GIANT CAVERNS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVI, Issue 243, 14 October 1935, Page 8

GIANT CAVERNS.

I LIKE a cathedral CRYSTAL TREES AND LEAVES. PARIS, September 5. 1 wo underground caverns of huge size and great scientific importance have been discovered in the "Swallow Hole'' at Orgnac, in tlio Ardeclie, about 150 miles south of Lyons, by M. do Joly, president of the Spelelogists' Society of 1' ranee, and a number of his colleagues. <( After descending 150 ft into the "Swallow Hole" the explorers found a cavern more than 100 yds in diameter filled with magnificent stalagmites of all kinds. Some were like crystal palm trees with leaves a yard long; others, liko tree trunks, were more than 50ft high. Proceeding further over a mass of fallen rock for some 350 yds, the party came to another cavern, like a cathedral, with gigantic stalagmitic pillars, some •being 16ft in diameter. This grotto, the entrance of which is nearly 500 ft underground, and which contains all the known forms of stalagmites and stalactites, is asserted by the discoverers to be one of the finest in tlio world. Excavations carried out near the prehistoric grottos at Culles les Roches in Soano et Loire, have brought to light hundreds of flint instruments, spearheads, tools and other objccts, as well as tlio bones of horses, cattle, bears, hyenas and reindeer. The most curious discovery consists of a piece of fine | yellow ochre, which, once mixed with animal grease, is thought to have been used as a sort of primitive lipstick by the tribal beauties of prehistoric times.