The Jenolan Caves: An Excursion in Australian WonderlandCook, Samuel
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The Jenolan Caves: An Excursion in Australian Wonderland
Cook, Samuel
Australia -- Description and travel; Caves; Jenolan Caves (N.S.W.)
From an inspection of these two kinds of cave ornamentation it is seen
that, whereas the former are porous and free from central tubes,
sometimes running in a straight line and sometimes obliquely, the latter
are solid, being formed by lamination and not by accretions of matter
conveyed through small interior ducts to external points. This cave may
appropriately be called the Marble Hall. Portions of the walls are
graced with a "formation" from the limestone rocks above, the stucco
having flowed in shapes both grotesque and arabesque. Some of the
interstices are filled with stalactites and stalagmites of various
colours and proportions. Many stalactites on the roof of the mouth of
the cave are said to be from 12 to 15 feet long. All around are
entrances to numerous interior spaces adorned with stalactites of the
most delicate hues. Some are tinged with various gradations of blue;
others are of salmon colour, and delicate fawn. Others again are sober
grey, and white shaded with neutral tint. The rocks are decorated with
little patches of moss, from rich old gold to living green. The harmony
of colour is marvellous, and the combined effect unique. Nature herself
has so painted and ornamented the cave as to give a lesson to professors
of decorative art. The vision of rocky beauty grows upon the imagination
of the observer until at last it seems like a new revelation of the
enchanting effects which can be produced by natural combination.
To the artist this cave presents attractions of a kind not to be found
in any other of the wonderful caves of Jenolan, although commonly it
receives small attention from visitors, who recognise its grand
proportions, but are impatient to witness the more elaborate and
brilliant features in the hidden recesses of the mountain.
Why this spacious cavern should be called the Devil's Coach House
(except on the _lucus a non lucendo_ principle) few would divine. The
name of his Satanic majesty is often associated with horses and
horse-racing, but not generally with coaches and coach-houses. In this
connection, however, it is necessary to observe class distinctions. The
cavern is not sufficiently monstrous to be used by Milton's
personification of the rebellious archangel, nor sufficiently hideous
for Burns's "Auld Clootie," with hoofs and horns. Coleridge's devil or
Southey's devil (as illustrated in "The Devil's Thoughts" of the one,
and "The Devil's Walk" of the other) was neither too grand nor too
ignoble to notice coach-houses. But then, he was a sarcastic fiend, for
when he "saw an Apothecary on a white horse ride by on his vocations,"
he "thought of his old friend Death in the Revelations"--which was
rather severe on the pharmacist. But leaving the man of drugs--
"He saw a cottage with a double coach-house,
A cottage of gentility;
And the Devil did grin, for his darling sin
Is pride that apes humility."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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