GUERNSEY CAVES. 377 



opening forming an angle of about 50 degrees with the 

 ground and being only about 3 feet in breadth, with water 

 at the bottom. This crack can be penetrated for 50 or 60 

 feet, and widens out at the back. Just before reaching the 

 fishermen's landing-place there is a beautiful little cave, with 

 a huge slab of rock thrown, like a flying buttress, across its 

 archway. The sandy bay between here and Petit Bot 

 contains only one cave, and that a small one. 



Passing along the rocks to the east of Petit Bot, there 

 are five caves within a short distance. The first of these is 

 remarkable for having a " chimney " opening at the back, 

 which, when discovered, forms a very short cut to the cave. 

 Its colouring is extremely beautiful, the floor being composed 

 of rounded masses of dark green rock with a bright mauve 

 coating wherever there is a pool. In one of these caves 

 there is a large Anemone, Bunodes crassicornis, which has 

 been in the same spot every time I have visited the cave in 

 four different years. 



The largest cave which I have seen in Guernsey is a 

 short distance to the east of the Creux Mahie, where there 

 is a projecting piece of cliff running north and south. Its 

 mouths can be seen from the Tielles battery and the 

 neighbouring cliffs. On descending, one first comes to a 

 small square red cave, with an upper chamber at the back 

 on the right hand side. Beyond this cave is a small entrance, 

 which looks most unpromising ; the hole is so small that the 

 interior is pitch dark, and there is often a pool just inside. 

 The floor is of rounded granite boulders ; the ceiling rises 

 as soon as the entrance is passed. After penetrating for 

 180 feet, this passage is joined by another which has run 

 almost parallel to it from a mouth just beyond our entrance. 

 This junction is the broadest part of the cave, measuring 

 24 feet across. Beyond this the united caves run for a 

 further distance of 100 feet, giving a total length of 280 feet 

 from mouth to back, and about 460 feet of subterranean 

 passage in all. By way of comparison it may be mentioned 

 that the Creux Mahie, as measured by the Society, is 185 

 feet in length, and 60 feet broad in its widest part. 



The further of the two parallel passages is a very 

 remarkable one, being 60 or 70 feet high, and only 3 or 4 feet 

 broad. I have not been right through it, as the water is 

 too deep for wading, but I have been in for some distance at 

 both ends. The perpendicular walls are very fine, and the 

 colouring near the mouth is gorgeous on the sides and also 

 in the pools. Near the entrance there is a ledge some 30 feet 



