456 WONDERS OF GEOLOGY. Vol.1. 



There is here a beautiful concretion, which has the form and drapery 

 of a gigantic statue ; and the whole place is filled with stalagmitical 

 masses of the most varied and grotesque character. The fine per- 

 spective of this room, four times the length of an ordinary church, 

 and the amazing vaulted roof spreading overhead, without any 

 support of pillar or column, produce a most striking effect. In 

 another apartment, which has an altitude of fifty feet, there is at one 

 end an elevated recess, ornamented with a group of pendant stalactites 

 of unusual size, and singular beauty. They are as large as the pipes 

 of a full-sized organ, and ranged with great regularity ; when struck, 

 they emit mellow sounds of various keys, not unlike the tones of 

 musical glasses. Other cavities, profusely studded with sparry incrus- 

 tations, extend through the limestone rock. The length of this extra- 

 ordinary group of caverns is not less than one thousand six hundred 

 feet. — Abridged from "A Narrative of a Visit to the AmericoM 

 Churches/' by Drs. Reed and Matheson. See also, an interesting 

 Narrative of " A Tour to the Caves in Virginia" by the late Dr. 

 Harlan, Medical and Physical Researches, p. 404. 



E. Page 93. — Recent formation of sandstone. — " A sandstone occurs 

 in various parts of the northern coast of Cornwall, which affords a 

 most instructive example of a recent formation ; since we here actually 

 detect Nature at work in converting loose sand into solid rock. A 

 very considerable portion of the northern coast of Cornwall is covered 

 with calcareous sand, consisting of minute particles of comminuted 

 shells, which, in some places, has accumulated in quantities so great, 

 as to have formed hills of from forty to sixty feet in elevation. In 

 digging into these sand hills, or upon the occasional removal of some 

 part of them by the winds, the remains of houses may be seen : 

 and in places, where churchyards have been overwhelmed, a great 

 number of human bones may be found. The sand is supposed to have 

 been originally brought from the sea by hurricanes, probably at a 

 remote period. At the present moment, the progress of its incursion 

 is arrested by the growth of the arundo arenacea. The sand first 

 appears in a slight but increasing state of aggregation on several parts 

 of the shore in the bay of St. Ives ; but, on approaching the Gwythian 

 river, it becomes more extensive and indurated. On the shore oppo- 

 site Godrevy Island, an immense mass of it occurs, of more than a 

 hundred feet in length, and from ten to twenty in depth, containing 

 entire shells and fragments of clay-slate ; it is singular that the whole 

 mass assumes a striking appearance of stratification. In some places 



