The Fairmont West Virginian. (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1904-1914, 1904-05-06
SOME FAMOUS CAVES
OLD WORLD cAvERNs AND MAzEs
THAT@PUzzLE SCIENTISTS.
Made by Men Ages AGO, and Their
Purposes Cannot De SntisfnctorilJ.
Explnfne ed The Gave Temples of
India md the Roman CntncombH.

Explnfn ed The Gave Temples or
India md the Roman CntacombH.
The famous underground labyrinth
near Chiselhurst was recently trav-
ersed from end to end by 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 artiu uarian.
Who constructed them, il fact, no
body knows no- for what purpose nor
when.
Altogether there are about four miles
Of passag es, varying in height from
six feet to ten and in width between
one yard and four.
They have been cut ont of the solid
chalk at an enormous expenditure or
time and labor, the walls showing e.
erywhere marks of the workmen's
picks.
An even greater mystery attaches TO
the Done holes of Essex and Kent. an
cicnt artificial caverns in the chalk,
having deep. narrow. vertical en-
frances.
Many of these entrances are ntty,
eighty or even Il hundred feet in depth
and three or four feet in diameter
They pass straight down through the
everything sands and Gravcls into the
chalk beneath, in which are cXcavated
several large and lofty chambers. ar
ranged systematically round the bot
tom of the shaft.
All sorts of explanations have been
advanced TO account for tie existence
tllcy are merely prehistoric chalk pits.
But this Is obviously ridiculous. for
there is plenty of surface chalk to be
had in the nc:@hDorhood without sink
IL. shafts for it.
Others assert that they were used as
places Of refuge when an invader
sailed up the Thames. but against this
Iaay lie urged the fact ::lGt the bottom
of Den" hole would be about the last
place In the world in which Il man
would care to lie found -! his enemy.
Another favori;c theory with some
;lrchHrolocistS is that they constituted
The habtaIion OF Our forciatlic:s in
days before the art OF building VAS
known liz this country. 3ut no trace
of pcrlnI hahiiAtiOn has been
found in any of them, and it is much
to be feared that any race dwelling in
the Denc holes woiilu quickly Succumb
to ii que and Rheumatism.
Others hare hazarlcd the theory that
they were prisons. Subtcrrancan chap
els, places OF Sepulclcr ana even SiloS
for tile storage of -rH.n fodder. But
all these e.lpldna tions a-e mere guess
work.
Two facts about them only are Ger
tain. One is that they are very an
t..ai,r nf
Henry ". people knew nothing Of the
race that eXcavatcd them and attribut-
cd them to the maggie ar.s OF the Brit
iSh king CunObc!ine. Another is that
the labor Of constructing them must
have been cnor-uouS. 1t is estimated
that from one single group Of Dene
holes in Iangman's wood, Essex. no
fewer than $1,000 tons of chalk wore
uuarried and raised.
At IreloSNarren. i'll Cornwall. are
some very remarkable SuDterranean
chambers and 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 Il man stand
ing upright, are approached only by
very low doorwayS. 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 Il: Boliet and Pcndeen, in the
Lands End district, as we'll as in the
parish of st. Constantine and at San
creed. near PenZance.
1t is we'll known also that suDter-
ranean galleries of precisely the same
character have been found beneath the
old forts or "rathS'' of Ireland, and
from this circumstance some author.
ties are inclined to believe that they
were intended as StorehOuses for re
serve war!ilze stores, arms and pror-
SiOnS.
These Irish galleries, however. must
in nowiSc be cOnfOunded with the curl
Gus beehive shaped underground cham
bers which are so aOun1a MT in County
Cork and elsewhere and which are call
ed by the peasants Dane holes" be-
cause. they say. the Danes We're wont
to hide in them in Oldcn times.
This may have been so, by the way,
for many of these Subtcrrancan apart
ments would form excellent hiding
places. but they We're certainly con-
strrcteu originally by the Irish them
fclvpS at q period long anterior to the
advent OF the Danish invaders.
Probably they are allied to the