INGLEBOROUGH CAVE. 33 



In the course of the Cave are only two places where the roof 

 descends so low as to compel the visitor to unusual stooping. 

 In the first of these passages it was found necessary to blast the 

 solid rock in order to let off the water from the gallery beyond 

 this low part of the Cave, and persons of moderate stature 

 can easily pass through by stooping. In one part where the 

 line of the Cave crosses the direction of the fissures, the passage 

 is like a tunnel ; it is in fact bored out by the water, which here 

 crosses from one great fissure to another. Following, probably, 

 some transverse rent, and aided by sand, of which abundance 

 appears on the floor, the water escaping from great pressure 

 has worked for itself an evenly arched passage, free from stalag- 

 mite, except where great fissures cross it. Sand is not the only 

 grinding material pebbles derived from the hills above lie 

 plentifully in certain parts of the Cave, and particular chambers 

 were once filled with them to certain levels, where some of them 

 still remain attached to the sides by stalagmitic incrustations 

 formed at the then level of the water. 



What is the source of the water which flows through the 

 Cave? whence come those heaps of sand and pebbles? what 

 other opening can be traced to the surface? To answer these 

 questions we must return to the upper air and ascend the slope 

 of Ingleborough. Above the Cave in all its length is a thick 

 scar of limestone, which by absorbing the rains may contribute 

 to swell the little underground river. On much higher ground 

 we see many small rills collected into a considerable beck not 

 devoid of finny life (trout). The beck, extremely variable with 

 season and weather, is swallowed up by a large and deep cavity 

 or Pothole in the great Scar limestone, called Gaping Gill (ghyll). 

 This hole is an enlargement of the natural fissures of the lime- 

 stone, which here and in the Cave range nearly N.W. The 

 stream in times of flood transports plenty of sand and sandstone 

 pebbles from the upper slopes of the hill, and pours them into 

 this gulf of about 150 feet in depth. There is no other known 

 opening to the Cave from the upper ground, nor any other great 



