32 
The Irish Nahirahst, 
February, 
beautiful caves discovered as yet iu England, I venture to say 
there is not one English cave that would not come off badly if 
set beside any of these. Compared, however, Vv^ith other 
British caverns, that of Mitchelstown can hold its own easily ; 
though individual chambers may be surpassed, there is 
nothing like the same extent of brilliant subterranean scenery 
anywhere else in these islands. 
The tourist portion of the cavern, a fraction of the whole, 
but yet a considerable extent of underground passages, is 
deservedly much frequented. The spacious vault, nicknamed 
the " House of Commons," vies in dimensions and dignity 
with those in the Peak of Derbyshire, but it is far surpassed by 
the "House of Lords." Seventeen massy columns of pure white 
stalactite, surmounting enormous cones of terraced stalagmite, 
tower from floor to roof of this impressive dome, some 140 
feet in span and 70 feet high. The grandeur of its height is 
lost somewhat through the mountain of fallen blocks that rises 
from the entrance almost to the apex of the roof. Behind 
this vast accumulation a sort of ambulatory runs round under 
the walls, opening here and there into side chapels and 
irregular cavities, all bountifully adorned with the fairy-like 
work of the limestone carbonate. The so-called Tower of 
Babel" is a majestic pillar rising from the summit of a pyra- 
midal mass of stalagmite, forty feet in circumference, that 
being also the measure of its total height. A crowd of other 
limestone freaks, some aptly and some incongruously 
nicknamed, and many extremely beautiful, are found in this 
chamber. 
The cavities and passages that lie to the north-east of the 
first great chamber are not often visited. They start from 
" Sadlier's Cave," which is not large but bewilderingly 
picturesque, and contains a superb pillar, " loot's Wife," 
almost of the prodigious size of the Tower." The " Kingston 
Gallery " is a straight rift, nearly 300 feet long, but only two 
or three feet wide, with .sheets of snowy white sweeping down 
the walls, and breaking into whole garlands of scrolls and 
pennons and curtains, which in places have been thrown right 
across the gallery, dividing it into lofty cells. The Garret 
Cave" is a huge vault with a gorgeous^roof, that has fallen in at 
the end. Hard by the entrance to this and the Kingston 
