Vol. XXVII. "j Hardy, Notes on Ramsden's Cave. i; 



1910 J •* -' 



of alteration of dip and strike of the rocks. "^ This gulch blocks 

 the way of continuous travel at low tide at the foot of the cliffs, 

 even to pedestrians. To circumvent it one must climb over the 

 spur which terminates in Cape Patten. On the Lome side of the 

 gulch is a small cave at sea level, which was described in the 

 Victorian Naturalist of March, 1905 (vol. xxi., p. 151). 



Before reaching the Blowhole, from the Apollo Bay side, one 

 sees a small indent extending northerly a ie.\\ chains into the clift", 

 and open to the sky, with masses of rock receiving the force of 

 the waves at high tide near the entrance, where it is about three 

 chains wide. The walls converge until the indent is, at its 

 extremity, about half a chain wide. From a point about 90 

 feet up the cliff a steep slope — the surface of a talus — descends. 

 Above the talus the cliff is vertical for a height of 50 feet or more, 

 and above that, though not vertical, the Cape Patten headland 

 rises irregularly to perhaps 500 feet. 



Round this steep brow, above the cliff, runs a mountain path, 

 known as " The Goat Track." It was owing to Mr. Ramsden 

 seeing a goat standing on the top of the talus that he descended 

 by a circuitous route to the shore, and climbed up to see if the 

 animal had a kid concealed there. The goat had meanwhile 

 come down and disappeared, but Mr. Ramsden discovered the 

 small hole opening to a cave, which could not be seen either 

 from above or below. The cave has, therefore, been named 

 after him. With much difficulty he subsequently got a rope 

 attached to a rock, and with this as a help the cave may be 

 reached. 



The opening is about 8 feet wide and irregular in height, 

 but enough to allow one to crawl through and descend a damp, 

 rock-strewn slope of about 40 deg. for a distance of 80 feet or so 

 to the edge of a pool of water. Meanwhile the ceiling, which 

 at first inclines a little with this slope, runs inwards more or less 

 horizontally, so that as the slope is descended the chamber 

 increases in height to about 30 feet. The side walls strike 

 northerly, and dip easterly at about 70 deg. Between these the 

 pool lies on a bottom of jagged rock, in the interstices of 

 which a soft, yielding mud makes a treacherous foothold and the 

 spraining of an ankle possible. The interior is lost in gloom, 

 but with the aid of a torch one may see at the further side of the 

 pool — here 12 feet wide and over 5 feet deep in parts — the end 

 wall, which closes the chamber partly but leaves a passage with 

 the same steep walls and floor below water. The musical 

 echoing splash of a drop falling somewhere from the ceiling at 

 about half-minute intervals was the only sound heard, except the 

 noisy flight of a startled blow-fly which had sought the cave for 

 shelter. 



* V. Stirling, " Special Report on Geology of Apollo Bay," accompanying 

 Quarter Sheet Ar, 47 (1901). 



