212 SPECTACULAR EFFECTS. 



hind. It is thus that the draped and folded tapestries in the Ballroom 

 are variegated and resplendent in a thousand hues. Moreover, various 

 tints are often combined in the same object, particularly in the way of 

 stripes more or less horizontal, due to the varying amount of iron, silica, 

 or other foreign matter which the lime-water contained from time to time. 



The best example of this, and, indeed, of the "drapery formation" 

 generally, is to be found in the Wet Blanket — a name given apparently 

 to dampen enthusiasm beforehand, that the eye may enjoy a fresh sur- 

 prise. Suspended in a recess in the wall of a small snb-cavern is this curi- 

 ous stalactite, which perfectly simulates a blanket hung up after a wetting, 

 every wrinkle natural to a dangling piece of heavy woollen cloth being 

 represented, as though the water were yet draining out of it. 



Down in Pluto's Chasm, also, is a notable group of stalactitic draperies. 

 " They are sixteen alabaster scarfs," says a recent description, " of exqui- 

 site color and texture. Three are snow-white; thirteen, like agate, are 

 striated with rich bands of every imaginable shade of brown, and all are 

 translucent. The shape of each is that of one wing of a narrow lambre- 

 quin, one edge being straight, the other meeting it by an undulating 

 curve. The stripes follow the curve in every detail. Down the edge of 

 each piece of drapery trickles a tiny rill, glittering like silver in the lamp- 

 light. This is the ever-plying shuttle that weaves the fairy fabric." A 

 balcony has now been built right among them, overlooking the Chasm, 

 and this point should by no means be missed. The burning of magne- 

 sium tape here brings out, with the suddenness and spectacular effect of 

 the ballet-stage, a thousand grotesque shapes and fanciful outlines, leaving 

 spaces of darkness between where the eye nervously suspects that fright- 

 ful creatures abide. " The devil !" exclaimed a startled guide, not long 

 ago, as, halting for a moment, his lights were suddenly overturned by a 

 gaunt form which shot by his feet ; but it was only a hare. "Wood-rats, 

 mice, and bats are occasionally seen. There are no snakes, as one timid 

 lady was afraid there might be, and the imagination is left to evolve the 

 uncanny beasts out of the dens of darkness, which hold no life in reality 

 beyond a few groping insects. 



I have said that the edges of fallen rock-masses and ledges are clothed 

 with the drapery-stalactites. This works curious results here and there in 

 the cave, for two masses may be joined together, or, previously connected 

 by an overlapping bridge-stone, may both be surrounded by stalactites 

 which thus enclose an open centre, and bear a forest of stalagmites on top. 

 A large number of the pillars are probably hollow, and are formed by 

 the crowding together of many drapery-stalactites, which finally have coa- 



