The sun., 1919-09-03
WONDERFUL CAVES
IN WEST AUSTRALIA
Great Underground Fairyland
Shows Natures Most Beau
tiful Handiwork.
A MECCA FOR TOURISTS
American Woman Gives Init
mate Picture Of Illuminated
Caverns Underground.


Caverns Underground.
In a letter to the Australasian and
Far Eastern Section OF THE SUN an
American woman traveller tells Of her
visit to the wonderful Yallingup caves
In western Australia. Comparatively
few Americans have had the pleasure
Of visiting this natural wonder of the
| southern, half of the world:
I'm the wllds of Australia is Bussel-
ton, straight through the heart of the
bush and near West Australia's wonder
ful caves. On the way to Busselton we
saw miles AID miles OF gum trees, black
boys and palms growing wild, any Of
which would grace living room. w.
passed some stunning orange grovec, all
In fruit and Eloom, and a nursery Of
fine evergreen trees, which surely looked
refreshing after The ghostly looking gum
trees.
ION arrival ~ Busselton we went in
an American automobile thirty-two miles
to the Caves House. 1t is near the
ocean, quite few hundred feet above it,
so you get fine view through the
gum trees. There is a deep valley at
one side which is lovely like the sylvan
setting OF grand opera scene 1t
looked as II elves ought to be dancing
there, instead in season there are horrid
snakes, opossums. iguanas (sort of alli-
gator things) and few brush kangaroo
ana magpies. We were not there in
the 'snaky season. so had no excite
ment of that kind.
In Natures Department store.
We entered the caves through a mar
row passage which they call Harpey's
Pinch. for an Australian politician who
was very fat tried to get through there
and got stuck. Then we were in the
cave proper, lighted by over 5000 cleo.
trio bulbs.
THE first sight is the Jewel box
You look through an opening as into a
shop window and the light shines on
rubies, emeralds, diamonds, &C., lying
about true to life. Then near that is
the candy shop, where there is peanut
brittle, maple sugar cakes with escal-
Hoped edges, maple cream. stick candy
in red and white, which all looked very
tempting. In reality It is nothing but
limestone. Then comes the butchers
shop. with huge strips Of bacon hanging
from the ceiling, lots of red streaks of
lean and delicious looking fat The
drapery shop is close by. with beautiful,
big cascaded shawls complete with
fringe and some hemstitched OF course
the colors are shades of red only. The
way they are hung in graceful folds
would do credit to any window dresser.
THE guide then lighted the cave on
the far side, so We could view from there
the Arabs tent. 1t is a perfect tent
opening and the oyster white of the
background looks exactly like canvas.
The entrance is exquisitely graced with
shawls of ruby red and cream in tartan
plaid design. You would scarcely be-
lieve 1t was not lovely. tartan plaid
silk. You want to feel of 1t to see II
it is real silk. but the formations turn
black with the touch of the hand. e..
Bears, Too. as Well as Snakes.
Going on. we came to huge fiuted
columns, shawls everywhere, and stalig-
mite formations of wonderful beauty all
over the roof and sides. / am only
mentioning some of the finest forma-
tons. Overhead is the most perfect
little pure white walking stick about six
Inches long, a coiled cobra OF the same
size, and numerous other unique forma-
tons. Walking on. or. rather, climb
ing on, we cama to the most beautiful
piece of mother of pearl hanging from
the roof. 1t must be ten feet long, at
least, and about four wide. No piece
of pearl could be more lovely, and yet
this Is merely a formation of lime iron
and water. 1t takes thousands OF years
to form such a thing.
There is small staligmite in one of
the other caves which has been trying
to grow down to another one which
stands up directly under 1t and has been
seven years forming quarter OF an
inch. 1t has been watched eagerly as
an estimate of the time required for
staligmites to form. Then. going on, we
looked down through an opening and
saw a perfect cinnamon bear sitting
down and looking at us. = He is about
five feet high. A little girl discovered
him one day and was frightened. It
takes no imagination to see these things.
for they are as perfect as life.
I'm front of him. higher up, is one
about the size of small teddy bear.
We next scrambled through a narrow
place where we had to crawl on our
hands and knees a few feet and on our
stomachs some of the way to keep from
scraping our backs, Then we went still
further down some more steps. and by
this time we were 500 feet down into
the earth. Going down here the guide
turned off the lights to let us see how
1t felt to be in the underworld. 1t was
awful, l assure you. and every one
And a Golden Pipe Organ.
Down in here Is a beautiful golden
pipe organ raised above the rest as it
should be, and over all the wonderful
staligmite ceiling. We only fingered here
a few minutes. Then we went up near
the switchboard and the guide turned out
all the lights. We were glad of a bit
of daylight and air. but were regretting
it was all over when the guide switched
on the lights and we looked into an en-
trancing place. They call 1t the am
phitheatre 1t has the most beautiful
ceiling Of staligmites, and on a sure
enough stage are perfect busts and stat
ues. There is a tiny one of Queen Vic
toria all In white with her trained robe,
pompadour hair. sceptre and crown;
a Madonna with Child, standing full
height; full height weeping woman
with bent head and flowing veil busts
of famous Australians, Englishmen.
Abraham Lincoln and Others. A per-
feet little Cupid stands near a bridal
party, bride, bridesmaid and little flower
girl, all in purest white. Then we de-
scended into the amphltheatre and
craned our necks to look at the dome,
much as you do in the dome Of the Capt.
toll at Washington. Then the guide
switched the lights on at the sides and
we saw one of the prettiest sights of all