A PALACE.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 7806, 10 September 1903, Page 2

A PALACE.

♦ — '—*. - •. „ THE WONDERS OF A CALIfORNIAN CAVERN. ™" ~"~-~~* . Close, to the "Devil's Playground," in the north-eastern part of, San- Bernardino County, Calif ornia, . there has been discovered, says the " New Yp>k Tribune," a cav< that rivals in extent and pieturesqaeness most of the renowned caverns of the world. The " Cave of the. Giants," as it has been named, on account pf the strange configuration of the mountain in which it is situated, is in the heart of the Providence Range, about 250 : miles north-east of Los Angeles, and fifty miles west of the; CaliforniaNevada MState line. The journey into the cavernous .depths is described by Mr G. L. Berg, the discoverer, who says : — "With miners' candles in our hands we go down a gradual slope. The roof soon disappears from view, and the walls leave us af the sides, but reappear' a little further on. The passage narrows to the width and height of an, ordinary door, aod/" presently we find ourselves upon what appears to be a small balcony in a great hall. By throwing stones in various directions we learn that we- are in a great cathedrallike apartment. One missile strikes ' a slender stalactite, which breaks : off and crashes into the d-epthsovith a deafening sound. By retracing our steps a little way we find a winding staircase that leads to the floor of the. great grotto. A flashlight set off here reveals a magnificently,' arched dome. No cathedral or fretted vault evei raised by the hand of man had more elaborate carvings or more* delicately tinted walls th#n this subterranean palace. Strange serpentine forms like petrified snakes and lizards' of divers kinds are encrusted in, the walls in beds of moss-like excrescences :of many hues. Rich mosaics cover the walls and pillars at various points to as great height as our feeble lights will permit us to gaze. . . . There are curtains, columns, pillars, >and pilasters, as white as alabaster. "We pass into another grotto, which we name Statuary Hall, on account of the many remarkable figures it contains. The first object to attract attention is a white elephant 20ffc high, and of as stately appearance as any tusked iv tlie royal stables of Siam. He is in the ac. of stepping over a fallen column. The only thing lacking to make this statue complete is the proboscis, which has been brdken off by a falling stalactite, and lies im front of him. Near the elephant a lordly eagle is perched 1 on a lofty pedestal, the proud bird apparently being monarch pf all he surveys in this; underground world. There are many more strange shapes in this grotto, carved, as it were, by the hand of Nature, out of translucent stone. On a low table stands an olla (water cooler), with a cracked lid. It evidently hasn't had any water in it sine* the days of Noah's flood. A beautiful miniature temple stands in a little grotto all by itself. It is as white as Parian marble and almost transparent! Its many columns are as regularly set as the pillars of a Grecian portico. It has a fluted dome of wondrous symmetry. " I throw a lasso up a declivity and catch a short stout post set on the edge of a terrace. We crawl up the rope, and at the top see more marvels of Nature's handiwork. Before us stretches a gallery ornmented with an exquisitely delicate tracery of lime crystals that sparkle i*. the light of the candles like hoarfrost in the sun. The floor is as level and smooth as a billiard table. From the roof hang thousands of stalactites of various shapes and sizes. Some are in rows of graduated length, and when struck a quick, sharp blowgive out a rich, mellow note like .-the ton© of a xylophone. If one has an ear for music he dan soon pick out a set of chords that form a perfect musical scale. . . We work our way from one curtained chapber to another, sometimes walking erect with the sharp pendant spears high above us; then again, crawling on our hands and knees to avoid knocking our heads against the flowing curtains and spoiling their lace-like filminess or scarring our faces on the jagged points. Beautiful brackets and the most ornate scrollwork adorn the walls and the arches here and there. The Architect of the Universe gave painstaking care to details in the decoration of these subterranean art galleries, whose beauties it was our good fortune to view for the first time since their creation."