING in the United States with eBooks not protectedby U.S. copyright law. Redistribution is subject to the trademarklicense, especially commercial redistribution.

START: FULL LICENSE

THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE

PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK

To protect the Project Gutenberg™ mission of promoting the freedistribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase “ProjectGutenberg”), you agree to comply with all the terms of the FullProject Gutenberg™ License available with this file or online atwww.gutenberg.org/license.

Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg™electronic works

1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg™electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree toand accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by allthe terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return ordestroy all copies of Project Gutenberg™ electronic works in yourpossession. If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to aProject Gutenberg™ electronic work and you do not agree to be boundby the terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the personor entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8.

1.B. “Project Gutenberg” is a registered trademark. It may only beused on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people whoagree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a fewthings that you can do with most Project Gutenberg™ electronic workseven without complying with the full terms of this agreement. Seeparagraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with ProjectGutenberg™ electronic works if you follow the terms of thisagreement and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg™electronic works. See paragraph 1.E below.

1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation (“theFoundation” or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collectionof Project Gutenberg™ electronic works. Nearly all the individualworks in the collection are in the public domain in the UnitedStates. If an individual work is unprotected by copyright law in theUnited States and you are located in the United States, we do notclaim a right to prevent you from copying, distributing, performing,displaying or creating derivative works based on the work as long asall references to Project Gutenberg are removed. Of course, we hopethat you will support the Project Gutenberg™ mission of promotingfree access to electronic works by freely sharing Project Gutenberg™works in compliance with the terms of this agreement for keeping theProject Gutenberg™ name associated with the work. You can easilycomply with the terms of this agreement by keeping this work in thesame format with its attached full Project Gutenberg™ License whenyou share it without charge with others.

1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also governwhat you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries arein a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States,check the laws of your country in addition to the terms of thisagreement before downloading, copying, displaying, performing,distributing or creating derivative works based on this work or anyother Project Gutenberg™ work. The Foundation makes norepresentations concerning the copyright status of any work in anycountry other than the United States.

1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg:

1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or otherimmediate access to, the full Project Gutenberg™ License must appearprominently whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg™ work (any workon which the phrase “Project Gutenberg” appears, or with which thephrase “Project Gutenberg” is associated) is accessed, displayed,performed, viewed, copied or distributed:

This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online atwww.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this eBook.

1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg™ electronic work isderived from texts not protected by U.S. copyright law (does notcontain a notice indicating that it is posted with permission of thecopyright holder), the work can be copied and distributed to anyone inthe United States without paying any fees or charges. If you areredistributing or providing access to a work with the phrase “ProjectGutenberg” associated with or appearing on the work, you must complyeither with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 orobtain permission for the use of the work and the Project Gutenberg™trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.

1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg™ electronic work is postedwith the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distributionmust comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and anyadditional terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional termswill be linked to the Project Gutenberg™ License for all worksposted with the permission of the copyright holder found at thebeginning of this work.

1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg™License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of thiswork or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg™.

1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute thiselectronic work, or any part of this electronic work, withoutprominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 withactive links or immediate access to the full terms of the ProjectGutenberg™ License.

1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary,compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, includingany word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide accessto or distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg™ work in a formatother than “Plain Vanilla ASCII” or other format used in the officialversion posted on the official Project Gutenberg™ website(www.gutenberg.org), you must, at no additional cost, fee or expenseto the user, provide a copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a meansof obtaining a copy upon request, of the work in its original “PlainVanilla ASCII” or other form. Any alternate format must include thefull Project Gutenberg™ License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1.

1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying,performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg™ worksunless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.

1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providingaccess to or distributing Project Gutenberg™ electronic worksprovided that:

• You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from the use of Project Gutenberg™ works calculated using the method you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg™ trademark, but he has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the address specified in Section 4, “Information about donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation.”
• You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg™ License. You must require such a user to return or destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of Project Gutenberg™ works.
• You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days of receipt of the work.
• You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free distribution of Project Gutenberg™ works.

1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a ProjectGutenberg™ electronic work or group of works on different terms thanare set forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writingfrom the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the manager ofthe Project Gutenberg™ trademark. Contact the Foundation as setforth in Section 3 below.

1.F.

1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerableeffort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofreadworks not protected by U.S. copyright law in creating the ProjectGutenberg™ collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg™electronic works, and the medium on which they may be stored, maycontain “Defects,” such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurateor corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or otherintellectual property infringement, a defective or damaged disk orother medium, a computer virus, or computer codes that damage orcannot be read by your equipment.

1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the “Rightof Replacement or Refund” described in paragraph 1.F.3, the ProjectGutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the ProjectGutenberg™ trademark, and any other party distributing a ProjectGutenberg™ electronic work under this agreement, disclaim allliability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legalfees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICTLIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSEPROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THETRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BELIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE ORINCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCHDAMAGE.

1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover adefect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you canreceive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending awritten explanation to the person you received the work from. If youreceived the work on a physical medium, you must return the mediumwith your written explanation. The person or entity that provided youwith the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy inlieu of a refund. If you received the work electronically, the personor entity providing it to you may choose to give you a secondopportunity to receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. Ifthe second copy is also defective, you may demand a refund in writingwithout further opportunities to fix the problem.

1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forthin paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you ‘AS-IS’, WITH NOOTHER WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOTLIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE.

1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain impliedwarranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types ofdamages. If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreementviolates the law of the state applicable to this agreement, theagreement shall be interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer orlimitation permitted by the applicable state law. The invalidity orunenforceability of any provision of this agreement shall not void theremaining provisions.

1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, thetrademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyoneproviding copies of Project Gutenberg™ electronic works inaccordance with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with theproduction, promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg™electronic works, harmless from all liability, costs and expenses,including legal fees, that arise directly or indirectly from any ofthe following which you do or cause to occur: (a) distribution of thisor any Project Gutenberg™ work, (b) alteration, modification, oradditions or deletions to any Project Gutenberg™ work, and (c) anyDefect you cause.

Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg™

Project Gutenberg™ is synonymous with the free distribution ofelectronic works in formats readable by the widest variety ofcomputers including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. Itexists because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donationsfrom people in all walks of life.

Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with theassistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg™’sgoals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg™ collection willremain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the ProjectGutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secureand permanent future for Project Gutenberg™ and futuregenerations. To learn more about the Project Gutenberg LiteraryArchive Foundation and how your efforts and donations can help, seeSections 3 and 4 and the Foundation information page at www.gutenberg.org.

Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation

The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non-profit501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of thestate of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the InternalRevenue Service. The Foundation’s EIN or federal tax identificationnumber is 64-6221541. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg LiteraryArchive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent permitted byU.S. federal laws and your state’s laws.

The Foundation’s business office is located at 809 North 1500 West,Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887. Email contact links and upto date contact information can be found at the Foundation’s websiteand official page at www.gutenberg.org/contact

Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project GutenbergLiterary Archive Foundation

Project Gutenberg™ depends upon and cannot survive without widespreadpublic support and donations to carry out its mission ofincreasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can befreely distributed in machine-readable form accessible by the widestarray of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exemptstatus with the IRS.

The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulatingcharities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the UnitedStates. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes aconsiderable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep upwith these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locationswhere we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To SENDDONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any particular statevisitwww.gutenberg.org/donate.

While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where wehave not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibitionagainst accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states whoapproach us with offers to donate.

International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot makeany statements concerning tax treatment of donations received fromoutside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff.

Please check the Project Gutenberg web pages for current donationmethods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of otherways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. Todonate, please visit: www.gutenberg.org/donate.

Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg™ electronic works

Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the ProjectGutenberg™ concept of a library of electronic works that could befreely shared with anyone. For forty years, he produced anddistributed Project Gutenberg™ eBooks with only a loose network ofvolunteer support.

Project Gutenberg™ eBooks are often created from several printededitions, all of which are confirmed as not protected by copyright inthe U.S. unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do notnecessarily keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paperedition.

Most people start at our website which has the main PG searchfacility:www.gutenberg.org.

This website includes information about Project Gutenberg™,including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg LiteraryArchive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how tosubscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.

	PAGE
Map of the Mendip District of Somerset,
showing Swallets, Caves, and Outlets	5
The Great Gorge of Cheddar	16
Photo byDawkes & Partridge, Wells.
Romano-British Pottery, Coins, Human
Remains, etc., Wookey Hole Cave	22
Photo byH. E. Balch.
Hyæna Den and Badger Hole, Wookey Hole	23
Photo byBamforth, Holmfirth.
Plan and Section of Wookey Hole Cavern	25
ByH. E. Balch.
The Great Swallet on Bishop's Lot, Priddy	28
Photo byBamforth, Holmfirth.
St. Andrew's Well, Wells	29
Photo byH. E. Balch.
Profile of the "Witch of Wookey,"
Wookey Hole Cavern	46
Photo byH. E. Balch.
Among the Pools, Wookey Hole Cavern	47
Photo byH. E. Balch.
Mass of Stalagmite, Wookey Hole	48
Photo byH. E. Balch.
In the First Chamber, Wookey Hole Cavern	49
Photo byBamforth, Holmfirth.
Stalactite Terrace, Wookey Hole	50
Photo byH. E. Balch.
Great River Chamber, Wookey Hole	51
Photo byDawkes & Partridge, Wells.
Second Great Chamber, Wookey Hole	52
Photo byDawkes & Partridge, Wells.
Entrance of Third Chamber, Wookey Hole	53
Photo byDawkes & Partridge, Wells.
Stalactite Grotto: New Chambers,
Wookey Hole Cave	54
Photo byH. E. Balch.
Stalactite Grotto, Wookey Hole	55
Photo byClaude Blee.
Stalactite Pillars, Wookey Hole	56
Photo byClaude Blee.
New Stalactite Grotto, Wookey Hole	57
Photo byBamforth, Holmfirth.
The Grille: New Chambers, Wookey Hole	58
Photo byBamforth, Holmfirth.
The Source of the Axe, Wookey Hole	59
Photo byBamforth, Holmfirth.
Entrance to Great Cavern of Eastwater	62
Photo byBamforth, Holmfirth.
Section of Eastwater Cavern	63
ByH. E. Balch.
The Descent of Eastwater Cavern,
the Second Vertical Drop	64
From Sketch byH. E. Balch.
The Great Canyon, Eastwater Cavern	65
From Sketch byH. E. Balch.
Entrance of Swildon's Hole	72
Photo byM. Martel.
Waterfall, Swildon's Hole	73
Photo byH. E. Balch.
Entrance of Stalactite Chamber,
Swildon's Hole	78
Photo byBamforth, Holmfirth.
Stalactite Curtains, Swildon's Hole	79
Photo byBamforth, Holmfirth.
Stalactite Chamber, Swildon's Hole	80
Photo byBamforth, Holmfirth.
Stalagmite Pillars in Gough's Great Cavern	84
Photo byGough, Cheddar.
The Pillars of Solomon's Temple,
Gough's Caves, Cheddar	85
Photo byGough, Cheddar.
Organ Pipes, Gough's Caves, Cheddar	86
Photo byGough, Cheddar.
"Niagara," A Stalagmite Fall,
Gough's Cave, Cheddar	87
Photo byM. Martel.
In Cox's Cavern at Cheddar	92
Photo byBamforth, Holmfirth.
Great Rift Cavern, Cheddar Gorge	93
Photo byBamforth, Holmfirth.
Entrance to Lamb's Lair, Harptree	116
Photo byBamforth, Holmfirth.
Plan and Section of the Great Cavern
of Lamb's Lair	117
ByH. E. Balch.
The "Beehive" Chamber, Lamb's Lair	118
Photo byBamforth, Holmfirth.
Stalactite Wall, Lamb's Lair	119
Photo byBamforth, Holmfirth.
Entrance to Great Chamber, Lamb's Lair	120
Photo byBamforth, Holmfirth.
Largest Chamber in Somerset,
Lamb's Lair, Harptree	121
From Sketch byH. E. Balch.
Stalactites in Entrance Gallery,
Lamb's Lair	122
Photo byBamforth, Holmfirth.
The Ogo, near Abergele	128
Photo byE. A. Baker.
Inside the Ogo, near Abergele	129
Photo byE. A. Baker.
In the Ogo, near Abergele	130
Photo byE. A. Baker.
A pre-Glacial Cave, Llandulas	132
Photo byE. A. Baker.
On the Ceiriog	134
Photo byE. A. Baker.
Upper Ceiriog Cave	135
Photo byE. A. Baker.
Lower Ceiriog Cavern	136
Photo byE. A. Baker.
In Stump Cross Cavern	140
Photo byE. A. Baker.
The Pillar, Stump Cross Cavern	141
Photo byE. A. Baker.
The Chapel: Stump Cross Cavern	142
Photo byE. A. Baker.
Ricklow Cave in Flood	156
Photo byG. D. Williams.
A Great Pillar: Mitchelstown Cavern	160
Photo byE. A. Baker.
A Fairy Lantern: Mitchelstown Cavern	161
Photo byE. A. Baker.

Movatterモバイル変換

The Project Gutenberg eBook ofThe netherworld of Mendip

THE NETHERWORLD OF MENDIP

PREFACE

CONTENTS

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

THE NETHERWORLD OF MENDIP

THE CHEDDAR GROUP OF CAVERNS

ANTIQUITY OF THE CAVES OF MENDIP

CAVE EXPLORING AS A SPORT

EXPLORING WOOKEY HOLE

STRENUOUS DAYS IN THE EASTWATER
SWALLET

SWILDON'S HOLE

THE GREAT CAVERN AT CHEDDAR

FIVE CAVERNS AT CHEDDAR

THE BURRINGTON CAVERNS

THE CORAL CAVE AT COMPTON BISHOP

LAMB'S LAIR

A CAVE IN THE QUANTOCKS

CAVE EXPLORING AT ABERGELE

CAVE DISCOVERIES ON THE WELSH BORDER

THE EXPLORATION OF STUMP CROSS CAVERN

SWALLET-HUNTING IN DERBYSHIRE

"GIANT'S HOLE" AND "MANIFOLD"

EXPLORING NEW CAVES IN DERBYSHIRE

A VISIT TO MITCHELSTOWN CAVE

INDEX

THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE

	PAGE
The Cave District of the Mendips	1
The Cheddar Group of Caverns	16
Antiquity of the Caves of Mendip	21
Cave Exploring as a Sport	32
Exploring Wookey Hole	45
Strenuous Days in the Eastwater Swallet	60
Swildon's Hole	70
The Great Cavern at Cheddar	82
Five Caverns at Cheddar	91
The Burrington Caverns	99
The Coral Cave at Compton Bishop	106
Lamb's Lair	115
A Cave in the Quantocks	123
Cave Exploring at Abergele	127
Cave Discoveries on the Welsh Border	133
The Exploration of Stump Cross Cavern	138
Swallet-Hunting in Derbyshire	144
Exploring New Caves in Derbyshire	152
A Visit to Mitchelstown Cave	159
Index	169