CAVERNS. 
Among the grand and beautiful features of the globe are caverns, or 
natural hollows in the solid crust of the earth, which are found of 
greater or less extent in most countries. Some of them are wide clefts 
in the rocks, which appear to have been torn asunder by some powerful 
agency ; others form a series of grottoes, connected by passages ; while a 
third sort admit daylight at both ends, and are frequently traversed by 
rivers. Some of these caverns are formed by the constant action of water 
on limestone or gypsum rocks ; others are evidently due to volcanic 
agency. The immense size and extent of many natural caverns have 
caused them to be highly celebrated. The cave of Fredericshall in Nor- 
way, is said to be eleven thousand feet deep. In the north-west of 
Georgia, is a cave fifty feet high, and one hundred wide, which has been 
explored to the distance of several miles. Caverns are frequently adorn- 
ed in the most magnificent manner with stalactites and basaltic columns. 
Among these are the celebrated grotto of Antiparos in the Greek 
Archipelago, the entrance to which, as seen by torchlight, appears stud- 
ded with diamonds and precious stones, and, in our own country, the 
cave of Fingal in Staffa, and the Peak cavern, in Derbyshire. Some 
caverns exhale noxious vapours : the most remarkable example is that 
of the Grotto del Cane near Naples. Many caverns of volcanic origin 
exist in Iceland. The most remarkable of these is called Surtshellir or 
the Black Cavern. It is also called the Cave of the Robbers, from a tra- 
dition that it was formerly occupied by successive bands of robbers. It 
is situated towards the west of the island, in a valley which has been 
filled up with molten lava. The lava also rises to a considerable height 
on the side of the adjoining mountains, and the surface of the ground is 
covered with masses of the same substance broken and distorted into a 
thousand different forms. 
The approach to the cavern is by a large chasm, formed by the falling 
in of the crust of lava. The mouth of the cavern appears as a dark 
opening ; it is thirty-six feet high, and fifty-four feet wide, which dimen- 
sions the cavern retains for more than two-thirds of its length, which is 
upwards of five thousand feet. When Dr. Henderson visited this place, 
it was filled to a considerable height with snow, beyond which extended 
a rugged tract of large angular pieces of lava which had fallen from the 
vault. The darkness was so great, that with all the light afforded by two 
large torches, the cave could not be surveyed distinctly, yet beautiful 
black volcanic stalactites could be discerned hanging from the spacious 
vault. The sides of the cave had run into vitrified stripes, apparently 
formed by the flowing of the stream of lava. Farther on in the cave 
were entrances to other subterranean passages of an immense size, which, 
it is supposed, had formed the asylum for banditti in ancient times. 
About ten feet from the bottom of the cave was a long stone wall, visibly 
made by the hand of man. Within its enclosure was a room of thirty 
feet in length, by fifteen feet in breadth, the floor of which was strewed 
with the finest volcanic sand. This probably formed the sleeping place 
of the inhabitants of the cave. The vault was hung with beautiful 
stalactites, reflecting the light in a splendid manner. One of the divi- 
sions of this cavern represented in the above view produces a very strik- 
ing effect. It is an ice-grotto, and is thus described by Dr. Henderson, 
" the roof and sides of the cave were decorated with the most superb 
icicles, crystallized in every possible form, many of which rivalled in 
minuteness the finest zeolites, while from the icy floor rose pillars of the 
same substance, assuming all the curious and fantastic shapes imaginable, 
and mocking the proudest specimens of art." 
PUBLISHED UNDER THE DIRECTION OE THE COMMITTEE OF GENERAL LITERATURE AND EDUCATION, APPOINTED BY THE 
SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE. 
Price §</. Plain ; 2d. Coloured. 
No. 7.] 
8. BENTLEY, AND CO. PRINTERS, BANGOR HOUSE, SHOE LANE, 
