ON RENTES CAVERNj DEVONSHIRE. 195 



derable mound of Stalagmite. This Lake has called forth much speculation. 

 Mr. Northmore believed the Cavern, of which he was the earliest explorer, 

 to have been a temple of Mithras, and he spoke of the water as " the bap- 

 tismal lake of 'pellucid water ' "*. Others have occupied themselves with 

 guesses respecting the source whence the Lake received its supply, and the 

 mode by which it was kept from overflowing. Some held that it was fed 

 by a small perennial spring ; others that it was replenished by the drip 

 from the roof only ; whilst a third party contended that there was neither 

 waste nor supply, and that the water ebbed and flowed synchronously with 

 the tides of the ocean. 



It is said that one adventurous \T.sitor climbed along its northern or least 

 precipitous side from one end to the other ; but, according to the current 

 belief, those who gained the further end usually did so by swimming. 

 They aU are said to have brought back the report that the Cavern extended 

 " a very little way beyond the water " Mr. M'Enery, speaking of the 

 water, says, " the Cave beyond it deserves no particular notice ; Admiral 

 Sartorius and others have swam across "f. 



From the direction and length of the passages leading to them, it was 

 obvious that the Bears' Den and Lake could not be far removed from the 

 South-west Chamber. In this opinion the Superintendents were confirmed 

 by the fact that when, from time to time, they visited the Den during the 

 progress of the excavation of the Chamber, they heard the sound of the work- 

 men's tools with great distinctness, and increasingly so as the work ad- 

 vanced, untn at length their voices were heard, and ultimately conversation 

 could be carried on, by means of shouting, however, rather than talking. 

 Finally, on removing the Modern granular Stalagmitic Floor in the north- 

 west corner of the Chamber, where it was in contact with the limestone roof, 

 a hole, about 3 inches across, and extending obliquely upwards, was dis- 

 closed in the limestone, and it was observed that a current of air occa- 

 sionally passed through it alternately in opposite directions. The workmen 

 were directed to enlarge the hole by breaking away the limestone, and to 

 ascertain whither it led. As soon as it was of sufficient dimensions, the 

 younger workman, John Farr, ascended thi'ough it, and after a short time 

 returned, stating that from the hole he entered a somewhat tortuous pas- 

 sage, having an easterly direction through the limestone, and so narrow and 

 low that it could only be traversed by lying prostrate, and adopting a ver- 

 micular motion ; that after a few feet he entered a longer passage in which it 

 was possible to turn round and, in some places, to stand erect ; that this 

 second passage had a north and south direction, extending both ways a few 

 feet only beyond the point at which he had entered it ; that the inner or 

 northern end was closed with stalagmite, on which he observed " writing," 

 and that it terminated southward on the end of the Lake most remote from 

 the Bears' Den. 



Farr's report induced the other workman, George Smerdon, and one of the 

 Superintendents, to follow his steps, when they found his description to be cor- 

 rect in all respects. It was farther observed that the floor of the longer or north 

 and south passage was entirely composed of stalagmite, and was, in fact, tlie 

 upper surface of the mass beneath which they had begun to tunnel, and the 

 greater part of which, on accoimt of its enormous thickness and its intracta- 

 bihty, they had reluctantly decided to leave intact. At the inner end 

 this floor rose in the form of a steep irregular talus, on which, as well as on 



* See TraDS. Devon. Assoc, vol. ii. p. 479-495 (1868). 

 t Ibid. vol. iii. p. 242 (1869). 



o2 



