464 TRAVELS IN THE EAST INDIAN AECHIPELAGO. 



yvere here reproducing in stone the wonders of the 

 vegetable kingdom. After crossing the stream two 

 or three times we came to the end of this grand hall, 

 md climbed up what appeared to he a waterfall, but 

 was, in reality, solid stone. The water, flowing over 

 the steep ledge of limestone, had in time deposited 

 over its rough edges an incrustation, which, of course, 

 took exactly the form of the running water that 

 made it. 



Having reached the top of this petrified fall, we 

 passed on our hands and knees through a small hole, 

 aud found oTir^^clves in another large hall of an ellip- 

 tical form. At the farther end was a small rivulet 

 gurgling its way among the large rocks that covered 

 the floor of the cave. I had been told that this water 

 was so hot that a man could not hold his hand in it ; 

 but, on tiying it with the thermometer^ I found the 

 mercury only rose to 92^ Fahrenheit, not quite up to 

 blood-heat (98°). It aboimded, however, in small 

 fish about four inches long, several of which the na- 

 tives caught with their hands. Tliey all had eyes 

 that were apparently well fomed, thouo^h this place 

 seemed to us absolutely cut off from daylight. 



Keturning to the outer cave, we proceeded a shoit 

 way by wading in the bed of the stream, but the cav- 

 em now diminished into an irregular tunnel, and the 

 water that flowed through it was too deep for us to 

 go on in safety, and we were therefore obliged to re- 

 turn. The controUnr informed me that one of his 

 predecessoi's had gone on and come out again in the 

 plain near Fort Van der Capellen, so that the cave is 

 really a tunnel, which passes completely through the 



