Evening journal., 1904-04-18
SOME FAMOUS CAVES
OLD WORLD CAVERNS AND MAzES
THAT PUZZLE SCIENTISTS.

Made by Men Ages Ago, and Their
Purposes Cannot be 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 to ten and in width between
one yard and 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 Dene holes of Essex and Kent, an
cient artificial cayerns in the chalk,
having deep, narrow, vertical en-
frances.
Many of these entrances are fifty,
eighty or even a hundred feet in depth
and three or four feet in diameter
They pass straight down through the
everything sands and gravels 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 neighborhood 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 this
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
arch@ologlsts 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 succumt
TO ague and rheumatism.
Others have hazarded the theory that
they were prisons, subterranean chap
els, places OF sepulcher and even silo:
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 Of
Henry ". people knew nothing Of thI
race that excavated them and attribut
ed them to the magic arts of the Brit
lsh king Cunobeline. Another is tha'
the labor OF constructing them mus
have been enormous. 1t Is estimated
? hat from one single group Of Den'
roles in Hangmans wood. Essex, n,
ever than 10000 tons Of chalk wer'
: luarried and raised.
At Trelowarren. in Cornwall, arr
some very remarkable subterraneaI
chambers and galleries, the Origina
Ise OF which is quite unknown.
I Some OF the galleries are more thar
; ninety feet long and. though higl
enough inside to allow OF man stand
b ing upright, are approached only b,
very low doorways, through whicl
any one desiring ingress would have
TO creep on his hands and knees
Chambers and galleries alike are lineG
throughout with hewn stones, many o.
which are OF immense size.
/ Other similar but smaller under