There are few countries which have not to boast of a variety of natural
excavations; and these have, from their extent, structure, and the
curious phenomena they exhibit, in the formation of petrifactions, &c.,
been at all times objects of popular attention. Among those particularly
deserving of notice are the following.
The volcanic country bordering on Rome, is peculiarly diversified by
natural cavities of great extent and coolness; on which last account it
is related by Seneca, that the Romans were accustomed to erect seats in
their vicinity, to enjoy their refreshing chillness in the summer
season. He gives a particular account of two such grottos belonging to
the villa of Vatia; and it was in a place of this kind that Tiberius was
nearly destroyed while at supper. Its roof suddenly gave way, and buried
several of his attendants in its ruins; which so alarmed the others,
that they fled and abandoned the emperor, with the exception of Sejanus,
who, stooping on his hands and knees, and covering the body of Tiberius
with his own, received all the stones which fell at that part from the
roof, insomuch that, although he himself sustained considerable injury,
the emperor escaped unhurt.
The grottos of the Cevennes mountains, in lower Languedoc, are both
numerous and extensive. The principal one is not to be explored without
much precaution, and without a safe guide. The entrance, which is low
and narrow, leads to a spacious amphitheater, the petrifactions hanging
from the roof of which have a most splendid effect by the light of
torches. Hence the visitor has to descend to several chambers, one of
which is named the Chamber of the Winds; another, of Echo; another, of
the Cascade; another, again, of the Statue, &c.; on account of their
exhibiting these different phenomena. In the grotto of Valori, at a
small distance, the different natural curiosities which are to be found
at every step, may be viewed at leisure, and without apprehension, as
the visitor never loses sight of the light at the entrance, and is,
therefore, not under any dread of not returning in safety. Here he is
gratified by a view of the most singular petrifactions, representing
flowers, fruits, bee-hives, and, in short, a variety of objects, in many
of which the resemblance is nearly as accurate as if they had been
sculptured.
In a wood, about five leagues from Besançon, in the province of France
called Franche Comte, an opening, formed by two masses of rock, leads to
a cavern more than nine hundred feet beneath the level of the country.
It is in width sixty feet, and eighty feet high at the entrance, and
exhibits inside an oval cavity of one hundred and thirty-five feet in
breadth, and one hundred and sixty-eight in length. To the right of the
entrance is a deep and narrow opening, bordered with festoons of ice,
which, distilling in successive drops on the bottom of the cavern, form
a mass of about thirty feet in diameter. A similar one, but somewhat
smaller, produced by the water which drips in less abundance from the
imperceptible fissures in the roof, is seen on the left. The ground of
the cavern is perfectly smooth, and covered with ice eighteen inches
thick; but the top, on the outside, is a dry and stony soil, covered
with trees, and on a level with the rest of the wood. The cold within
this cavern is so great, that, however warm the external atmosphere may
be when it is visited, it is impossible to remain in it for any length
of time.
These natural ice-houses are not unfrequent in France and Italy, and
supply this agreeable luxury at a very cheap rate. Thus, in the same
province, in the vicinity of Vesoul, is a cavern which, in the hot
season, when it is eagerly sought, produces more ice in one day, than
can be carried away in eight. It measures thirty-five feet in length,
and in width sixty. The large masses of ice which hang pendent from the
roof, have a very pleasing effect. When mists are observed in this
cavern, they are regarded by the neighboring peasantry as infallible
prognostics of rain; and it is worthy of observation, that although the
water in the interior is always frozen in the summer, it becomes liquid
in the winter season.
A grotto near Douse, also in Franche Comte, forms a similar ice-house,
and is remarkable on account of the various forms of its congelations,
which represent a series of columns, sustaining a curious vault, which
appears to be carved with figures of men, animals, trees, &c.
The caverns of Gibraltar are numerous, and several of them of great
extent. The one more particularly deserving attention is called St.
Michael’s cave, situated on the southern part of the mountain. Its
entrance is one thousand feet above the level of the sea, and is formed
by a rapid slope of earth, which has fallen in at various periods, and
which leads to a spacious hall, incrusted with spar, and apparently
supported in the center by a large stalactitical pillar. To this
succeeds a long series of caves, of difficult access. The passages
leading from the one to the other are over precipices, which can not be
passed without the aid of ropes and scaling-ladders. Several of these
caves are three hundred feet beneath the upper one; but at this depth
the smoke of the torches carried by the guides becomes so disagreeable,
that the visitor is obliged reluctantly to give up the pursuit, and
leave other caves unexplored. In these cavernous recesses, the process
and formation of the stalactites is to be traced, from the flimsy
quilt-like cone suspended from the roof, to the robust trunk of a
pillar, three feet in diameter, which rises from the floor, and seems
intended by nature to support the roof from which it originated.
The variety of forms which this matter takes in its different situations
and directions, renders this subterraneous scenery strikingly grotesque,
and in some places beautifully picturesque. The stalactites of these
caves, when near the surface of the mountain, are of a brownish yellow
color; but, in descending toward the lower caves, they lose the darkness
of their color, which is by degrees shaded off to a pale yellow.
Fragments are broken off, and, when wrought into different forms, and
polished, are beautifully streaked and marbled.
About seven English miles from Adlersberg, in Carniola, is a remarkable
cavern, named St. Magdalen’s cave. The road being covered with stones
and bushes, is very painful; but the great fatigue it occasions is
overbalanced by the satisfaction of seeing so uncommon a cavern. The
visitor first descends into a hole, where the earth appears to have
fallen in for ten paces, when he reaches the entrance, which resembles a
fissure caused by an earthquake, in a huge rock. The torches are here
lighted, the cave being extremely dark. This wonderful natural
excavation is divided into several large halls, and other apartments.
The vast number of pillars by which it is ornamented give it a superb
appearance, and are extremely beautiful: they are as white as snow, and
have a semi-transparent luster. The bottom is of the same materials;
insomuch that the visitor may fancy he is walking beneath the ruins of
some stately palace, amid noble pillars and columns, partly mutilated,
and partly entire. Sparry icicles are everywhere seen suspended from the
roof, in some places resembling wax tapers, which, from their radiant
whiteness, appear extremely beautiful. All the inconvenience here arises
from the inequality of the surface, which may make the spectator stumble
while he is contemplating the beauties above and around him.
In the neighborhood of the village of Szelitze, in Upper Hungary, there
is a very singular excavation. The adjacent country is hilly, and
abounds with woods, the air being cold and penetrating. The entrance
into this cavern, fronting the south, is upward of one hundred feet in
hight, and forty-eight in breadth, consequently sufficiently wide to
receive the south wind, which here generally blows with great violence;
but the subterraneous passages, which consist entirely of solid rock,
winding round, stretch still farther to the south. As far as they have
been explored, their hight has been found to be three hundred feet, and
their breadth about one hundred and fifty. The most inexplicable
singularity, however, is, that in the midst of winter the air in this
cavern is warm; and when the heat of the sun without is scarcely
supportable, the cold within is not only very piercing, but so intense,
that the roof is covered with icicles of the size of a large cask,
which, spreading into ramifications, form very grotesque figures. When
the snow melts in spring, the inside of the cave, where its surface is
exposed to the south sun, emits a pellucid water, which congeals
instantly as it drops, and thus forms the above icicles: even the water
which falls from them on the sandy ground, freezes in an instant. It is
observed, that the greater the heat is without, the more intense is the
cold within; so that, in the dog-days, every part of this cavern is
covered with ice. In autumn, when the nights become cold, the ice begins
to dissolve, insomuch that, when the winter sets in, it is no longer to
be seen; the cavern then is perfectly dry, and has a mild and gentle
warmth. It is, therefore, not surprising that swarms of flies, gnats,
bats, owls, and even great numbers of foxes and hares, resort thither,
as to their winter retreat, and remain there till the return of spring.