The Jenolan Caves: An Excursion in Australian WonderlandCook, Samuel
History
The Jenolan Caves: An Excursion in Australian Wonderland
Cook, Samuel
Australia -- Description and travel; Caves; Jenolan Caves (N.S.W.)
About 15 yards north-west from the Lurline Cave is the Fossil Bone Cave.
To reach this cavern it is necessary to ascend 12 steps. It is scarcely
less beautiful than the Lurline Cave. The lime formation represents
pensile boughs of weeping-willow, garlands of flowers, and stalactites
covered with all kinds of floral decorations. Here also are some fine
"shawl" formations hanging from the rocks. One of them is called "The
Gong," because it produces a sonorous note similar to that of the
Chinese instrument which is superseding the dinner-bell, and challenging
its title to be regarded as "the tocsin of the soul." On a sloping side
of the floor are some forms distinctive in shape and colour, and
resembling a lot of small potatoes shot down indiscriminately. The
wonder is how in such a place they could have been so formed and
isolated. Here is an oblique cavern, at the bottom of which a bone of
some large animal lies embedded in the limestone formation like a type
in a matrix. At one time it was doubted whether this, which appeared to
be bone, was really an osseous substance, but subsequent examinations
have proved that it is bone. A fracture of the rock has shown that the
outer part of the bone is compact, and the inner part cellular. It is
beautifully white, and, as the formation about is brownish, the
phosphate can be readily distinguished from the carbonate of lime. On
the roof above the Fossil Bone Cave is a rare stalactite about 20 feet
in length, and by the side of the tomb of the unknown animal--which may
have been anything from a diprotodon to a dingo--is a splendid
monumental stalagmite. The cave is about 50 feet high, and 50 feet in
length and breadth. The roof is of a light cream colour, and has brown
stalactites of perfect shape. The side rocks are magnificently draped.
Numerous splendid columns like white marble, and sheets of stalactitic
growth, excite wonder and admiration.
THE SNOWBALL CAVE.
About 40 yards through a hall, running north-east of the Fossil Bone
Cave, is the Snowball Cave, which is about 9 feet high, 25 or 30 feet
long, and from 6 to 10 or 12 feet wide. It runs north-north-east. Its
distinctive feature is that its roof and a portion of its walls are
covered with little white masses like snowballs. Some of the patches of
carbonate of lime stick to the walls in isolated discs, and others are
massed as though snowballs had been thrown at a mark, and a number of
them had stuck close together. Some of the stalactites in this chamber
have been formed by the upward pressure of water, and assume many
tortuous shapes. An interesting feature of this portion of the caves is
the existence of a number of stalactites which show how readily
vibration is communicated from one to another. The visitor puts his
finger to the end of a stalactite, and when an adjacent one is struck so
as to make it sound, it is perceptible that the vibration of the
sounding stalactite is communicated to its silent neighbour.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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