Caves may be divided into two classes: those which are now mere passages for water, in which the history of their formation may be studied, and those which are dry, and capable of affording shelter to man and the lower animals. Among the water-caves, that of Wookey Hole[25] is to be noticed first, since its very name implies that it was known to the Celtic inhabitants of the south of England, and since it was among the first, if not the first, of those examined with any care in this country, Mr. John Beaumont[26] having brought it before the notice of the Royal Society in the year 1680. The hamlet of Wookey Hole nestles in a valley, through which flows the river Axe, and the valley passes insensibly, at its upper end, into a ravine, which is closed abruptly by a wall of rock (Fig. 1), about two hundred feet high, covered with long streamers and festoons of ivy, and affording scanty hold, on its ledges and in its fissures, to ferns, brambles, and ash saplings. At its base the river Axe issues, in full current, out of the cave, the lower entrance of which it completely blocks up, since the water has been kept back by a weir, for the use of a paper-mill a little distance away. A narrow path through the wood, on the north side of the ravine, leads to the only entrance now open.[27] Thence a narrow passage leads downward into the rock, until, suddenly, you find yourself in a large chamber, at the water level. Then you pass over a ridge, covered with a delicate fretwork of dripstone, with each tiny hollow full of water, and ornamented with brilliant lime crystals. One shapeless mass of dripstone is known in local tradition as the Witch of Wookey, turned into stone by the prayers of a Glastonbury monk. Beyond this the chamber expands considerably, being some seventy or eighty feet high, and adorned with beautiful stalactites, far out of the reach of visitors. The water, which bars further entrance, forms a deep pool, which Mr. James Parker managed to cross on a raft (see Appendix I.) into another chamber, which was apparently easy of access before the construction of the weir. It was in this further chamber that Dr. Buckland found human remains and pottery. [Illustration: FIG. 1.--Diagram of Wookey Hole Cave and Ravine.]