BRIER CAVE. 295 



water, that flashed and sparkled in the sun. On the 

 opposite side were the red cliffs of the Hangman, 

 with their verdant turfy crown, sloping down to an 

 abrupt point ; the caves and various irregularities of 

 their sides distinctly visible, though in hues softened 

 and mellowed by the distance. The floor of the 

 cavern is rough with weedy rocks, on which the foot 

 finds but a slippery and precarious hold ; among 

 these lie shallow tranquil pools, tranquil because pro- 

 tected from the wind without, and reflecting, with 

 mirror-like precision, the form of the distant coast, 

 and everv white cloud that skims over the azure 

 sky. 



If the visitor now retrace his steps, and, crossing 

 the cove, examine the rock on the opposite side, he 

 will find a long perpendicular fissure just wide enough 

 to permit him to squeeze his body through. After 

 pursuing this gallery for a score yards or so, he finds 

 himself in an area, open to the sky and leading away 

 to the right and left. On either hand is another 

 natural archway : that to the right resembles the one 

 just described (except that it is narrower), and looks 

 out upon the same scene. The one to the left is 

 essentially similar, but as it leads inland, it may be 

 traversed ; and the explorer will find himself, at the 

 end of the arch, at the bottom of a deep circular pit, 

 about as wide as an ordinary room. The sides are 

 precipitious, about thirty or forty feet high, and 

 fringed all round at the top with matted brambles, 

 whence the hole has acquired the name of Brier Cave. 

 At first there seems no mode of escape from this 

 prison, except through the gallery by which the 



