54 .Mr D. Scott on the great Cavern of Boobon. 



Art. VI. — Additional Observations on the Cavern of Boobon, 

 with a Plan. By David Scott, Esq. Communicated by 

 the Author. 



The description of the Sylhet cave called Bhoobin by the na- 

 tives, as published in the Calcutta Journal, gives, as far as I can 

 recollect, a very good idea of it, although I cannot help thinking 

 that some of the adventures of the explorer, such as hanging 

 down by a rope in an unfathomable abyss, &c. &c, are not in- 

 aptly designated by Dr B. as fabulous. Trusting to that ac- 

 count, we went fully prepared with ropes, ladders, &c. &c. 

 but found no occasion to use them, except just at the mouth of 

 the cavern ; and we were assured by the guides that we had pene- 

 trated farther into it than any preceding travellers. I have 

 since seen a gentleman who accompanied the French natural- 

 ist on one of his visits to the cave, and yet knew nothing of 

 his swinging like a pendulum in the way described. It, however, 

 appears that the latter went several times to examine it ; and, as 

 the various lofty vaulted chambers of which it consists, would 

 have exactly the appearance mentioned,* if looked down into 

 from an opening in the top, the circumstances mentioned may 

 after all be true. I send you a plan of the cave, for the perfect 

 accuracy of which I cannot, however, vouch ; for although I took 

 the bearings with a compass as I went along, some discrepancies 

 occurred between them and those taken on the way back, which 

 I had not time to reconcile, the want of oil compelling us to 

 run for it. From the point E, Plate I., Fig. 10, to the mouth 

 of the cave A, we took exactly one hour to return ; and, as you 

 may suppose, under the above circumstances, we lost no time 

 in making the best of our way out. More than half the dis- 

 tance was good walking ground, the rest uneven, with several 

 ascents and descents ; but, upon the whole, I cannot estimate 

 the distance from the mouth to the fork at less than one and 

 three-fourths or two miles. From the mouth of the cave there 

 proceeds (at the season we visited it, March,) a cold blast of 

 air. The temperature was 69°, while the thermometer in the 

 shade on the outside stood at 80°. From this I conjecture that 

 there must be a communication with the superior part of the 

 mountain, through which this cold air descends. This supposi- 

 tion is, nevertheless, not unattended with difficulty, as the lime- 



