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.
[Illustration: THE ARCH CAVE.]
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.
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.
[Illustration: THE CARLOTTA ARCH.]