150 The Irish Naturalist. Oct Nov., 



this petrifu'd substance." He mentions a colony of Rabbits 

 ill tliat part of tlic cave which is still called the Rabbit 

 Burrow ; and describes the bottom of the well, and the 

 adjoining part of the cave beyond the Rabbit Burrow, as 

 being " full of human bones, but especially the well, in 

 which there are several skulls " — the first reference to the 

 abundant human remains that so much exercise the minds 

 of the later writers. 



The next reference to the cave which we find is in an 

 anonymous pamphlet entitled " A Tour through Ireland, 

 in several Entertaining Letters . . . ." Dublin, 1746 (17) ; 

 written as we learn from the Advertisement, by " two 

 English gentlemen." These visitors surpass Dr. Molyneux 

 in thrilling description. The approach to the cave is 

 guarded by 



" a monstrous Flight of different Species of Birds, whose Numbers darken 

 the Air as you come near the Mouth, and their different Voices seemed 

 to tell us we were going to view something extraordinary, . . . When 

 you enter the Mouth, a sudden Chilness seizes all parts of the body, and 

 a Dimness surrounded our lights, as if the Place was filled with a thick 

 Fog. . . . Our Faces, through this Gloom, looked as if we were a 

 Collection of Ghosts, and the Lights in our Hands seemed as if we were 

 making a Visit to the infernal Shades. . . . The Shining of the 

 petrified water (for I think we may justly call it so) forms so many 

 different Objects, that it is not unpleasing ; and by the Help of a little 

 Imagination, we might make out Organ pipes. Pillars, Cilinders, Pyramids 

 inverted, and ten thousand various Things in Art. ... In several 

 Places were Skulls and human Bones, as it were set in this crystalline 

 Substance, . . . We were informed, that two miles from the Mouth 

 was a Well of Wonders ; but indeed, my Lord, none of us had Curiosity 

 or Courage enough to travel so far. , . . When we came out, we 

 thought we had abandoned the Regions of the Dead, to draw the Air 

 of Paradise. They tell you many romantick Legends of this Cave." 



The next visitor who recorded his impressions was 

 Adam Walker, physicist, lecturer, and inventor, who 

 explored the cave in 1771, and thought it of sufficient 

 interest to form the subject of a letter to Charles Morton, 

 then Secretary of the Royal Society, who had it duly 

 published in the Philosophical Trmisactions (19). Compared 

 to the graphic and enthusiastic outbursts of previous writers, 

 Mr, Walker's account is somewhat wanting in imagination, 



