The keeper of the Jenolan Caves has had many experiences quite as thrilling as that of the son of George D. Prentice, who, some time after his descent into the maelstrom, fell in the conflict between the Northern and the Southern States of the American Union. The curator has hundreds of times wormed his way in the darkness through narrow drives and descended black holes of unknown dimensions by means of ropes and ladders. He has burrowed about like a rabbit, squeezing through small apertures, occasionally having his clothes torn off him by stalactites, and his knees wounded by miniature stalagmites, and his sides abrased by the sharp corners of projecting rocks. When being lowered by ropes he has run the risk of being brained by falling débris. Fortunately, he has been preserved from serious injury, and is still as lithe as a ferret. Christopher Columbus made wonderful maritime discoveries in the Western hemisphere, and Captain Cook distinguished himself in the Southern seas, but neither the bold Genoese nor the stout-hearted Yorkshireman who thrice circumnavigated the globe could have thrown more earnestness into his work than has been displayed by the subterranean explorer at Jenolan, of whom it may be said, without prejudice to his good name, that he has done more underground engineering than any "road-and-bridge" member of the Legislative Assembly, performed more turning and twisting than the most slippery Minister of the Crown who has ever held a portfolio in New South Wales, and found secluded chambers enough to permit every political or social Adullamite—"every one that is in distress, and every one that is in debt, and every one that is discontented"—to have a little cave of his own. As the visitor has to be guided by the curator through labyrinthine passages as intricate as the most puzzling mazes of Crete or Egypt, in order to see fairy grottoes, crystal cities, jewel caskets, coral caves, and mystic chambers which he has discovered, it may be here recorded that Mr. Jeremiah Wilson was born in Ireland, near Enniskillen, that he was three years old when he came to New South Wales, 43 years ago, and that his family have lived continuously near Oberon. His first visit to Jenolan was with a party of excursionists. He has ever since taken a romantic interest in the caves, and from the time of his appointment as cave-keeper in 1867 until now his enthusiasm for exploratory work appears to have never flagged.
THE LUCAS CAVE.
[CHAPTER X.]
THE LUCAS CAVE.
The Lucas Cave presents, in grand combination, almost every type of subterranean beauty to be found in the natural limestone caves of Jenolan. It rivals the Imperial Cave, which, however, is commonly regarded as the more attractive, and displays a more dazzling magnificence than that which characterises either the Arch or the Elder Cave. The approach to the Lucas Cave is by a zigzag path from the valley, leaving the high Pinnacle Rock to the left hand. The route is not difficult to agile people, but the road would be greatly improved by the cutting of suitable steps. On gaining the top of the ridge the waterfall is in front. To the left are rocks rising like a vast citadel to a height of 900 feet, at the summit of which are immense cliffs with deep gorges between them. The distance is too great to enable the visitor to discern their geological composition. Some of them seem as though they had been shaped by human hands in the time of the Pharaohs. They remind one of the enormous stones in the Great Pyramid of Egypt, or the massive blocks in the Temple of the Sun at Heliopolis, and the limestone ridges suggest the mighty Nile which runs through similar ranges. These elevated pinnacles and chasms are favourite resorts of marsupials. Wallabies may be seen leaping from rock to rock and peering out from the crevices. As they are not molested they afford visitors ample opportunity to watch their graceful movements. The distance from the top of the ridge to the mouth of the cave is about 100 yards, with a fall of 60 feet. The descent in some places is so steep as to make it difficult in dry seasons. In wet weather it is dangerous, the rocks being covered with slippery clay.