60 HISTORY OF 



nations have been likened to men, lions, and or- 

 gans. At the farthest part of this cavern rises a 

 stream of water, well stored with fish, large 

 enough to turn a mill, and which discharges it- 

 self near the entrance. 



Penpark-hole, in Gloucestershire, is almost as 

 remarkable as the former. Captain Sturmey de- 

 scended into this by a rope, twenty-five fathoms 

 perpendicular, and at the bottom found a very 

 large vault in the shape of a horse-shoe. The 

 floors consisted of a kind of white stone enamell- 

 ed with lead ore, and the pendant rocks were 

 glazed with spar. Walking forward on this stony 

 pavement for some time, he came to a great river, 

 twenty fathoms broad, and eight fathoms deep ; 

 and having been informed that it ebbed and 

 flowed with the sea, he remained in this gloomy 

 abode for five hours, to make an exact observa- 

 tion. He did not find, however, any alteration 

 whatsoever in its appearance. But his curiosity 

 was ill requited ; for it cost this unfortunate 

 gentleman his life : immediately after his return 

 he was seized with an unusual and violent head- 

 ach, which threw him into a fever, of which he 

 died soon after. 



But of all the subterranean caverns now 

 known, the grotto of Antiparos is the most re- 

 markable, as well for its extent, as for the beauty 

 of its sparry incrustations. This celebrated ca- 

 vern was first discovered by one Magni, an Ita- 

 lian traveller, about a hundred years ago, at An- 

 tiparos, an inconsiderable island of the Archi- 



