246 PROCEEDINGS OF THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE. 



it is only 5 feet high but on passing this point you reach another 

 chamber, which widens and has at the left side a small chambei' 

 eight by six feet, but soon narrowing and dipping down till the cave 

 seems to terminate at a point 30 feet farther than the narrow part 

 and 66 feet fi'om the entrance. This is as much of the cave as most 

 visitors see, but being accompanied by students possessing pluck, 

 endurance and zeal I was successful in securing data which will enable 

 you to form some interesting conclusions about this compai'atively 

 unknown spot. Light ends here. A lantern was obtained and 

 entering one by one a passage scarcely large enough for a human 

 being to go through, for 8 feet, they wormed themselves through into 

 another cave, shrouded in Egyptian darkness and gloom. This ex- 

 tends 10 feet to the left and 15 to the right i.e., has a diameter one 

 way of 25 feet and 13^ the other. 



To the left and right they found a pillar not far from where they 

 entered ; these supports seem to have been formed by the rest of the 

 rock which once made up the solid rock being carried away. At the 

 extremity on the right hand side, the floor was very muddy, and two 

 small caves extending still farther, one near the passage by which 

 they entered, the other at the opposite side ; the former three feet by 

 four, the latter three feet at the opening and tapering to a point and 

 dipping downward. Prowling about in this gloomy chamber, not 

 high enough to proceed comfortably, for it was only about five feet in 

 the centre, they saw stalactites and stalagmites, some of them a foot 

 in length and four to five inches in diameter at the thickest place. 

 The floor of this chamber also dips slightly down. Dii-ectly across 

 they came upon another pillar-like structure, with a passage on each 

 side, opening into another apartment, where the roof was not over 

 three to four feet high, and gradually narrowed so as to rendei- 

 farther progress diflicult. 



This extended ten feet across and about the same in width. On 

 the opposite side from the entrance, there is an opening leading still 

 farther, but the passage gradually narrows until farther advancement 

 is stopped. Through this opening one passed, and threaded his way 

 13 feet, and reached a point 110^ feet from the entrance to the main 

 cave. The floor of the last chamber inclines slightly, but in thLs 

 prolongation the elevation is considerable. Sounding this last floor 

 seemed to indicate that it was hollow beneath, and from the fact that 



