94 
NATURE NOTES 
stayed behind to pick up a rabbit, not coming along, his master 
looked back for him, and to his astonishment saw only his head, 
shoulders and arms. “What b’em yew a doing of. Jack?’’ he 
at once cried out, in the only language that would be understood ; 
to which came the answer, “ Well, zur, I be blawed if I de 
knaw.” 
Jack was soon extricated from his odd position. The ground 
had given way beneath his feet, and the “ swallow-hole ” had 
nearly engulphed him. An inspection showed that it was no 
small one. 
A few days after this the late Mr. Spence-Bate, F.R.S., was 
invited to explore the cavern, and I formed one of a small party 
of six or seven to accompany him. Putting on khaki over- 
clothing and each armed with a candle, we slid down a slope of 
loose earth and stones, some fifteen feet or more, to a sound 
stalagmite floor where v/e could stand up, and where we lit our 
candles. We were in rather a narrow place ; two roads lay 
before us, one ended in a cul-de-sac at a distance of some twenty 
yards, the other we followed. After going a little way we were 
sent one by one along a low passage to the left, in which we 
could just crawl on hands and knees, to see a small crystal 
pond at its end, about three feet across, with stalactites being 
formed above it by the water dropping from the roof, whilst 
stalagmite was being deposited at the bottom of the pond, 
which was only a few inches deep. 
Passing along the principal gallery or road, we had in 
places to crawl through tunnels just large enough to let our 
bodies through by lying down flat and propelling ourselves with 
our toes and elbows : presently we would come to a. chamber 
as large as an ordinary room. To get out of one of these 
chambers we had to mount a perpendicular wall of rock, and 
managed this with a rope after the leader had first been pushed 
up with one. Here it was that a stout member of our party 
turned back. He no doubt had been thinking of Dante’s words 
in the “ Inferno,” “ All hope abandon ye who enter here.” 
After what seemed to be about twenty minutes, but probably 
was not more than half the time, of proceeding in various 
fashions, we emerged into a large, long chamber which much 
reminded me of the interior of a vaulted cathedral, the great 
difference being that the floor here sloped considerably and was 
a mass of stones of all sizes. Towards the lower end on the 
left there was a sort of transept, with an arch leading to it, 
and above the arch a large stalagmite stood as if it were a life- 
sized figure of the Blessed Virgin. This resemblance was very 
remarkable. 
We were far inside the hill, which must be well hollowed 
out, for I noticed roots of trees in several places coming through 
the roof of the cave. There will be a great fall in some day. 
When at Pyrmont in Germany I was taken to see a place where 
a cave had fallen in, with the result that some large ponds were 
formed. , 
