272 SKY. SPAR CAVE. 



moderate weather, or with the wind off the shore. The 

 entrance is little less striking than the interior, and 

 to the admirer of the picturesque it presents a scene even 

 more attractive. This is formed by a fissure in the cliff, 

 extending for a considerable way and bounded on each 

 side by high and parallel walls, its gloom being partially 

 illuminated by reflected light, and its silence scarcely dis- 

 turbed by the wash of the surf without. A narrow and 

 obstructed opening leads unexpectedly into the cave, 

 which for a distance of about an hundred feet is dark, 

 wet, and dreary. A steep acclivity formed of a white 

 stalagmite then occurs, which being surmounted with some 

 difficulty, the whole interior comes into view, covered with 

 stalactites disposed in all the grotesque forms which these 

 incrustations so commonly assume. Lively imaginations 

 may here indulge in the discovery of fanciful resem- 

 blances, and the concretions have accordingly received 

 names more descriptive of the fancies of the spectators 

 than of their real forms. The dimensions of the fissure 

 are in this place but inconsiderable, the breadth not being 

 more than ten feet, and the height scarcely exceeding 

 twelve. Here however the latter suddenly rises to forty 

 feet or more, the surface of the stalagmitic and cascade- 

 like mount which divides the sparry from the dark part of 

 the fissure, conducting by a declivity of about thirty feet 

 in length, to a pool of water that occupies a space of 

 twelve or fifteen feet, and divides the whole into an outer 

 and inner portion. The dimensions are here somewhat 

 enlarged, and the height in particular becomes much more 

 considerable. At a distance of about fifteen or twenty feet 

 more from the pool, the stalactitical ornaments cease, 

 and shortly after the cave terminates ; the whole length 

 from the entrance to the extremity being about two hun- 

 dred and fifty feet. However beautiful the interior of this 

 cave may be, from the white colour and ornamental effect 

 of the stalactites which incrust it, the want of sufficient 

 dimensions materially lessens the interest which in all 



