BY DR. JAMES COX. 203 



Having ascended again with the object of ascertaining where 

 this stream made its exit, we descended the dry Wambeyan 

 Creek for about a mile and a-half. At about this distance the 

 banks became very high, and to our delight we discovered the 

 water spouting out of what looked like a solid bluff of rock, in two 

 different places, about one hundred yards apart, and pouring the 

 water again into the Wambeyan Creek through narrow fissures. 



From the top of the cliffs a good view can be had of the 

 surrounding country, and the different forms of vegetation map out 

 with accuracy the extent of the limestone, which is very limited. 



I must now return to the tunnel leading from the left of the 

 main tunnel from the " Church." You are obliged to climb some 

 rocks to enter it, and having entered and followed it up for about 

 thirty yards, it becomes very contracted, and ends in a hole just 

 large enough to allow a man to drag his body through. You 

 now enter by far the finest part of these caves, consisting of a 

 series of small chambers, all connected by archways, which seem 

 as if they had been excavated out of a mass of solid white marble 

 the floor being remarkably crystalline and pure, as if it had 

 been formed by pouring over the surface the material of the sur- 

 rounding rocks, in a fluid state, which had then been allowed to 

 crystallise ; and, in reality, it is in this way that it has been 

 formed. The water, impregnated with carbonic acid, dissolves 

 the rocks, forming with them a soluble bi-carbonate of lime 

 which, on being again exposed to the atmosphere, allows one 

 atom of the carbonic acid to escape, leaving a deposit of the 

 insoluble carbonate on the spot. It is on the same principle that 

 all stalactites and stalagmites are formed. 



These chambers have been called the " Organ Gallery," from 

 the great length and regularity of the stalactites and stalagmites 

 which, in many cases, have met and form one continuation, giving 

 the appearance of the pipes of an organ. So thick are they in 

 some places, that it is impossible to get between them, and so 

 sharp in others that you require to avoid them with care. As 

 you proceed to the right, one chamber after another, each seeming 

 more beautiful than the preceding, succeeds ; the splendour and 

 magnificence of which, in my opinion, can only be appreciated by 

 a personal visit. You are at last prevented from proceeding to 



