390 Mr H. Gadow, On some Caves in Portugal. [Mar. 15, 



not in their original position, all that ground having been dug 

 previously. 



Between F and M is a gigantic vault, about 35 ft. wide and 

 17 ft. high. All the roof and side-walls of this dome consist of 

 white, water-worn and rather smooth stone, with only a few indi- 

 cations of newly-formed stalactite. Above F, in the ceiling, is a large 

 hole which leads obliquely up towards G. The owner told me, 

 that before the removal of the soil his boy was lifted up there on 

 the shoulders of several men, and that he saw there another slab 

 door like that at B. This of course aroused my curiosity. We 

 tried to climb up on a long pole, but could not get over the edge. 

 Then the six workmen were ordered to build a wall, 12 ft. long 

 and 6 ft. broad at base. After 8 hours' work this wall was about 

 10 ft. high. We constructed a sort of ladder and succeeded, after 

 removing a large quantity of slippery bats' dung, to enter the upper 

 passage. It is about 4 ft. high, 3 to 2 broad, and ends at G, a very 

 narrow chamber. The ceiling of the latter leads into a vertical funnel, 

 about 18 inches in diameter, and was crammed full of bats. The 

 floor of the chamber G was covered with reddish, soft, but dry 

 soil ; digging revealed nothing ; there was no outlet whatever, and 

 no slab door. This chamber cannot be far from the surface of the 

 plateau, because several roots of trees had crept through the small 

 cracks in the walls. 



On the western side of the dome is a large mass sloping up 

 from H, with several side niches ; they contained only red clay. 

 However we did not explore the bottom of the end chamber. 



There are plenty of deep and dry recesses in this enormous 

 cavern which have never been disturbed, for instance the passage 

 of P, the space and chamber near K and L. To excavate the floor 

 between M and N would be very difficult owing to the masses of 

 fallen boulders. 



Igrejinha dos Mouros. 



An hour to the south of these caves, between them and Querenca, 

 is a third cave on the plateau, called the "little church of the 

 Moors." The entrance is narrow, rather steep for 10 ft., the bottom 

 horizontal, the passage of the whole cavern only from 2 to 6 ft. wide 

 and 8 to 10 ft. high. Ceiling, walls and floors formed by the most 

 beautiful and large stalactites, which give this cavern the appear- 

 ance of a small over-ornamented chapel. The people told me that 

 there was there the petrified erect figure of a decapitated Moorish 

 lady. It was a half-transparent stalagmitic pillar 5 ft. high, stand- 

 ing on a bridge of stalagmite in the middle of the cave and bear- 

 ing indeed a striking resemblance to a woman's figure, and in a 

 yellowish white garment with long and exquisitely arranged folds. 



