CHAPTER XII.

THE LURLINE CAVE.

Seventy or eighty yards from the Underground Bridge is the Lurline Cave. The course is south-west, through a curved gallery with 53 steps in different flights, and two archways--one like loveliness when "adorned the most," and the other formed by an ornate mass of stalactites.

The Lurline Cave is justly regarded as one of the most charming chambers in the group. The _coup d'oeil_ is magnificent. It does not need any close examination to find that it has some distinctive features which show that, although there is no aqueous accommodation for the queen of the water nymphs, whose name it bears, the appellation of this portion of the Lucas Cave cannot, etymologically at least, be considered as a _lucus a non lucendo_. There are the "coral bowers" and cells to which Rudolph was transported; the "halls of liquid crystal, where the water lilies bloom;" there is the cool grot in which the Water Queen dwelt; there is the rock on which she sat "when all was silent save the murmur of the lone wave, and the nightingale that in sadness to the moon telleth her lovelorn tale;" there is Rhineberg's magic cave, with its "wedges of gold from the upper air;" there are the distant recesses to which Lurline sent the gnome while she restored to life her mortal affinity. With such surroundings it is easy to reproduce, link by link, the rosy chain which enthralled the German Count and "The Daughter of the Wave and Air."

Or, to take the more rollicking version by "Thomas Ingoldsby, Esq." Here is "a grand stalactite hall," like that which rose above and about the impecunious "Sir Rupert the Fearless," when he followed to the bottom of the Rhine the dame whose--

"Pretty pink silken hose cover'd ankles and toes; In other respects she was scanty of clothes; For so says tradition, both written and oral, Her _one_ garment was loop'd up with bunches of coral."

Where--

"Scores of young women diving and swimming, * * * * All slightly accoutred in gauzes and lawns, Came floating about him like so many prawns,"

and where their queen, Lurline, lost her heart and her plate, and, according to the same reverend author, her cajoler, whose disastrous fate inspired the moral--

"Don't fancy odd fishes! Don't prig silver dishes! And to sum up the whole in the shortest phrase I know, Beware of the Rhine, and take care of the Rhino!"

The floor is covered with hemispherical mounds or domes for the naiads to recline on. The outer wall is composed of formations ranged in festoons of stalactites--not smooth and transparent, but opaque white, and marked with all the wonderful elaboration which characterises zoophytic work in the coral reefs of the Southern seas. This cave contains several sub-caves, each of which has special charms, and the turning of some of the arches is marvellously graceful. One of the recesses is filled with stalactites which look like groups of seaweed. The coral is russet and cream colour and saffron, and there are honeycombed rocks varying in shade from vandyck brown to chrome yellow. Some of the stalactites in the interior sub-caves are transparent. Whichever way the eye is turned it encounters submarine grottoes of fantastic shape, decorated with imitations of algæ. If it were only at the bottom of the Rhine instead of thousands of feet above sea-level, it would seem natural as well as beautiful, but here its existence is simply a wonder, and the sensation produced is fairly described by the last word in the marriage service of the Church of England. Still, "when Mother Fancy rocks the wayward brain," it is easy to associate with it denizens of the deep, and people it with naiads, or with Undines, who were supposed to marry human beings, and, in certain conditions, become endowed with human souls. The cave is about 15 feet high, and from 15 to 20 feet broad. Some of the coralline ledges at the sides are remarkably handsome, and many of the stalactites are from six to eight inches in diameter. The cavern is elegant in its proportions, highly favoured in regard to stalactite growth, graceful in contour, and rich in colouring.

THE FOSSIL BONE CAVE.

About 15 yards north-west from the Lurline Cave is the Fossil Bone Cave. To reach this cavern it is necessary to ascend 12 steps. It is scarcely less beautiful than the Lurline Cave. The lime formation represents pensile boughs of weeping-willow, garlands of flowers, and stalactites covered with all kinds of floral decorations. Here also are some fine "shawl" formations hanging from the rocks. One of them is called "The Gong," because it produces a sonorous note similar to that of the Chinese instrument which is superseding the dinner-bell, and challenging its title to be regarded as "the tocsin of the soul." On a sloping side of the floor are some forms distinctive in shape and colour, and resembling a lot of small potatoes shot down indiscriminately. The wonder is how in such a place they could have been so formed and isolated. Here is an oblique cavern, at the bottom of which a bone of some large animal lies embedded in the limestone formation like a type in a matrix. At one time it was doubted whether this, which appeared to be bone, was really an osseous substance, but subsequent examinations have proved that it is bone. A fracture of the rock has shown that the outer part of the bone is compact, and the inner part cellular. It is beautifully white, and, as the formation about is brownish, the phosphate can be readily distinguished from the carbonate of lime. On the roof above the Fossil Bone Cave is a rare stalactite about 20 feet in length, and by the side of the tomb of the unknown animal--which may have been anything from a diprotodon to a dingo--is a splendid monumental stalagmite. The cave is about 50 feet high, and 50 feet in length and breadth. The roof is of a light cream colour, and has brown stalactites of perfect shape. The side rocks are magnificently draped. Numerous splendid columns like white marble, and sheets of stalactitic growth, excite wonder and admiration.

THE SNOWBALL CAVE.

About 40 yards through a hall, running north-east of the Fossil Bone Cave, is the Snowball Cave, which is about 9 feet high, 25 or 30 feet long, and from 6 to 10 or 12 feet wide. It runs north-north-east. Its distinctive feature is that its roof and a portion of its walls are covered with little white masses like snowballs. Some of the patches of carbonate of lime stick to the walls in isolated discs, and others are massed as though snowballs had been thrown at a mark, and a number of them had stuck close together. Some of the stalactites in this chamber have been formed by the upward pressure of water, and assume many tortuous shapes. An interesting feature of this portion of the caves is the existence of a number of stalactites which show how readily vibration is communicated from one to another. The visitor puts his finger to the end of a stalactite, and when an adjacent one is struck so as to make it sound, it is perceptible that the vibration of the sounding stalactite is communicated to its silent neighbour.

There is one more chamber to visit in the Lucas Cave. To reach it the visitor ascends four steps, and travels north-west about 14 yards to the head of a wire ladder, which he descends to a place directly underneath the Snowball Cave, and then he goes down the steps into the Wallaby Bone Cave, over the entrance to which is a very pretty cluster of stalagmites, from 6 inches to 18 inches long, and varying from the thickness of a straw to three-quarters of an inch in diameter. The floor is covered with wallaby bones, and in the immediate vicinity are quantities of osseous breccia.