The Underground Drainage 



having joined him at the top of the cone, helped in the 

 removal of some of the stones, which we rolled down on 

 to the platform beneath. The noise caused by the falling 

 stones was almost deafening owing to reverberations 

 from the roof of the chamber. 



Eventually our labours were rewarded by the uncover- 

 ing of a low opening not more than 2 feet high in its highest 

 part, and having provided ourselves with clay, water- 

 proof matches, and a good supply of candles, two of us 

 proceeded to crawl into this. There was no room to go 

 on hands and knees, and we had perforce to lie at full- 

 length, propelling ourselves by pulling with our hands 

 or pushing with our feet against any projection of floor, 

 roof, or walls which presented itself. 



After about five minutes of this somewhat arduous 

 mode of progression we lay still to rest and consult as 

 to what should next be done. Eventually we continued 

 our journey and were rewarded by the discovery of a 

 small chamber containing some very beautiful stalactites 

 of a pale pink colour and all curved at their lower ends 

 towards the direction from which we had come. Here, 

 to our great relief, we were able to sit upright, though 

 the roof was still too low to allow of our standing. 



The stalactites in this case were very different both 

 in size and structure from those which we had seen in 

 the outer tunnel. They were thick and solid throughout, 

 being formed by a slow oozing of water from a crack in 

 the roof, over their outer surfaces. Their strong curva- 

 ture was a puzzle to us, and it was not until we noticed 

 that it was in the same direction as the current of air, 

 that we were able to offer an explanation of the 

 phenomenon. Close observation showed that the drops 



163 



