CAVERNS. 29 



wall ; but the openings already described are thus faced ; there 

 are no buttresses. The enclosed area is generally and remarkably 

 bare and dry, and shows the millstone grit at the surface fre- 

 quently. In this space are nineteen horse-shoe-shaped low wall 

 foundations, about 30 feet in diameter, each ring-like foundation 

 having only one opening, which is always on the side looking 

 toward the south-east. They are evidently the foundations of 

 ancient huts (Cyttiau), probably designed to bear conical or dome- 

 shaped roofs of heath or sod " congestum csespite culmen " 

 with an opening turned away from the north-west, which is the 

 quarter for violent wind and snow-storms. No traces of fire 

 have yet been found in any of these areas. The place for a 

 Beacon on Ingleborough is clearly the site of the present " Man." 

 (See PL V.) 



THE CAVERNS. As already observed, the thick limestone 

 rock which spreads so widely at the base of Ingleborough is 

 deeply penetrated by caverns, which, whatever their origin, have 

 derived many of their actual features from the passage of running 

 and the percolation of dripping water. In the upper part of 

 Greta Dale, between Whernside and Ingleborough, are several of 

 these f Holes,' ( Pots' or ' Coves/ as they are often called (probably 

 from the Cymraic Ogof), which betray, by actual pools and cur- 

 rents, or by abundance of pebbles heaped on the floor, the pow- 

 erful agency of water. The drainage of the valley, in fact, passes 

 through these and other undiscovered subterranean passages, 

 and only in great floods are they so gorged as to run over. 

 Gingle Pot, Hurtle Pot, and Weathercote Cave are near together, 

 about four miles from Ingleton ; in the two former are pools of 

 water; in Gingle Pot, the farthest up the dale, are heaps of 

 pebbles ; and Hurtle Pot nourishes black trout. But Weather- 

 cote, by far the most magnificent cavern, has the uncommon 

 ornament of a violent cascade, a subterranean waterfall of 25 

 yards in height, which fills the area with deafening noise, and 

 raises a shower of spray, on which the morning sun pictures a 

 rainbow. Just over the ' force ' of the water, a huge rock, sus- 



