[CHAPTER VII.]
THE ARCH CAVE.
The Arch Cave runs north-westerly from the line of road to the Carlotta Arch, and has a gradual descent. It is about a hundred yards long, and in some places about half a chain wide. The roof is decked with beauty; the floor is covered with dust. There is now but one complete column in the centre, and that is formed by a stalactite which extends in a straight line from the roof to the floor. It is surrounded by a number of other magnificent pendants of a similar kind, more or less ornate, and crowded together in rich profusion. Some of them have grown until they nearly touch bold rocks which jut out from the walls, and the spaces between the larger cylindrical forms are filled by stalactites of various lesser lengths, some of which are figured so as to represent festoons of flowers. The complete pillar tapers from the upper to the lower end. For about two-thirds of the way down it is compounded of several stalactitic lines; the remainder is a simple shaft with irregular surface. To the right of it is a marvellous piece of formation like the head of a lion with the forelegs and the hoofs of a bull, posed so as to resemble Assyrian sculpture.
At one time there were in this cave five pillars as perfect as the one which remains, but in 1860 they were destroyed by a Goth from Bathurst. There are numerous columns of dimensions not so great along the sides of the cave, and at every step appear fresh objects of admiration. Some of the stalactites are resonant, and so is the floor, which, on the thinnest portion, responds imitatively to the tramping of feet. In a passage on the right hand side is a stalactite which the cave-keeper has carefully watched for 18 years, in order to form some idea as to the rate of stalactitic growth. He has always found a drop of water clinging to the lowest surface as though it were ready to fall, and yet during the whole term of 18 years the actual addition to the solid stalactite has been only half-an-inch in length, of a thickness equal to that of an ordinary cedar-covered lead pencil. It is evident, from observation of other portions of this cave, that some formations have been created in a manner less slow. Still, it is probable there are stalactites the growth of which has been more gradual than the one subjected to special scrutiny.
The entrance furnishes an illustration of damage done by careless visitors years ago, and of the necessity for constant care to preserve the caves from destruction. When this cavern was first opened to the public the floor was white as snow. It is now black and greasy, as well as dusty. The change has been brought about by the pattering of feet encased in soiled boots, and by drips from candles and torches used before the present lighting arrangements were adopted. Some of the stalactites have their lower portions damaged in a similar way. But, worse still, an elaborate and very attractive specimen, resembling cockscomb, has been damaged by fracture, and made incomplete by unauthorised appropriation. The porosity of some of the rocks can here be readily distinguished. Their surface is like that of pumice stone. In dry weather the walls are sparkling; in wet seasons they are moist and dull. At the far end of the cave the floor is covered with little indurated lumps with carved surfaces. They are all similar in shape, and vary in bulk from the size of quandong seeds or nuts, of which bracelets are sometimes made, to that of a mandarin orange. Perhaps they were fabricated on the roof and became detached. It is hardly possible they could have been formed where they lie without being joined together in a solid mass.
THE ARCH CAVE.
Here perfect silence reigns. It is so profound as to be almost painful, and the darkness is so dense that when the candles are extinguished the visitor can pass a solid object before his eyes without the shadow of a shade being perceptible. It is not suggestive of the darkness which—
"Falls from the wings of Night
Like a feather that is wafted downwards
From an eagle in its flight."
Nor yet of "the trailing garments of the Night" sweeping "through her marble halls." There is nothing to give the idea of action. Solitary confinement for 24 hours in such a "separate cell" would drive some men mad. At the end of the cave is a mass of stalactites, through which is a passage leading to "The Belfry," where are some large stalactites, three of which, when struck with a hard substance, sound like church bells. One of them has a deep tone, equivalent to C natural. The others do not vibrate so as to produce perfect notes according to musical scale, nor are their sounds either rich or full.