THE CAVE OP HUNGA. 49 



The Mediterranean has likewise its marine grottoes of world- 

 wide celebrity, its azure cave of Capri,* which I have previously 

 described, and its Antro di Nettuno, in the island of Sardinia, 

 about twelve miles from the small seaport- of Alghero. Unfortu- 

 nately this superb grotto is very difficult of access, for any wind 

 between the north-west and the south prevents an entry, so that 

 the Algherese assert that 300 out of the 365 days it is impossible 

 to enter it. The first vaulted cavern, forming an antechamber 

 about thirty feet high, has no peculiar beauty, but on crossing a 

 second cavern, in which are about twenty feet of beautifully clear 

 water, and then turning to the left, one finds oneself in an 

 intricate navigation among stalactites with surrounding walls 

 and passages of stalagmites of considerable height. Having 

 passed them and proceeding westerly, one reaches another 

 cavern with a natural column in its centre, the shaft and capital 

 of which, supporting the immense and beautifully fretted roof, 

 reminds one of those in the chapter-house of the cathedral at 

 Wells, and the staircase of the hall at Christ Church, Oxford. 

 It stands, the growing monument of centuries, in all its massive 

 and elegant simplicity with comparatively speaking few othei 

 stalagmites to destroy the effects of its noble solitude. In 

 parts of the grotto are corridors and galleries, some 300 and 

 400 feet long, reminding one of the Moorish architecture of the 

 Alhambra. One of them terminates abruptly in a deep cavern 

 into which it is impossible to descend ; but among many other 

 interesting objects is a small chamber the access to which is 

 through a very narrow aperture. After climbing and scram- 

 bling through it, one finds oneself in a room the ceiling of 

 which is entirely covered with delicate stalactites, and the sides 

 with fretted open work, so fantastical that one might almost 

 imagine that it was a boudoir of the Oceanides, where they 

 amused themselves with making lime lace. Some of the 

 columns in different parts of the grotto are from seventy to 

 eighty feet in circumference, and the masses of drapery droop- 

 ing in exquisite elegance are of equally grand proportions. 



If a rare chance was required to discover the narrow opening 

 in the cliffs of Capri, behind which one of the loveliest spec- 

 tacles of nature lies concealed, we well may wonder how the 

 famous cave of Hunga in the Tonga Archipelago ever became 



* Chap. i. p. 18. 

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