THE ICE-CAVES.
From the south-east corner of Hungary, where they form the boundary
between it and Roumania, and stretching upwards in one unbroken chain
to the provinces of Bukovina and Gallicia, rise the noble Carpathian
mountains, embracing two-thirds of the Hungarian plains as with a stony
girdle.
[Illustration: THE ICE-CAVES OF DOBSINA.]
At the foot of the highest group of the Carpathian chain lies the
Comitat of Gőmőr, a district of singular beauty and variety, in
which are mountains on whose summits grow the Arctic lichen and the
pine: whilst at their base, not only the vine, but tobacco, melons,
and Indian corn flourish in great luxuriance. It is in this county,
within a few miles of the mining town of Dobshau--into which name
the Austrians have Germanised the more euphonious Hungarian one of
Dobsina--that the newly-discovered caverns are situated which form
the heading of this chapter.
The existence of an ice-cavern had for many years been suspected,
a fissure having been observed to be constantly blocked with ice,
although situated at the low elevation of 3500 feet, where snow rests
on the ground during the winter months only. It was however left to
a young Hungarian named Ruffiny, a youth of unwonted courage and
enterprise, to be the first to enter these wondrous chambers, which
Nature has fashioned for herself in the secret recesses of the earth.
Having provided himself with everything that could be devised to
insure his safety in the perilous task he had undertaken, this bold
and intrepid adventurer set out for the fissure, two young friends
accompanying him.
Suspended to his girdle was a miner’s lamp and a stout rope many yards
in length. To this rope a bell was attached, designed to serve as a
means of communication if necessary with his companions above, whilst
another rope was fixed to a windlass. In this way he entered the chasm,
and working his way valiantly over blocks of ice, and a chaos of
_débris_, which in the course of ages had found its way thither,
he became lost for a time in the darkness of a new world.
We can readily imagine what must have been the feelings of this brave
young explorer as he entered alone those grim, silent, and unknown
regions, from which he might never return, for we may be sure he was
fully alive to the danger his enterprise involved. Curiosity however,
and a love of adventure which is found to animate some minds, led him
onwards, his feeble lamp doing little more than to render the darkness
visible, as he surmounted first this icy barrier, and then that, at
one time sliding down slippery inclines, at another unwinding the rope
which encircled his body and plunging into yawning depths, till he
reached at length a vaulted chamber, and stood on what appeared to be a
frozen lake.
What wonders of the Ice-world did not his glimmering lantern then
unfold! Pausing a moment to feel quite sure that his senses did not
deceive him, he clambered back with all speed to within some distance
of the mouth of the cave, and shouted to his companions to follow.
Thus were these icy solitudes revealed to man, and a tablet erected
on the outer rock just above the entrance records the names of these
youthful heroes, together with the date on which the caverns were
discovered.
It was a hot day, and the sun shining fiercely from his throne in
heaven, when, having left our carriage at the foot of the Dusca, the
mountain in which the caves exist, we commenced its ascent, and soon
entered a cool forest of pines. Halfway up, through a natural opening
in the forest, a beautiful view is obtained of the valley by which we
had come and of the bold _Spitzenstein_ rising abruptly out of
it, near which--looking mere toys in the distance--lie the foresters’
houses.
Sauntering up a narrow zigzag path, between banks of moss interspersed
with wild-flowers of every hue, we soon reach the plateau beneath which
lies the cave. We are soon made aware of its proximity by a stream of
cold air issuing from the chasm.
Descending to it by a flight of wooden steps which are carried over
huge masses of fallen rock, we signal for a guide, whose voice,
answering from the depths below, comes rolling upwards with a muffled
echo, his approaching footsteps sounding like the hollow boom of cannon.
[Illustration]
As we stood at the fissure waiting for him, it was curious to observe
how, notwithstanding the warmth of the atmosphere, the outer face
of the rock within a radius of thirty feet was covered with a thick
coating of hoar-frost, having all the appearance of newly-fallen snow,
each projecting shelf of rock being likewise fringed with long icicles.
But the guide--whose footsteps reverberating through corridor after
corridor, and hall after hall, we have heard in one continuous roar
for the last fifteen minutes--at last reaches us; and following him,
we descend the narrow flight of stairs, which, together with the
balustrade that we cling to for safety, is also covered with a thick
crystalline coating as white as snow. This leads us to the “Small
Saloon,” where we find ourselves standing on a floor of ice environed
by numerous ice-formations, to each of which the guides--attributing
to them a resemblance to common objects in the outer world--have
given a name. Thus in the centre of this chamber two almost square
pillars of ice, rising perpendicularly from the ground, are called
“_grabsteine_” (gravestones), whilst the most prosaic and
unimaginative person would have no need to be informed that a splendid
heap of frozen matter issuing in one great volume from a cleft in the
limestone rock above, and bearing down in graceful undulating waves
till it seems to splash on the icy floor, is designated a waterfall, so
closely does it resemble one in every detail--its silence and absence
of motion alone telling that it is but a vast and compact body of ice,
and does not actually flow. As the guide illumines this beautiful
object with magnesium light, the effect is altogether startling and
superb.
Leading out of this chamber is a narrow passage, hitherto unexplored
beyond a distance of ninety feet, but which is supposed to communicate
with other caverns. Following the guide, we now descend to the “Grand
Saloon,” which is separated from the upper by a broad curtain of rock.
As we proceed, the ice crunches beneath our feet, and we are obliged to
walk with great caution, each step we tread being on ice as slippery as
glass.
Reaching the “Grand Saloon,” we are awe-struck at its impressive
grandeur, beauty, and extent. Its height however is not in any degree
commensurate with its length and breadth, the former being only
forty feet, whereas the two latter measure 370 feet and 180 feet
respectively. The walls of this vast hall are studded with thousands
of ice-structures varying from a half to one inch in diameter, and
which, thickly set together, resemble clusters of anemones and other
flowers, whose imprisoned colours, changing each moment, scintillate
like diamonds and glow with an unnatural splendour in the brightness
of the magnesium light. On examining the crystals themselves which
create these varied forms, we find them to be hexangular, and generally
attached to the rock by one point only.
These crystals, unlike the other glacial structures in the caverns
which have a progressive growth, are said to be formed quite suddenly
and entirely of vapour, the moist particles of which, floating in the
cold air, get seized by the still colder surface of the rocks with
which they come in contact and become instantly frozen.
On first entering this vast chamber, its roof appears to be supported
by three huge columns of ice, each of which measures from twenty-five
to thirty feet in circumference. The central column stands on a
shelving bank of ice; those on either side rise like stalagmite from
the ground itself; whilst the whole is reflected in the icy floor as in
a mirror.
A death-like stillness reigns; no sound is heard save the unearthly
echo of our own voices and the distant “drip, drip” of the water as it
percolates through some rock; whilst the reverberation of the footsteps
of another guide, lighting the lamps in a cavern below, reaches us like
the thunder and rumble of an earthquake just beneath our feet. What
billows of sound come swelling upwards, and passing by, go bounding
off to remote corridors; and what strange articulations rise and fall
upon the ear, and then wandering on, die away in the distance, till the
mocking intonations, re-echoing our voices in various ways--according
as the wave of sound now strikes upon a mass of solid ice and now
against some hollow pilaster--seem to proceed from the hidden recesses
of the rocks into which the light cannot penetrate, and we feel we must
be in some nether spirit-world!
Nothing can exceed the beauty, transparency, and iridescence of the
pillars and larger ice-fabrics in this cavern, and we feel lost amidst
the variety of forms which water--that patient labourer--has been
creating drop by drop for unknown ages; which still tips each tiny
ice-stalactite with moisture, and will doubtless go on working till the
“fashion of this world has passed away.” The three gigantic columns
are hollow, and entering one of them through a narrow cleft we stood
surrounded by an almost translucent curtain.
Resting by the side of the largest is a crystal cone resembling an
Arab’s tent, which name it bears. Like the others, it is supposed
to have originally formed a column, but to have been displaced and
overturned at some epoch by a glacier-like movement, upon which it
assumed its present shape.
Upon careful examination the ice in these caverns is found to consist
of two kinds,--that which contains minute air-bubbles, and that which
is completely transparent. In the former case it is opaque, and
resembles alabaster--a phenomenon accounted for by the learned as
follows.
When the water freezes quickly, the air gets seized before it can
make its escape, the result being the formation of innumerable small
air-bladders or cavities which cause the ice to look opaque. When,
however, crystallisation takes place slowly, the air has time to
disentangle itself from the freezing substance, and the result is
perfect transparency.
The temperature of the caverns of course varies considerably according
to the time of year, but no atmospheric current is perceptible in any
part of them, and the feeling is one of perfect stagnation of the air.
There is, however, one very remarkable phenomenon connected with their
action upon the compass, which is hitherto unexplained; the disturbing
influences being such that the movements of the magnetic needle when
placed horizontally become completely hindered; whilst if held in any
other position it invariably points downwards.
“We are as yet merely on the threshold of these wondrous caverns, and
must move onwards,” exclaimed the guide, preceding us, and who seemed
to think we had lingered here too long.
A descent of a hundred and fifty steps, partly cut in the ice, and
partly made of wood where the ice-walls are too steep to admit of their
being continued, and two small bridges spanning yawning chasms, usher
us to what is termed the “Corridor,” the most weird and impressive
portion of the whole of these Regions of the Night, a shadowy gulf
where huge rock-fragments lie on the ground like prostrate Titans, over
whom watch white and shining forms created by the irregular dripping of
water down the sides of the rock,--a “ghastly resurrection,” whose icy
draperies hang drooping over their frozen sides as they stand in fixed
immovability.
This corridor, which is 700 feet in length, is formed on the outer side
by a rugged and uneven wall of limestone rock; the inner wall being
a solid mass of ice, which stretches upwards to the height of 60 or
70 feet, and covers the astonishing surface of 31,500 square feet of
uninterrupted ice of the most varied kinds.
As the guide crawls on hands and knees to illuminate these several
objects, what wondrous things the light reveals! what graceful
draperies and fringes! what waterfalls, grottoes and fairy palaces,
fashioned in the darkness of eternal night, present themselves to view
in rapid succession, mingling strangely with the grim rock masses
opposite, and consorting ill with the solitude of these funereal
labyrinths!
“_Es ist einer der grössten Naturmerkwürdigkeiten_” (It is one
of the greatest wonders in nature), remarked the guide, who evidently
liked long words, as he lighted his magnesium wire opposite an immense
rounded mass of ice, and allowed us to see its stratification.
Here the ice is seen to have been formed horizontally, inch by inch,
and layer by layer. And looking at this great old-world palimpsest, we
seem to read off in serial record the silent and persistent processes
of nature which have for ages been building up these giant walls. Some
of the layers are clear as crystal, others opaque like alabaster,
whilst between many of them lie thin layers of dust, all alike defined
with marvellous exactness.
In addition to these larger ice-creations are others suspended from
them, of infinite beauty and variety; there being scarcely anything
in nature which does not here possess its prototype: palms, ferns,
flowers, strings of pearls, delicate filaments and garlands, all
varying according as the water percolating through the limestone has
been arrested in its fall by the different degrees of cold in the
temperature.
The ice in these caverns would appear to be slowly but steadily on the
increase; that which is formed in the winter by _Wasserdampf_--as
our guide expressed it, and by which I fancy he must have meant
vapour--never melting entirely even in summer.
The best time to view this masterpiece of nature is in May, before
the ice begins to thaw, which it does to a slight extent always later
in the season. The floors of the caverns are then wet, and many of
the six-pointed crystals previously described, which form one of its
most beautiful features, become detached from the rocks and melt in
consequence of the increase in the temperature.
It is generally believed that these caverns run right through the
mountain, and also that they are drained by a spring which, making its
appearance near its base, is supposed, from the extreme lowness of the
temperature, to be formed of melted ice.
It may be interesting to some persons to learn the conditions under
which these remarkable ice-caves exist, and which are due, not so much
to their elevation and northern aspect, as to the particular formation
of the caves themselves. Had they extended through the mountain in an
upward direction, the cold inner air during summer, in consequence of
being more dense than the exterior atmosphere, would naturally press
downwards towards the opening, and by creating a vacuum would permit
the warm outer air to ascend, which possessing lower specific gravity,
or, in other words, being lighter, would naturally have a tendency to
rise, in which case by displacing the cooler air it would soon cause
the ice to disperse. But inasmuch as the caverns slope throughout in
a downward direction, the heavy external atmosphere of winter readily
penetrating through the narrow entrance cools the inner air, and by
reducing it to its own temperature not only hardens the ice which
already exists within the caves, but favours the creation of more. On
the other hand, during the summer months the cold inner air cannot
escape upwards, neither can the lighter exterior air penetrate these
icy labyrinths, the consequence being that their temperature is never
so materially affected as to cause any great dispersion of the frozen
matter.
In the clefts of the rocks the bones of the brown bear (_Ursus
Arctus_) have been found, and these, with the exception of
butterflies, two of which we saw frozen to the walls just within the
entrance, are the only indications of life which have at any time been
discovered in any portion of these caverns.
This region, like that of the Karst in Carniola, abounds in these
subterranean phenomena, but, unlike that which we have been describing,
neither possesses the conditions necessary to the formation of ice.
The existence of caverns in this district, as well as that of the
Karst, may generally be determined by the presence of what are called
_dolinen_, a Sláv word signifying a small dell. The Hungarian term
_tőbőr_, however, is far more suggestive of their true nature, as
well as external form, _tőbőr_ signifying crateriform depressions
or hollows. They are in fact funnel-shaped holes occasioned by the
action of water which contains carbonic acid or fixed air, and which,
in consequence of dissolving the porous limestone upon which it drops,
causes the earth to fall in.
* * * * *
Dobsina lies embosomed in wooded mountains, which rise blue as the sky
one above another. It is a clean little town, with curious old houses
sloping outwards, the windows being so small and so high above the
road, that each house wears the appearance of a miniature fortress.
[Illustration]
A long row of houses skirts the principal street to the right, the
left side being bounded by a stream in which women, standing knee-deep
in the water or kneeling on its margin, are thumping and beating with
brawny arms--as only Hungarians can--linen into premature decay.
Reaching the hotel--the best, if not the only one, the little place
affords--we are conducted to our apartment across a narrow wooden
balcony, which extends round the second story of the house. Our
apartment can scarcely be said to be of the most luxurious description,
containing as it does one chair and one table only, and being moreover
wholly guiltless of carpet, but it is at any rate clean. Our modest
dinner too is well cooked, though of a very limited menu, consisting
merely of beef-steak and potatoes. Happening to pass the kitchen, I
inquire of the clean _Mädchen_ who evidently presides over that
department, what her larder can furnish, and on being informed that
the choice lies between a _hendl_ (fowl)--a tough old bird, for I
see it hanging up by its spurs to a door-nail--and “_bif-stek_” I
choose the latter; upon which she demands laconically--
“_Ángolhoné?_” (English?)
“No!” I cried indignantly, remembering our experiences of “_bif-stek
à l’Anglaise_” at Pest, and replied so brusquely to the poor little
woman’s question that she was quite startled, and nearly fell backwards
on to the stove--“_Nein! nein! nicht rau, aber ganz braun._” (No!
no! not raw, but thoroughly brown.)
We had brought with us a letter of introduction to one of the directors
of the cobalt mines in the neighbourhood, but on calling at his house
found he was not at home. Late in the evening however, just as we were
returning to our “_napi_” he returned our visit, and proposed
meeting us there at ten o’clock the next day.
Accordingly, hiring a _leiterwagen_ the following morning--the
only thing in the shape of a vehicle that could be obtained--we started
on our excursion to the Femberg and Maria-Stollen mines. We had a hard
climb before us, and the road, torn up by the torrents which during
heavy rains scour the mountain steeps, was simply execrable. The roads
would never seem to be mended, but, having once been made, to be left
to the mercy of nature.
The mountains above Dobsina are absolutely honeycombed with mines of
one kind and another; wherever we look, there are small openings which
appear like little black dots on the steep declivities, and which,
surrounded with heaps of earth, resemble gigantic ant-hills.
After an ascent of an hour’s duration, we reach the place of
rendezvous; and, entering the mines by a narrow aperture, pursue the
adit for about 1500 feet. The stone in which the precious metal is
enclosed is of a pale, reddish-grey colour, of scarcely any lustre, and
is found only in connection with _Kalkspat_, a white substance
similar to alabaster, or a species of very compact and delicate quartz,
which permeates the rock like a white artery. This vein the miners
carefully follow, for it contains the object of their search, silver
and nickel being also found in conjunction with the cobalt. As we
proceeded the hollow sound of the pickaxe reached us from the lateral
adits, where the miners with their feeble lamps were extracting the ore
from the vein.
This mine was begun by the Romans, who for some reason or other
abandoned it at about 350 feet from the entrance, probably driven from
their occupation by the conquests of Attila.
It is easy to see the exact spot at which they left off working, their
manner of excavating differing so entirely from that pursued in modern
times. As we observed the marks of the Roman chisel which bit by bit
had chipped away the hard rock--and which, though accomplished at
the very least 1600 years ago, is still as fresh and well defined as
if it were but the work of yesterday--we marvelled at the energy and
perseverance of that great people.
The stone in which the cobalt is found, and which furnishes the
exquisite colour so dear to artists, has to be sent to England or
Saxony to be smelted, it being in these two countries alone that the
process of separating this valuable metal from its various surroundings
is understood.
It was hardly to be expected that we should survive the descent of
the hill without an accident of some sort. In momentary fear of being
precipitated on to the road, we were holding to the ladder-like sides
of the _leiterwagen_ with all our might, when a jolt of unusual
violence snapped one of the straps by which the plank we were seated
on was attached to the vehicle; whereupon, falling backwards, we
subsided on to the bed of straw with which the _leiterwagen_ was
fortunately provided; and there, remembering that in lowliness there is
safety, we remained for the rest of the journey.
[Illustration]