SKETCHES OF IRISH SCENERY.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume III, Issue 124, 10 September 1875, Page 7

SKETCHES OF IRISH SCENERY.

.^ i X VISIT TO THE CAVES OF MITCHELL'S TOWN. Thb " Scotchman's Cave " was of an irregular shape, about forty feet in length, running east by south. In it we observed myriads of long, thin, transparent stalactites, clear as crystal, and looking' like very old quills, some being two feet in length. From every portion of the roof they were hanging-. In the corner was the " Cow'a Slcin," a very curious stalactic formation, which looked like a skin. When the candles wore placed ins-ide the bands of color were very brilliant. This cavu opened into " O'Callaglmn's j Cave "" — * long, uninteresting one, without any grand proportions, but hare and ther« relieved by the evor-prosent stalactic vagaries. At the end — -which was 500 yards from the opening in the quarry — | w© discovered a beautiful little reservoir of deliciously clear water j that had dropped from r hanging stalactite, and, contrary to i custom, had formed a. basin below. A few bottles lying near i showod T.hat it had been visited before. We gladly 6at down for a rest and drank from the basin the greater portion of its refreshing contents. At this point Tim was inclined to become discursive ; tenderly taking up one of the bottles he said, with a regretful sigh : " Ah ! God be wid the night that bottlo was left here. Faix, young Mr. O'Flanagan, wid two comrades an' another dog, brought me in hero wid them one night. Ah ! the Lord be praised, he was the man that had the aisj hoult iv the bottle. His delight would be to ace you stretched on the nuro with the dint of drinking., Success to them all ! " Tim sniffed at the bottle, and shook his head over it meditatively ; then rousing himself from what seemed a pleasing reverie of bygone delight, he said : " Maybe yer honor would like to know how the caves were I discovered here." Of course, we were ready to listen. | " Well, on the 22nd May, 1833, my uncle — God rest his sowl '' ■waa quarrin 1 atones in the quarry above, when the crowbar fell in j through a hole he was makin', and after blastin 1 away the rock, they kern on the cavee. First, they went only a short distance, but but littlo by little, wo found ail we know iv them ; but shixre, ver honorß, there's miles iv caves that no man ever seen yet." " Where is the Styx that we have heard about ? " asked the Colonel. " Arrah the devil a stick ever I seen in the cave, yer honor," laid Tim: " shuro they do be telling sto.ties that way, but don't believe them." " I mean the river, Tim. Is that far away ? " " Och, no sir; we won't be long gettin' to it afthur we pass the ' chimney ' again, for we must go back to that. But, as 1 was aayin', gintleinen, though the caves wor only known forty years ago, there was always an ould cave and the people say that the Earl iv Desmond waa once on his keepin' there in the ould ancient times. The way of it was, you see, that in a ball in England, he gey some sort of »hove to one iv thorn queens — 'twas Bess, I think —an' she was that mad that ahe sed she'd give a grate dale for his head, So over he kern, and "went on his keepin' in the ould cove ;

an' bedad, what do yovt think, but the man that showed it to him, although he was a near friend iv his, betrayed him, the blaguard." Having rested ourselves, listening to Tim, we retraced our sfops, exploring every crevice as we went along. On the south 3ide we entered a narrow opening, and after creeping through a small passage, came upon a large cave with a giant stalactite, more beautifully draped that any we had yet seen, depending from the centre. Tim assured us it had never before been discovered, and our triumph was great. Already we had named it after the manner of great explorers ; but when we went to examine it more clos6ly, what was our disgust to find in the white fold the name of "J. Brogden, 1861." How we hated Brogden ! Back through the trying " Pilgrim's Progress," we crept, and after the same feat that Tim's intimate knowledge of anatomy had before suggested at the point, we sat down at " the Chimney," and talked less decidely of exploring the unknown depths. A passage north-west brought us to the river that my imagination had pictured as a mysteriously awful current. We passed en route a blind passage, about thirty yards in length, half blocked by a large stalactite. On a ledge in this passage are the only living things ever observed in the caves ; numbers of minute white worms about a sixteenth of an inch in length, crept about with great spnghtliness. Living and thriving on nothing particular, there lives would seem to come under the head of " uneventful ; " yet, perhaps, if we could see into their minds, they have their likes and dislikes — love, hate, and jealousy — as fully developed as the higher levels in the great scale of evoLution. If so, we created a j void in some happy homes — perhaps cruelly prevented an assignation and wrecked the happiness of some expectant fair one — by carrying off a number, with a view to microscopic examination that | has not yet come off. They did not appear to be much affected by i the light, and most likely have no eyes, which does not make my conjecture less probable, as all lovers are "blind. We came to the river at last, and here our first disappointment awaited us. It was no river at all ; simply on the lowest level of the caves a quantity of water had collected, which was slowly pi reflating through the the bottom. We searched carefully but found no opening, so, passing through it, part being up to our hips, we com menced B what we looked upon as our real work — explorers having been, with few exceptions, stopped by the pool. j A long passage in the north easterly direction took us to " C list's Cave," a square chamber, with the usual graceful appendages : this had previously been thu "Ultima Thule " of exploration. J Worth from that, about twenry yards, we came to a cross, from which four pas ages led towards the cardinal points : we explored them all thoroughly. The north passage was about eight yards in length, and led into curious chambers where the huge masses of rock appeared to have been displaced bat a shortime since. The fracture.* wore quite fresh, and no staAajtite had even commenced to form, An earthquake must have bhaken them down, for in no other way could they have been disturbed. The east passage was devoid of interest; but at the end of the west passage, about a hundred yams, where it narrowed so that we were obliged to creep, wo found a small hole that our candles showed us led to a large cave beyond. The place was closed hy a grating of stalactites w'uch we broke away with tome trouble; and then, cautiously getting through the opening, we found ourselves in a spacious cave. Again we gave a cheer for our success. Here, at last, we made a discovery. Searching round we made an exit, creeping through ! vrhich wo stood in a cave of such dimensions that a blue light was necessary. The firet flare disclosed to us " The House of Common > ! " We had solved the problem as to the unlimited j extent of the caves, and found ourselves where we had started. | From here we now went to the only portion of these underground | regions that we had not yet seen. North of the "House of j Commons" we entered by a long and lofty passage into " Sadlier's Cave." Here wo examined the stalactite. " Lot's Wife," which is thirty feet round the base, but a close inspection showed that it enclosed a rarge rock. From here wo went to " Kingston Hall," north by oast, a cave, formed like a long tent, made by hanging the cloth over a pole : it waa about twenty yards long. In two places the stalactic exudation had formed perfect cutains, through which doors were cnt. One was called the " The Veil of the Temple." The colors were very distinct, black, brown, pink, and white, alternating in regular bands. At the end we passed round the corner, and returned timmght " Sand O'tve," which was parallel to " Kingston Hall." Off Sand Cave tliere are twelve small caves, culled "The Closets." On our way back we lighted up "The House of Lords," and were, if possible, more charmed than at first; I and as the clock struck seven we emerged from the caves tired and j dirly beyond expression, but satisfied that we had done as we j proposed. The whole extent of the caves is under an English mile and the only portions worth the trouble of exploring are those parts easiest of access — the House of Lords and Commons and " King"ton Hall." These places can be visited in less than an hour, and will amply repay any person who hungers for a sight of some of tho buried beauties of nature. No remains of any kind have been discovered in tho eaves, nor is there evidence that any living- thing hits ever, previousto the ' late dibcovory, disturbed the quiet contemplation of the spirits of the earth, for whom Nature has built so gorgeous a home as " The House of Lords."