THE CARLOTTA ARCH " 55 THE LUCAS CAVE " 65 THE SHAWL CAVE " 71 THE BROKEN COLUMN " 74 THE UNDERGROUND BRIDGE " 81 THE ARCHITECT'S STUDIO " 97 THE HELENA CAVE " 102 THE LUCINDA CAVE " 113 KATIE'S BOWER " 116 THE UNDERGROUND RIVER AND ITS REFLECTIONS " 122 THE CRYSTAL CITY " 147 THE SHOW-ROOM " 150 THE MYSTERY " 156 NELLIE'S GROTTO " 161 THE ALABASTER COLUMN " 174 THE GEM OF THE WEST " 179 MAP OF THE DISTRICT _At end of book._ THE JENOLAN CAVES. CHAPTER I. HOW THE CAVES WERE DISCOVERED. The Jenolan Caves contain some of the most remarkable and beautiful objects in Australian wonderland. They are formed in a limestone "dyke," surrounded by magnificent scenery, and hide in their dark recesses natural phenomena of rare interest to the geologist, as well as of pleasurable contemplation by non-scientific visitors; while in and about them the moralist may find "---- tongues in trees, books in the running brooks, Sermons in stones, and good in everything." To see these caves once is to create a lifelong memory. The pink and the white terraces of New Zealand, which before the recent eruptions attracted so many tourists, did not excel in splendour the caves at Jenolan. But it is common for people to go abroad to admire less interesting things than are to be found within easy distance of their starting point, and which, if they were a thousand miles away, would probably be regarded as worthy of a special pilgrimage. There are persons living two or three leagues from the caves who have never seen them, and who, if they embraced the opportunity for inspection, would possibly regard them with the kind of wonder with which they would gaze upon the transformation scene at a pantomime. And yet the most frequent entry in the visitors' book is that the caves are "grand beyond expectation," and in some of their principal features "indescribably beautiful."