172 Notes on the Caverns of Derbyshire, 



oils brink ; and many of the stones are thrown down by the traveller, 

 who listens with anxious ears to the sound of the rock, bellowing 

 from side to side, and at length gro\ving low and dull, till it seems 

 lost in the unfathomable distance. 



Vegetation is luxuriant at the entrance. Trees and shrubs of 

 various kinds, including the elder, hazel, and alder trees, grow on 

 the naked rock. Jackdaws, many of which build on the sides of 

 the cavern, probably brought their seeds. 



At first the descent is accompanied with little trouble ; the eye 

 is interested by remarking the change in Vegetation from dicotyle- 

 donous to monocotyledonous plants, and, finally, to plants of the 

 most simple organization. The latter make their appearance where 

 the sides of the cavern become closer ; moisture dribbles on the 

 rope and body, and the progress becomes more slippery. At this 

 point the rock deviates from the perpendicular; and here Mr. 

 Lloyd (Phil. Trans. Vol. LXI.) remarked a cavern which seemed 

 to go a great way, but which he could not enter. No more vegeta- 

 tion is now perceptible ; and, passing over the jutting rock, another 

 passage presents itself, from which the descent is tolerably perpendi- 

 cular to the first landing place, a pile of stones, 62 yards from the 

 mouth. This heap of stones runs into the depth below, at an angle 

 of 35° — 38°. Its length from top to bottom was 78 feet ; forming 

 an immense, but ridiculous memorial of an attempt that was made, 

 with much expense, some time back, to till this vast cavern. 



We landed on the pile, when the cavern opened to the east with all 

 the splendour and magnificence of a glen in the bosom of the earth, 

 Avhose rugged sides and high canopy of rock, lost in the dim obscu- 

 rity of the deep, presented to the eye the indistinct and mysterious 

 forms of Nature's sublimest architecture. The day on which we 

 made our descent was clouded and stormy, and the loud peals of 

 thunder, shaking the mountain rock on which we leaned, and re- 

 echoed in low deep mutterings from the murky darkness before us, 

 added to the fearful grandeur of the scene. Arches succeeded one 

 another in apparent symmetry, and terminated in an expansion 

 that lost itself in obscurity. The first arch to the east was 22 feet 

 Avide and 6 feet high : the second, of immeasurable height, exhi- 

 bited the simplicity of Saxon style, with an entablature of stalac- 

 tite. Three vast openings formed the ^eries of caverns ; the first, 

 constituting the lesser cavern, open at the top, and the two others 

 almost joined to form the large one. In the lowest division on the 

 north-east, was a grotto of stalactites, and on the east side, con- 

 glomerated stalagmites rising in columns of from 2 to 3 feet in dia- 

 meter, and from 20 to 30 feet high. The large cavern was 22 feet 

 wide, and in the north-east corner was a hole nearly filled up with 

 large fragments of rock. Above is a chink filled with clay, which 

 widens on ascent for about 20 yards, and terminates in a beautiful 

 grotto, hung with pipe and conical stalactites. To the south of the 

 large cavern a small opening runs along for about 10 yards. 



The subterranean streams of water that enter by the swallows 



