202 ON THE WAMBEYAN CAVES, 



of this cave is in some places almost knee-deep with a dark 

 brown-coloured, light, dry amorphous powder, which at the time 

 I took to be dry pulverised dung of wallabies, as they were seen 

 in great numbers ; but, on examining a small sample that I 

 brought back with me, I found it contained almost no vegetable 

 matter. The ledge of rocks on which we stood suddenly ended 

 in an abrupt precipice, at the bottom of which we conjectured 

 the water ran, but on lowering a light no trace of it was seen. 

 Branching off to the right, this precipice became less steep, and 

 a few of us descended, though with difficulty, as we now 

 undoubtedly heard sounds like falling water ; but, after wander- 

 ing and scrambling about for some time, we could discover no 

 more than a number of vast dry caverns. Having ascended 

 again, we took more to the right ; after having explored several 

 beautiful galleries leading off, the sounds of distant falling water 

 still becoming more distinct. 



As you proceed to the right, the footing is both dangerous 

 and difficult, while the floor seems made of masses of rock which 

 have slipped from the mouth we entered by, and filling up what 

 must have been once a large and deep cavern. Here also the 

 noise of water was distinct, and a few of us determined, if 

 possible, to descend and see it an undertaking which proved to 

 be one of great difficulty and danger, owing to the loose and 

 slippery state of the rocks, the uncertainty of the right way, 

 and the deep and narrow crevices we had to descend. After 

 descending a shaft some fifty feet, the rocks lost the dirty brown 

 appearance they had above, and began to get white and crys- 

 talline, as in the tunnel before described ; in fact, it was evident 

 we had entered a tunnel of a minor kind, still running in a 

 westerly direction, which at last ended in a shaft so narrow that 

 we were obliged to descend it on our hands and knees. 



Having reached the bottom, we were, however, rewarded by 

 finding the object of our search a broad running stream in the 

 midst of summer as cold as ice about 200 feet below the surface 

 of the ground, and having for its bed a solid block of white 

 marble. This channel was, as a general rule, about ten feet 

 high, running in a downward and westerly direction. Attempts 

 were made to follow the stream up and down, but the water 

 became in places so deep that it was impossible to do so. 



