A Wonderful Cavern.

Bruce Herald, Volume IX, Issue 811, 13 June 1876, Page 3

A Wonderful Cavern.

■» (' Pall Mall G-azctte.') Colonel Playfair, the Consul at Algiers, in his narrative of a consular tour undertaken last spring, whicb has lately been printed with other consular reports, gives an account of the great cave of Djebel Thaya, in Algeria, never before, he believes, visited by an English traveller. The entrance to the cavern is situated high up on the north-west side of Djebel Thaya. The entrance passage is spacious, and in no place less than ten feet in height. At the opening, which is larger and higher than the passage itself, are numerous Roman inscriptions, which are hardly legible. Nearly all begin with the letters B. A. S. — one better preserved than the others has the words " Bacaci. Aug. Sac," from which it is inferred that the cavern is dedicated to the god Bacax. It is further gathered from the inscriptions that every year the magistrates of Aquae Tibilitanse came with much ceremony on a pilgrimage to Thaya to offer a sacrifice to the god of the cavern. The inscriptions contain the names of consuls who were elected under the Emperors Caracalla and Geta, a.d. 211, and from this date they are mentioned up to a.d. 268. One is commemorative of two brothers who were lost in the cavern. No one seems to know who the god Bacax was, but he is supposed to be a local deifcy (perhaps a deceased local authority) adopted by the Romans, Quantities of beautiful ivy-leaf ferns adorn the entrance hall. On leaving the passage containing the inscriptions the cave descends afc an angle of not less than forty-five degrees; the ground is covered with a thick layer of loose stones, which roll down witb alarming velocity afc almost every step made in advance. Great care must be taken to keep well on the right hand, as on the left there is an abyss whicb has never been explored, but which is of great depth and nearly vertical. From the foot of this the cave extends with many changes of level to nearly a kilometre in length, and IQQQ feet in perpendicular depth. The descent is extppmely difficult, and even dangerous, as deep holes occur at numerous places, in whioh one might easily be engulfed. Sometimes the explorer has to drop down steep precipices by the aid of projecting stalagmites, sometimes to slide down a muddy gradient, now to creep through small holes and narrow passages, and again to wade through pools of liquid mud. Vast halls, intricate passages, and chambers of every size and form are traversed. Groves of stalactites and stalagmites adorn the sides, while the lofty vaults are hung with the most exquisite fretwork like the roof of a Gothiq qatbedral. The finest of all is fche great domed chamber at the bottom, which gives to the cave its Arab name. Ghar-el-Djamaa— Cave of the Mosque, It is an immense, nearly circular cavity, with domed roof adorned with the most exquisite stalagmites, like the trunks of palm trees. In the centre is a block of stone, supposed to be an altar. One of the most exquisite spots in tho cave ia a long narrow passage, in which one oan just sit upright. Tbe floor is covered with a succession of small pools of clear water, enclosed in low banks of stalagmite, and fitting as closely as the cells of a honeycomb, A comparatively small portion of the cave has been explored, and the Arabs say there is no end to it. Colonel Playfair spent five hours in expiring a portion only of its area.