ON CAVES. 9 



there might be a storm. I turned now and then as I got 

 higher, and saw the mist gather on the southern horizon. 

 Soon it took shape and formed in the eddies as the rapidly- 

 rising wind crept on. Two principal masses of cloud came 

 crowding up, converging on Ingleborough, from Lancaster 

 and Clitheroe. I had once before seen that kind of sky in 

 South Wales, and, a few hours after, thirty-aight bridges were 

 carried away in our county. So warned, I hurried homewards, 

 and it was well I did. The clouds appeared to me to be 

 rolling on in vertical planes. I ran, and only just got in to 

 my inn before the worst was on us. Drenched haymakers, 

 who had lingered too long in some insufficient temporary 

 shelter, kept coming into the village. The storm burst with 

 all its fury on the south-eastern flank of Ingleborough. 



The stream that drains that area runs through the village 

 of Clapham. The valley is dammed close above the village, 

 to form a small tarn. This soon felt the flood, but, of 

 course, the equalising effect of a lake upon the stream 

 below it prevented our realising the tremendous rainfall for a 

 time ; because, before the stream could be raised six feet as it 

 flowed out of this lake, the whole area of the lake had to be 

 raised to that extent. But very soon this was done and the 

 arch was filled, and a great spout of turbid water was pro- 

 jected forward on to the rocks at the base of the dam above 

 the church. I went up the valley round the lake towards 

 the celebrated Ingleborough Cave. It was a striking scene. 

 Water spurted out of every crack and joint in the rocks, but 

 the united subterranean watercourses could not carry it all, 

 and the overflow from the drift-covered country above the 

 usual outfalls rushed down the valley, carrying mud and 

 boulders with it in its headlong course. The stream below 

 the cave runs over bare limestone for a considerable distance, 

 and the noise made by the boulders, as they were rolled along 

 the rocky floor, was so great that my companions thought the 

 thunder-storm was beginning again and hurried home. I went 

 on to the great cave. Here I saw a wonderful sight. The 

 lower cave was full, and the water was spouting out of the 

 upper cave, which is usually dry, as you pour water out of the 

 mouth of a kettle ; and well it might, for, if the swallow-hole 

 that feeds it was full to overflowing, it had had the pressure 

 of more than eleven atmospheres upon it. 



This was one of the most instructive geological phenomena 

 it has ever fallen to my lot to witness. Here I saw what was, 

 to all intents and purposes, a local cataclysm. Gentle slopes 

 of pasture, where usually no stream ran, were suddenly 

 gashed by a torrent, and the debris swept far away across the 



