THE NETTLE CAVE.
The Nettle Cave is for the most part a place of twilight. If visitors
are incautious in approaching it they will soon come to the conclusion
that it has been properly named, for all around are fine clumps of
herbaceous weeds with sharp tubular hairs upon vesicles filled with
irritating fluid. The sting of a nettle and the sting of an adder
resemble each other, but are yet dissimilar. The adder strikes his
tubular fang into his prey, but the nettle victim impinges upon the
tubular hair which communicates with the acrid vesicle.
The Nettle Cave is reached by climbing 170 feet to the left of The Grand
Arch, and if in the ascent the visitor be invited to smell a plant
with alternate leaves and racemes of not very conspicuous flowers, it
would be well for him to decline with thanks. There are some rough cut
steps leading to this cave, and on one side is a galvanised wire rope
supported by iron stanchions let into the rocks, which makes the ascent
tolerably safe. The road runs between two bluff rocks, which for a
considerable distance rise almost perpendicularly, and then curve so as
to form a segment of a circle some 150 feet overhead. The cave is barred
from wall to wall by a light iron gate sufficient to prevent improper
intrusion, not ponderous enough for a penal establishment, but
sufficiently pronounced to suggest Richard Lovelace's lines--
"Stone walls do not a prison make,
Nor iron bars a cage;
Minds innocent and quiet take
That for an hermitage."
Descending some of the rough stones and winding along a footpath, the
tourist descends into a chamber below a magnificent series of rocks
covered with beautiful "formation" from the dripping roofs above. This
is called "The Willows," because of the resemblance it bears to the
graceful and beautiful appearance of the _Salix babylonica_, on which in
the olden time captive Israelites hung their harps and "wept when they
remembered Zion." The entrance to this cave is circuitous. First there
are some rocky steps to be climbed, and then the road winds through
avenues of "willow" formation up to the summit. From this point about 60
or 70 feet down is a funnel-shaped declivity resembling the mouth of an
extinct volcano. In some respects it is like the "Blow Hole" at Kiama (a
natural fountain, inland, fed by ocean waves which force their way
through a water-worn tunnel). Undoubtedly that also is one of the
wonders of the world, but some time since it was utilised by the local
corporation as a receptacle for dead horses and defunct cattle! From
this declivity in the Nettle Cave the visitor naturally shrinks, being
dubious as to where his remains would be found if he were to make an
uncertain step. In his timorous progress, however, his attention is soon
arrested by some splendid stalagmites to the left of the hellish-looking
vacuity. One of the most noble is about four feet in diameter at the
base, and from 12 to 14 feet high, covered with curiously-shaped
ornamentation, and having minute stalactites projecting from the sides.
All about it are nodules of delicate fretwork, as lovely as the coral of
the ancient sea out of which this mountain was made millions of years
ago. On the apex is a gracefully-tapered cone; and hard by is a small
stalagmite covered with prickles as sharply defined as those of the
echinus. All around are limestone pictures of surpassing loveliness.
There is not much variety of colour, but the formation is infinite in
its variety. It is intended to have the hideous and perilous-looking
volcanic funnel previously mentioned guarded by wirework, which is
necessary to ensure the complete safety of sightseers. If an unfortunate
wight were to trip, he might fall a distance of about 70 feet, and be
shot without ceremony into the Devil's Coach House. One remarkable
stalagmite in the vicinity of this infernal shaft is shaped like a hat,
and another is like a gigantic mushroom. The floor of the cave is thin,
and when stamped upon vibrates in imitation of an earthquake wave.
Stalactites in rich profusion depend from the roof, and here and there
are clumps of bats, clinging together like little swarms of bees. The
stalactites are tipped with drops of lime-water clear as crystal at the
lowest point, and becoming gradually opaque. It is also noticeable that
while the drops at the ends of the stalactites appear to be perfectly
still globular bodies, their molecules seem to be in perpetual motion.
The opaque part of the drops thickens until it resembles sperm, and then
the gradation is almost imperceptible until it unites with the solid
formation. All around are curiously-shaped drives, one of which has been
explored until it communicates with the Imperial Cave. It is not an
inviting entry, for it is low and narrow, and has sharp stalactites on
the roof. The floor is covered with very fine dust, about the eighth of
an inch thick, which, however, seems not to rise, and when struck with a
hammer the sound is like a blow struck upon a carpet, and the dull thud
reverberates in the caverns below.
From the end of the cave, looking towards the mouth, the appearance is
particularly wild. The stalagmites in front resemble prisoners in some
castle keep, and the part of the cave farther on, upon which the light
falls, near to the barred entrance, makes the interior shade seem more
gloomy. There is one remarkable pillar about 10 feet in diameter from
the floor to the roof of the cave; and seeing that it is about 30 feet
in height, and has been made by the constant dripping of lime-water,
visitors may speculate as to its age, and statisticians may estimate
the number of drips required for its creation. Along the sides of the
cave are beautiful pillars. Some are like trunks of trees, gnarled and
knotted, and some like elaborately-carved columns. There are grottoes
and alcoves, and terraces formed by runs of water; Gothic arches and
Etruscan columns, carvings of most cunning elaboration, and stalactites
more noticeable for their massiveness than for their grace. There are
narrow chasms descending into blackness, through which future
discoveries may be made. On the water-formed terraces are numerous
stalagmites resembling congewoi and other zoophytes. It seems as though
Nature had fashioned the cave after a kaleidoscopic view of the most
remarkable objects in marine and vegetable life. At the end of this
section the roof rises, and is pierced by an inverted pinnacle. The
walls are composed of masses of stalactite formation, imperfectly
developed by reason of pressure. Near at hand liquid substances have
fallen, and petrified so rapidly as to resemble streaks of lava which
had suddenly cooled and formed cords and ligaments like grand muscles
and tendons.
The eastern end of the cave runs into the Devil's Coach House, about 120
feet above the coach-house floor. The opening is very beautiful, being
ornamented with columns and pinnacles, and the view from this point to
the interior of the cave is unexampled. Scores of breaches in the roof
and sides can be seen leading to other marvellous places--there being
cave upon cave and innumerable changes of formation upon the ground. In
rocky basins the _debris_ is largely composed of minute bones. The
"remains" may be taken up by handfuls. The teeth of bats and native
cats--the vertebrae of marsupials and snakes--the wing-bones of birds,
and other fragments of the animal world are mixed together in a mammoth
charnel-house, whose grandeur could hardly be surpassed by the most
costly and artistically designed mausoleum.
The Ball Room--an upper storey of the Nettle Cave--is reached by
mounting twenty-nine steps cut into the rock. Near the eastern entrance
are two stalactitic figures fashioned like vultures about to engage in
combat. All around the little plateau of Terpsichore are huge
stalagmites, resembling domes, crowded together and pressing into one
another. Some are set off with stalactites; others are honeycombed.
Thence the direction is still upwards, and the ascent is made by means
of about 50 wooden steps, with a guard rail on each side. The formations
are striking and graceful. Pointing upward is a gauntleted hand and
forearm of a warrior of the olden time. There are representations of
bewigged legal luminaries and bearded sages like Old Father Christmas or
Santa Claus. Some of the columns which support the archway have tier
upon tier of stalactites, drooping so as to counterfeit water flowing
from a fountain, alternating with stalactite formation like boughs of
weeping willow. One prominent stalagmite is like the back of a
newly-shorn sheep, with shear-marks in the wool. On the western side is
a figure like that of an orator in the act of exhortation. The forehead
is bald, long white locks are flowing on to the shoulders, one arm is
upraised, and the pose gives an idea of earnestness and force. In front,
just below the bust, is a reading desk of stone, the outer edge of which
is fringed with stalactites. From this place are steps leading to the
arch. They are safe and convenient. Underneath them is still to be seen
the wire ladder formerly used to pass from the Nettle Cave to the Arch
Cave, and it is easy to understand the trepidation of nervous visitors
when they were swaying about on it in mid-air over the dark abyss below.
After resting for a moment in the midst of a stalagmitic grotto, the
visitor ascends some stone steps towards the Grand Arch, proceeds
through a beautiful cavern with Norman and Doric pillars, composed
almost entirely of stalagmites, and enters the Arch Caves, which were so
called because at that time they were accessible only through the
Carlotta Arch. They are now, as previously described, approached through
the Nettle Cave by means of the wooden staircase, which was built about
three years ago.