Another beautiful feature in the Helena Cave is a formation under a mass of stalactites which hang from the roof and drop water on to a jutting rock below. On a corner of this shoulder is a huge epaulette, and underneath are some elegantly-shaped brackets. Still farther down is an enormous richly decorated mass, flanked by shell pattern formation. The base rock rests on a mound of limestone gracefully curved, and the intervening spaces are filled with myriads of ornate specimens. Some distance above the floor is a bold rock with a sharply cut under-surface like the sounding-board of a pulpit hung with stalactites. Here are also terraces like miniatures of the celebrated White Terraces of New Zealand, with basins, the sides of which are graced with a formation which at one time was pure white, but the lower portions of which are now discoloured. The upper part, however, still retains its pristine purity and loveliness. The terraces approaching The Grotto are stained by the tramping of feet. About halfway up is a handsome stalagmite of fine proportions. This chamber is grandly impressive, and remarkable for its charming variety of formation, as well as for its graceful contours.
[CHAPTER XVII.]
THE GROTTO CAVE.
At the point of exit from the Helena Cave there is a descent of four steps. Then it is necessary to ascend 14 steps north-north-east on the way to the right-hand branch of the Imperial Cave. From the top of the steps the distance to the junction is about 80 yards. On the left side of the passage, at the foot of the lower steps in the left-hand branch, is a drive down into the gallery of the right-hand branch, the fall being about 70 feet. It was by being lowered down this hole that the cave-keeper found that portion of the right-hand branch which extends from the shaft to the junction of the two branches. This perilous part is railed off with two wires supported on iron standards let into the rock. At a point 22 yards north, on the passage to the Grotto Cave, at an angle, is a drop of 100 feet into the right-hand branch of the Imperial Cave.
Sitting on a thin shell of limestone, on the right-hand side, the visitor may pitch a stone into a hole 10 inches by 14 inches, and hear it strike the bottom of the black depth. He may thrust his candle down to arm's length underneath the mineral crust, and (if he be in a very cheerful vein) fancy he is peering into the Infernal Regions, over which he rests on a thin and fragile screen. From this point the Grotto Cave is south-south-west about 50 yards. Precautions have been taken against accident at this spot. Iron standards are let into the rock, and there are double wires stayed back to the walls of the cave. It is intended to make it still more secure on the lower side by a netting of three inch wire, on one and a quarter inch iron standards, from four to six feet high.
Where the rock has been cut to make the passage wide enough, the steps are wet, and there is a little basin always full of bright water of a bluish tint. A false step here might precipitate a sight-seer into an almost perpendicular hole, some idea of the depth of which may be formed by casting a stone down, and listening to its striking against the sides, until after the lapse of several seconds the sound of its contact with the floor rises like a feeble voice, still further subdued by distance. Descending five steps, a good sight is obtained of the Grotto Cave. It is 25 feet high in places, and about 10 feet wide, with passages in all directions. It runs south-south-east and north-north-west, and is full of interesting vaults and crypts, over which Nature seems to have cast a mystic spell. For alluring charms, fantastic combinations, and disposition of matter, no comparison can be found between it and the most artistic grottoes built by human hands. One grotto is roofed with delicately white and richly-traced formation, studded with stalactites of rare splendour. Here is a delicate white shaft piercing the dome; there a stalagmite within half-an-inch of the stalactite above. A broken pillar suggests either an accident or a barbaric act; near to it is a perfect column, which, in the dim light, seems like a figure emerging from the cave. Close inspection reveals imitations of coral and seaweed, curved stalactites, and filagree work of the most intricate design. Little flakes of lime, like snow, at the back of the grotto, sparkle like twinkling stars.