NOTES ON IRISH NATURAL HISTORY. 119 



town-land of that name, and is called the New Cave, having 

 been unknown till the year 1833, when it was explored by a 

 son of mine host, in company with a man named Condon, 

 who first discovered its entrance while at work in the quarry. 

 It is now only to be seen by applying to Gorman, the man 

 who rents the ground, and who, having had the entrance se- 

 cured by a door which is kept carefully locked, excludes 

 all but those who pay handsomely for the entertainment. 

 Throughout Ireland you either get served for nothing, or pay 

 ten times as much as in England : there is no moderation. 

 The Cave of Coolnagarranroe is now exclusively visited. The 

 little hills containing these caves are described by a geolo- 

 gist^ as lying " in the valley which separates the Galtee and 

 Knockmildown chains of mountains, the former constituting 

 its northern, the latter its southern boundary. The prevail- 

 ing rock at this extremity of the Galtees is conglomerate, 

 which occasionally passes into sandstone ; while that which 

 composes the opposite chain of hills possesses a structure 

 intermediate between that of sandstone and schist, and in- 

 cludes few if any rounded or water-worn pebbles. The ma- 

 terial of the interposed valley is compact grey limestone, and 

 this rock forms two small rounded hills, &c." Although no- 

 thing of a geologist, I presume I may venture to assert that 

 the interior of the cave presents nothing to the eye but the 

 grey limestone before alluded to by Dr. Apjohn, carbonate of 

 lime in the infinitely varied conformations of spar, a soft red 

 clay which appeared partially to cover the floor of the cave, 

 and to fill many of its crevices, and a fine light-coloured sand 

 which is present in one chamber only. 



Immediately on the door being opened I followed Gorman 

 down a steep passage of some two or three dozen yards in 

 length ; after me came Gorman's son, and a " boy " who vo- 

 lunteered the office of assistant- assistant- guide, brought up 

 the rear. Each of the four held a candle, and each proceeded 

 in the position most agreeable to himself; the height of the 

 passage being somewhat less than four feet, and our own 

 heights varying between five feet and a half and six feet and 

 a half This passage was pleasantly varied about the middle 

 by a perpendicular fall of five or six yards, and here a ladder 

 was fixed. At its termination the footing becomes tolerably 

 horizontal, and the aperture wider and higher, and this con- 

 tinues for about a hundred yards, when I was ushered 

 into the "House of Commons," a splendid chamber, which 



* Dr. Apjohn. 



