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A, FE. Verril—The Bermuda Islands; Geology. 
b. Walsingham Caves and Sinks. 
On the ancient Walsingham place, near the northwestern shore 
of Castle Harbor, there are several rather large caves, excavated by 
percolating rain water and fresh water streams in the hard limestones 
of the Walsingham formation (see p. 70). 
One of these, near ‘Tom Moore’s Calabash Tree,” has at present 
no sea water in it. It has two entrances, one of which is on consider- 
ably higher land than the other. From this the path descends 
_ rapidly into a long irregular colonnade, bordered on each side with 
large stalactitic columns, and hung with large stalactites. In some 
places it enlarges into vaulted rooms of considerable height. The 
second entrance opens at a much lower level into a very evident dry 
sink, covered at present with woodland.* 
This cavern seems to have been at one time the subterranean 
channel of a stream of water of considerable volume. Probably it 
“was connected directly with several other caves, some of which are 
now represented only by the adjacent sinks. 
Near by, but on lower land, there is a large cave with a single 
room. It has a high sloping roof, from which hang great numbers 
of stalactites, some of them of large size, many over a foot in diame- 
ter and perhaps 6 to 10 feet long. This cavernt has a deep pool of 
sea-water covering most of its floor. It is said to be 15 to 20 feet 
deep in the deepest parts, which are not accessible without a boat. 
Certainly the bottom could not be seen, except close to the shal- 
lower side, when strongly illuminated. Some of the stalactites 
descend into the sea-water. Several other caverns in this district 
have the same general character, and some communicate with the 
sea so freely that the tides ebb and flow, and various fishes live in 
them. (See pl. xxi, fig. 1.) 
Near these caves are several sinks with abrupt sides and nearly 
full of sea-water. They are evidently the ruins of caverns like those 
* It was from one of these caverns that a large stalagmite was taken in 1819, 
by Admiral David Milne, and sent to the museum of Edinburgh. It was .25 
inches in diameter, where it was sawn off, 11 feet 3 inches high, weighed 
about 31g tons and contained 44 cubic feet. (See Proc. Royal Society Edinb., 
v, p. 428; ‘‘ Bermuda Pocket Almanac,” 1888, p. 175; 1889, p. 149. But the 
attempts that have been made to estimate its age, by the rate of deposit now 
going on, are futile, for there is no possibility that the rate is the same now that 
it was formerly, nor that it was at all constant in any former period. The varia- 
tions must have been very great. 
+ See these Trans., p. 471, pls. xci, xcii; ‘‘The Bermuda Islands,” p. 59, 
same plates. 
