THE SHAWL CAVE.
Returning to the main passage, the tourist descends 41 steps, and enters the Shawl Cave, a magnificent chamber, the roof of which slopes at an angle of about 43 degrees. Into one side the "formation" of carbonate of lime has floated like lava in volumes, and presents the appearance of a suddenly congealed cascade. All the adjacent rocks are covered with fine sheets of formation, white and coloured, and hanging in graceful folds. On a far-off wall is more formation of a similar kind, projecting from a perpendicular rock, and variegated with superb tracery and colouring. The "shawls" hang parallel to each other. They gradually increase from six inches to three feet in depth, in a lateral length of from 12 to 15 feet, and at a distance appear as though they had been placed on the wall by an artist; but when the light is put behind them it is seen that they are independent, slightly corrugated, semi-transparent slabs of equal thickness and graduated widths. Of this kind of formation, however, more magnificent specimens are to be found in the Imperial Cave. In another part of this cavern are large detached blocks of formation, which sparkle like diamonds all over the lines of fracture. They are in wild disorder, as though they had been hurled about in some Titanic conflict. The stalactites here are of different character from those found in the other caves, being composite and covered with ornamentation of various kinds. The lower rocks, too, are rippled and chequered like wicker-work, and resemble the formation of the Pink Terraces of Rotomahana, which were destroyed by lava from a volcano in 1886. The roof is about 100 feet high, and the sides of the cave are formed of massive ledges, over which a limey substance has flowed in large masses and assumed elegant shapes fringed with stalactites. Near this place is a hole which goes down to the bottom of another cave. It has not yet been fully explored, but it has been ascertained that its depth is about 120 feet, with a clear pool at the bottom. A stone thrown down it is heard to strike two or three times, and finally splash in the liquid crystal.
