APPENDIX. 455 



diately under it from the superabundant water, increase till they 

 unite, and thus constitute a natural pillar, apparently supporting the 

 roof of the grotto ; it is to the grotesque forms assumed by stalactites, 

 and these natural columns, that caverns owe the interesting appear- 

 ances, described in such glowing colours by those who witness them 

 for the first time. One of the most beautiful stalactitic caverns in 

 England is at Clapham, near Ingleborough. In the Cheddar Cliffs, 

 Somersetshire, there has lately been discovered a similar cave, richly 

 encrusted with sparry concretions. — See Medals of Creation, vol. ii. 

 p. 931. 



D. Page 78. — Weyer's Cave. — This cave is situated in a ridge of 

 limestone hills, running parallel to the Blue mountains. A narrow 

 and rugged fissure leads to a large cavern, where the most grotesque 

 figures, formed by the percolation of water through beds of limestone 

 present themselves ; while the eye, glancing onward, watches the dim 

 and distant glimmers of the lights of the guides — some in the recess 

 below, and others in the galleries above. Passing from these recesses, 

 the passage conducts to a flight of steps that leads into a large cavern 

 of irregular form, and of great beauty. Its dimensions are about thirty 

 feet by fifty. Here the incrustations hang just like a sheet of water 

 that has been frozen as it fell ; there they rise into a beautiful stalac- 

 titic pillar, and yonder compose an elevated seat, surrounded by sparry 

 pinnacles. Beyond this room is another, more irregular, but more 

 beautiful ; for besides having sparry ornaments in common with the 

 others, the roof overhead is of the most admirable and singular for- 

 mation. It is entirely covered with stalactites, which are suspended 

 from it like inverted pinnacles ; and they are of the finest material, and 

 most beautifully shaped and embossed. In another apartment, an 

 immense sheet of transparent stalactite which extends from the roof 

 to the floor, emits, when struck, deep and mellow sounds, like those of 

 a muffled drum. Farther on is another vaulted chamber, which is 

 one hundred feet long, thirty-six wide, and twenty-six high. Its walls 

 are filled with grotesque concretions. The effect of the lights placed 

 by the guides at various elevations, and leaving hidden more than they 

 reveal, is extremely fine. At the extremity of another range of 

 apartments, a magnificent hall, two hundred and fifty feet long, and 

 thirty-three feet high, suddenly appears. Here is a splendid sheet of 

 rock-work, running up the centre of the room, and giving it the aspect 

 of two separate and noble galleries ; this partition rises twenty feet 

 above the floor, and leaves the fine span of the arched roof untouched 



