The daily morning journal and courier., 1900-12-06

ous, and occur in an immense bed of limestone, broken by more or less pre- cipltous gorges, and reached through wold and rugged country, abounding with magnificent views. One of the
 routes includes a mountain ascent of
 1500 feet with a corresponding descent
 on the other side. The main caves are entered by openings in the face of the
 cliff The Key cave is from sixty to
 eighty feet wide and 200 feet long, with
 a height of about seventy feet. Its
 arched roof is decorated with tinted
 stalacttes, The stalagmitic deposits
 are also tinged with pale yellow, green
 or pink, etc.
 | Near the southern entrance are four
 large pillars, which retain their perpen-
 dicularity, although they have sunk with the floor, and are now separated from the roof which they once joined | by two or three feet. Looking back
 from the noth entrance three fine mas sive stalagmitic deposits are seen, which resemble human heads with the features in profile. One is like a queen wearing a coronet. Twenty or thirty | feet below the Key cave another open | ing in the cliff face leads into the On-
 slow cave containing a series of mar row passages, in some of which water
 is knee deep. On the wall in one pas sage are numerous shawls. About thirty feet above the level of the south- ern entrance to the Key cave is the en- | trance to Lannigan's cave, probably 600 feet in length, and containing many
 branch passages. Some of the passages are wide and lofty, others are barely l large enough to squeeze through. Short
 ly after entering the cave a ledge is seen, on which are some attractive pill | lars. Farther on a Rfine opaque white stalactitic group hangs in the center of the passage. In the opening to the left | is a crystalline column and overhang- 1 ing canopy.
 A semi-circle of pillars, and stalactites | is next met with after which King Soomon's temple is entered This chamber contains five or six large luted and terraced columns nearly forty feet high. One of them is sur mounted by a crystalline ambertinted formation. Further on is a most beau tiful grotto, in which the translucent
 fragile stalactites are viewed through
 tinted and pure white and corraline stalactites and pillars.
 After crawling and squeezing through a narrow passage, the Pride of/the Val ley is reached. The chamber is about | twenty feet long, ten feet wide and from five to eight feet high. It con tains a profusion of white translucent | stalactites. Two columns near it's en- five nrfin rIx 9at, ing. a side chamber is found to contain | some attractive groups of stalactites 1 and a few delicate fern-like growths. | Then a large chamber is entered whose | floor is mostly formed of broken rocks, | which have fallen from the roof and | sides. Here and there in it are beauti- | ful groups of stalactites. A descent | from this chamber leads to the Ter races, which may however, be more easily reached by an opening from the passage first traversed. The Terraces occur on a sloping floor, which they cover for distance of perhaps eighty feet by a width of from eight to ten feet They consist of series of crys- talline basins, inclosed within white frilled and delicate rims, some of which are foot in height. A beautiful group of stalactites and pillars serves to en- hance the beauty of the formations. From the foot of the Terraces the rims of the basins have the appearance of series of marble steps. Taken as whole, the formation is surpassingly beautiful. The other caves, so far as they have been explored are less inter- esting. Tn the Kowmung river, near at hand, good fishing is to be had, game is abundant, Wonga pigeons are plean- tiful, so that the locality possesses un- usual attractions for the sportman. The country is marked by steep and rugged ranges and gorges with precip- itous banks, affording abundant mate- rial for the artist or the student of natural history there being ample fa- cilitles for camping out, if so desired.