124 THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 



hotel. As the Government, in reserving the locality, have pro- , 

 hibited the sale of any intoxicating liquors, visitors have therefore 

 to take their own comforts with them. The floor of the " Grand 

 Arch" is strewn with immense blocks of limestone, which have 

 evidently fallen from the roof and sides as their supporting stones 

 have been worn away during long ages by the action ofa running 

 stream, which in those times must have been much larger than the 

 one which now finds its way through the cavern. Though appar- 

 ently dark on entering, the cavern is fairly lighted, being open at 

 each end, and one soon gets accustomed to the subdued light, as 

 also to the hollow sounds caused by striking the stones against 

 one another. 



On turning round to the left at the western entrance the visitor 

 enters a similar cavern, but of far larger proportions, called the 

 " Devil's Coach-house." This is said to be 500 ft. long, 400 ft. 

 wide, and 275 ft. high, a cavern which would easily contain such 

 a building as the Scots' Church, in Collins-street, spire and all. 

 Here also are immense blocks of limestone, some whose sides 

 must measure 30 ft. or 40 ft., lying in all sorts of positions, some 

 leaning against others, so that there is a sufficient space for one 

 to walk upright between them. In the roof of this cavern, or, as 

 it is now called, the Eastern Cave, is a large hole, open through 

 to the surface of the hill, and with its fringe of shrubs and grass 

 forms a very pretty sight. In flood time M'Ewan's Creek rushes 

 through this cave, and as it tumbles and twists among the rocks 

 what a clatter it must make ; but at ordinary times it disappears 

 some two miles up the valley, and, continuing a subterranean 

 course, reappears about 20 yards below the Coach-house, where 

 the Camp Creek, flowing through the Grand Arch, joins it, and, 

 forming the Jenolan Creek, eventually finds its way into the 

 Nepean and Pacific Ocean. 



Perhaps the next point of interest and wonder in the outer 

 sights of the district is the " Carlotta Arch." This is a natural 

 arch situated on the top of the ridge, which, were it not for the 

 two caverns just mentioned, would form a huge stone dam across 

 the Camp and M'Ewan's Creeks. This arch is about 60 ft. high, 

 40 ft. wide, and 20 ft. through, and the view looking through this 

 down the valley below the " Grand Arch," over which we are now 

 almost standing, is lovely in the extreme, the gray limestone rocks 

 forming a natural picture frame to the wooded landscape. 



Close by is the entrance to the Elder and Arch Caves, which 

 latter also opens into the Devil's Coach-house. A path leads up 

 over the top of the Carlotta Arch, where it is only a couple of feet 

 wide, and at least 100 ft. above the hill. Wire-rope handrails 

 have been provided by the Government in order to prevent acci- 

 dents, and several dangerous openings in the hillside have like- 

 wise been protected with railings or gratings. The view from the 



