188 Pt^oeeedings of the Roijal Irish Acarlemy. 



yellow stalactitic deposit, which glistens brightly in the light of the candles. 

 At one point between the boulders forming the floor of the main pot, the 

 sound of rushing water is audible ; and on the occasion of our visit, we 

 managed, by removing stones, to open out a vertical shaft through the 

 boulders about 1 5 feet deep. At this point, although the sound of the stream 

 had become much louder, it was considered safer to return, as the boulders 

 seemed to form the roof of a chamber below and to be in a state of unstable 

 equilibrium. It is probable, in the light of other explorations, that the 

 stream heard at this point is the main stream flowing from the Monastir 

 Cave to its exit at Marble Arch. 



The next point of interest is Cradle Hole. This consists of a wide 

 opening about 80 yards in diameter, the floor of which has a similar com- 

 position to that of PoUnagapple. Cliffs some 110 feet high bound this 

 pot-hole to the north and south ; while the other two sides consist of steep, 

 rocky slopes, on which grow various kinds of trees. At the base of the 

 southern (up-stream) cliff', a low arch nearly 30 feet wide leads by a 20-foot 

 drop to the underground bank of a rapidly flowing stream, which comes in from 

 the left and disappears to the right among the boulders of which the floor of 

 Cradle Hole is composed. Up stream the water flows out of a still pool some 4 

 feet deep. The passage, here 30 feet high and 15 feet wide, takes a sharp turn 

 to the right, and continues for a distance of 55 yards exactly in the direction 

 of PoUnagapple, the stream now flowing rapidly between rocks and banks of 

 sand. Unfortunately this was the last point explored by our party ; and so, 

 although the passage still continued, we were compelled, owing to lack of 

 time, to leave this investigation unfinished. It is probable, however, that 

 there would be little difficulty in reaching the stream below PoUnagapple, and 

 possibly even of climbing out by it. Only one member of the party was 

 sent up this tunnel. After wading through the deep water, he reported that 

 there were no further difficulties, and that the passage continued as a wide 

 open tunnel with only a small stream flowing between the boulders. The 

 stream, as mentioned earlier, then flows under the floor of Cradle Hole. There 

 is an arch at the base of the northern (down-stream) clifl" similar to that under 

 the southern clift"'. This leads into a low, wide passage, which shortly opens into 

 a straight cave passage some 50 feet wide, and from 10 to 30 feet in height. 

 At a distance of 104 yards from the entrance the stream, which has flowed in 

 from the left and run between banks of sand, widens into a still pool, and 

 fills the whole width of the passage. The roof of the cave comes down very 

 nearly to the water-level at a distance of about 20 feet from the edge of the 

 pool ; in fact, we were under the impression that the roof came down to 

 below the surface of the water, thus forming an impassable siphon, as 

 indicated by M. Martel. On the last morning, however, one member of the 



