Connecticut western news., 1882-09-06
CAyERNS IN THE MENDIPS.
One that has a Chamber like the
 Dome of St. Pauls.

Dome of St. PauIs.
 The great central plateau of the Men , dips-a bold mountain range running , westward through Somersetshire into I the Bristol Channel, England-has for ages been possessed by hardy race of miners.
 An old tradition maintained the ex- istence of large cavern at Lamb Bot tom, near Harptree, on the northern side of the range; and the record of 8 visit to this cavern by Mir. Beaumont in 1860, is preserved in the "Philsophical Transactions (vol. 2, p. 369). But the exact situation of it was unknown until the summer before last, when Col. Bol.
 ton, @ leading member of the minin g company which leases the land for | miles round from Lord Carlingford, after no less than thirty seven borings i plete1y explored.
 At noon the members of the expedi- tion stood round 8 shaft which has been sunk by Mir. Nichols, the Captain of
 the company's mines, to whose active
 and intelligent fulfllment of Col.
 Bottoms orders is due the discovery of
 this subterranean wonder. Four miners,
 bearing candles, with the Captain him.
 self, accompanied us. The whole party
 were, of course, attired in mining suits,
 more or less complete. We descended
 by ladders, fixed end to end against the
 side of the shaft, which is not much
 wider than house chimney. At dis
 tance of some sixty feet we reached
 narrow, steeply sloping gallery in the
 rock, which had evidently been used by the old miners; and was traversed by
 several vertical Assures containing ore We were probably in the bed of a dried up torrent, for the floor earth was
 sedimentary clay, under skin of stalag- , mite of considerable thickness. In , single file, each carrying 8 candle stuck
 in holder of stiff clay, we crawled on 5 for some minutes, went down another ladder, and after more progression . upon hands and knees, found the
 passage rising and spreading into an elegant Gothic arcade. We stood up , one after another. All about us was the l dim lustre of stalactite, and the water
 dripped slowly from the roof. We
 pressed on until the party was gathered
 upon huge stalagmite of at least
 fifteen feet in height and diameter, and curving round into shape not unlike O that of beehive. This had evidently - been deposited from a crevice overhead, :, through which the lime-laden drops fell constantly upon it, and, according to the ordinary standard of stlhgmitie y growth, it must have been 1000 years ', old. All about our circle of light wal :. chill darkness. Some benzoline wal poured out and ignited, and instantly the dull, gray wall was transformed into radiant dome, built up, tier above . tier, of crystal pillars, by turns of pures y shell-pink and amber gold, over whicl :, fell in heavy folds curtain of ricl d velvet brown, fringed with long pointed ,s pendants of frosted silver, 8 trembling | diamond on every point. We viewed = in silence this transient glow of fxet - and unsuspected beauty, as if it hat ' been an old abbey window of stained = glass, touched for moment by the sun , and rapture were out of place. Wh, were these delicate traceries graven ant = carved, ages since, in darkness, deep il the f1inty rock, of such lovely varyin = hues; when, but for an accident, the 70 might never have delighted the eye c 70 man? Was not something of this spirit i F the old cathedral builders, who bestowe ,s extreme finish upon the smallest an , obscurest details of their work fror m sheer love of beauty for it's own sake ? is Again we moved forward, in diret
 ton almost due east, through stee
 and tortuous gully, which was in man
 parts so narrow that we were compelle
 to proceed in the fashion of lizard through the mud, the sharp crystals = which continually cut our hands. W =. reached finally small cavern-some ,; feet high by as many long, and, pc ha haps, 10 feet broad. There was notf .s ing remarkable here, except that tl
 told" miners had evidently begu .n working in one corner of it. We r. turned to the Beehive Cavern, entere a another winding way, and crawled f. ' some minutes, first northward, then
 the northwest. An exceedingly stet ,. decline brought us to the brink of u .,t Dome Cavern.
 'n' This immense chamber is shaped e @y actly like the dome of St. Paul's; al '0i the opening, at the mouth of which '
 were huddled, high up in the southeas
 ern wall, may be compared to door
 the Whispering Gallery. Before us,
 was as black as midnight; but holle irl murmur followed the sound of O re- voices, and the soft plashing of wats
 drops falling from great height nev t2" ceased. A small wooden platform h
 been erected, with windlass and buc the ct, and one by one we stepped into tn
 and were lowered into the abyss by thu did sturdy miners. As I went down I s
 the white dresses of MT. Sopwith a of MT. Nichols below me, by the light 1st the candles stuck in their hats. Tn uld looked like dolls, Under the mouth so our entrance hole were broad fringes
 magnificent stalactites, running arou
 the walls as far as the candle gleam hat tended. The floor was confused F ugh of rocks which had fallen from the re ,an- and the continual dropping of wate lty, perhaps of one drop every two second ap- the square foot-had covered all wit
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