Cftiidleigh in Devonshire. 163 



discovery of other caviiics equal to tl'iose already explored. 

 But the foot ol man has never yet passed into those con- 

 cealed caves ; and the traditions of the vulgar respecting 

 them are of the most fearful kind : unfathomable depths of 

 water, with all accompanying horrors, are predominant*. 

 That water mav sometimes be collected in those cavities, 

 may not be improbable ; vet I have thrown down several 

 stones, and water was never heard, and the stones soon 

 reached their termination^ One tradition is worthy of 

 being remembered : a dog was once thrown intcf one of 

 those pilSj and some weeks after it emerged at Botter rock 

 near Heniock, a village about four miles from Chudleigh ; 

 and the most remarkable part of the tale is, that all its hair 

 was rubbed off': this is a degree of consistency not often to 

 be observed in jiopular tradition. 



Having fiiVished the description of the cavern, I shall 

 now hazard a few remarks respecting the use to which it 

 was applied by the Aborigines of Damnonium. Caves 

 were certainly the first habitations of the wandering tribes, 

 and perhaps first sugoested the idea of constructing more 

 convenient places of abode. Some savages are now found ig- 

 norant of the means of constructin<r any settled habitation, 

 and who retire to the crevices of the rocks as a defence against 

 the inclemency of the weatherf. The Eastern nations 

 seem to have been more particularlv attached to subter- 

 ranean abodes. The deeds of Jesus Christ arc said by the 

 inhabitants of Palestine to have been performed in caves ;J;. 

 Xenophon particularly describes the caves of the Arme- 

 nians § ; and the temples of the Hindoos are frequently 

 placed ill excavations at fir.= t formed by nature, and after- 

 wards improved by art : such is the singular cave in the 

 Isle of Elcphante, autl the caves of Carii and Kenneri||. Bv 

 the Orientals, caves were used as places of aliode, as retreats 

 in case of defeat from the enemy, and as temples for the 

 celebration of religious rites. The first colonists ofDam- 

 nonuun proceeded from the East. This hypothesis was 

 first staled by Sir George Yonge, and supported by Pol- 

 whele in his excellent historical Views ofDevonshire. Ma- 

 jor Welford has more recenilv conjectured, that the sacred 

 Isles of the Hindoos were hiiualetl in the Western Ocean, 



• RIsJoii in Ills Chnro^fraphical Survey of Devon, in page S32, last edit, 

 when speaking of Chudltiijh, says : "Tiieic is n cave lieieabouts that crecptth 

 far under the ground, of v hich wy.my inarvcllous matters are spoken." 



t See Collins's Arcount of New .South W ilcn. 



t .See Harmcr's Olisurvations, and ManndrcH's Travels. 



5 Ih' EipiJiii'ini- Cyii, lih. 4. 



II Asiatic Researches, vol. ii. and Valen.i.i't; Travels, vol, ii. 



L -2 We 



