Montour American. (Danville, Pa.) 1866-1920, 1904-12-22
SOME FAMOUS CAVES
OLD WORLD CAVERNS AND MAZES
THAT PUZZLE SCIENTISTS.

Made by Men Ages Ago, and Their
Purposes Cannot lie satisfactorily
Explained The cave Temples of
India and the Roman Catacombs.
The famous underground labyrinth
near Chiselhurst was recently trav-
ersed from end to end by a party OF
the British Archaeological association,
but the explorations are said to have
thrown no new light on the puzzle
these wonderful excavations present to
the antiquarian
Who constructed them, in fact, no
body knows nor for what purpose nor
. when.
Altogether there are about four miles
OF passages, varying in height from
six feet 10 ten and in width between
one yard ana four.
They have been cut out of the solid
chalk at an enormous expenditure Of
time and labor, the walls showing ey-
erywhere marks of the workmen's
picks.
An even greater mystery attaches to
the Dcne holes of Essex and Kent, an
cient artificial caverns in the chalk,
having deep, narrow, vertical en-
frances.
Many of these entrances are fifty,
eighty or even hundred feet in depth
and three or four feet in diameter.
They pass straight down through the
everything sands and grayels into the
chalk beneath. in which are excavated
several large and lofty chambers, ar
ranged symmetrically round the bot
tom of the shaft.
All sorts of explanations have been
advanced to account for the existence
of Dene holes. Some authorities say
they are merely prehistoric chalk pits.
But this is obviously ridiculous, for
there is plenty of surface chalk to be
had in the ncighhorhood without sink
ing shafts for it,
Others assert that they were used as
places OF refuge when an invader
sailed up the Thames. but against thi.
may be urged the fact that the bottom
Of Dene hole would be about the last
place In the world in which a man
would care To be found by his enemy
Another favorite theory with some
archTologists is that they constituted
the habitation of our fOrefathers In
days before the art Of building was
known in this country. But no trace
OF permanent habitation has been
found in any of them, and it IS much
TO be feared that any race dwelling in
the Dene holes would quickly succumb
TO ague and rheumatism.
Others have haZarded the theory that
they were prisons. subterranean chap
els, places Of sepulcher and even silos
for the storage of green fodder. But
all these explanations are mere guess
work.
TWO facts about them only are GER
tain. one is that they are very an
cient SO long ago as the reign or
Henry " people knew nothing Of the
race that eXcayated them ana attribut-
ed them 10 the magic arts OF the Brit
iSh king CunCheine. Another is that
the labor of constructing them must
have been enormous. II is estimated
that from one single group Of Dene
holes in Uangman's wood. Essex no
fewer than 100000 tons OF chalk were
quarricd and raised.
At Trelowa'Ten, in Cornwall, are
some very remarkable subterranean
chambers ana galleries. the original
use of which is quite unknown.
Some of the galleries are more than
ninety feet long and. though high
enough inside to allow Of man stand
ing upright. are approached only by
very low door,vays. through which
any one desiring ingress would have
to creep on his hands and knees.
Chambers and galleries alike are lined
throughout with hewn stones, many Of
which are of immense size
Other similar but smaller under
ground structures have also been dis
covered at Boliel and Pendeen. in the
Lands End district, rs well as in the
parish of St Constantine and at San
creed, near Pen2ance.
1t is well known also that subter-
ranean galleries Of precisely the same
character have been found beneath the
old forts or "Taths" Of Ireland and
from this circumstance some authori-
ties are inclirrd to believe that they
were intended as storehouses for re
serve warlille stores, arms and provi-
sions.
These Irish galleries, however, must
In nowise be confounded with the curl
Gus beehive shaped underground cham
bers which are 50 abundant in County
Cork and elsewhere and which are call
ed bv the peasants Dane holes" be
cause. they say. the Danes were wont
to hide in them in oldcn times.
This may have been so, by the way
for many Of these subterranean apart
ments would form excellent hiding
places. but they were certainly con
structed originally by the Irish them
selves ut a period long anterior to the
advent OF the Danish invaders.
Probably they are allied to the
''Picts' houses" of the Orkney islands,
which are either chambered tumuli or
underground dwellings, or both.
| The rock "tombs" OF the ancient
| Etruscans are also Of this category.
| Men lived within them, and they also
buried their defunct relatives within
! them, underneath the floor, just as the
| Inuits do now. few inches of earth
| sufficed to separate the living from
| the dead In Peru, again, are similar
| subterranean tumuli houses covering
! thousands Of acres of ground.
When the British conquered India
they thought the vast cave temples Of
! EllOra and elsewhere were the work
Of giants, and in that belief they
were almost justified, for it even now
well nigh passes comprehension how
or by what means they were original
! ly constructed.
From one series Of these alone it Is
estimated that there were excavated