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GROTTO OF ANTIPAROS.
The grotto of Antiparos, in the island of the same name in the Grecian Archipelago, is of extreme beauty, though not of very great extent. It is, in fact, about 120 feet long, nine feet high, and seven feet wide. This passage leads to another precipice, which is descended by means of a ladder, and this leads to the grotto, which is upwards of 300 feet in length and breadth, and nearly 200 feet high. The whole of the grotto, roof, floor, and sides, is entirely covered with a dazzling incrustation as white as snow. Columns, some of which are twenty-five feet in length, hang like enormous icicles from the roof, and others rise from the floor, looking like petrified trees; while, as may easily be supposed, these beautiful stalactites when seen by the light of torches, look like a thousand dazzling gems. But, perhaps, the most wonderful circumstance belonging to this grotto is the example it affords of the courage and perseverance of man; for it certainly required no little courage and perseverance to descend three precipices to the depth of 1500 feet below the surface, which it was necessary to do to discover the most magnificent of the caverns.
Another interesting grotto is St. Michael's Cave in the rock of Gibraltar, 1000 feet above the level of the sea. The grottoes in the Cevennes mountains in France are numerous and extensive, and abound in objects of curiosity. In the volcanic country near Rome, there are many grottoes of considerable extent, which are occasionally resorted to as places of refuge from the heat. The Grotto del Cane near Naples is chiefly celebrated for a noxious vapour which rises about two feet from the ground, and which consequently kills a dog or any creature whose head is about that height from the ground, but which does no injury to a man, whose head is so much higher. The Grotto of Frederickshall, in Norway, is calculated to be 1,100 feet in depth, but it does not appear that its caverns have been fully explored.
AFRICAN CAVERNS.
The Cavern of the Blink or Shining Mountain, near Lattakoo, in Southern Africa, is very curious, from the kind of rock in which it is situated, which contains a vein of galena, or lead-glance. A description of it has been given by Mr. Campbell, a missionary, who informs us that Lattakoo is frequently visited by the Hottentots from all parts of the neighbouring country, "to obtain a bluish powder which the mountain furnishes, and which the natives use for sprinkling among their hair; it having been the fashion from time immemorial in this country, for the natives to use a hair powder of this peculiar colour. The powder is the dust which crumbles from the galena, and it looks exactly like the black lead with which grates are cleaned in England. Another part of this low, flat-topped hill, produces a species of red chalk or stone, with which some of the surrounding nations paint their bodies." Mr. Campbell adds, that when he visited the mountain, it appeared to him "to consist of a number of dark brown rocks, which had been produced by some volcanic eruption;" and that when he and his companions descended into the cavern with torches, and penetrated above 100 feet into the interior of the mountain, the dust flew about so abundantly, that it almost extinguished their lights. "The roof was arched and studded with projecting pieces of the shining rock, between which there seemed something closely wedged in, and which, as the explorers of the cavern looked up, appeared exactly like carved work. Putting up the lights, however, close to the part, to satisfy their curiosity more fully, they found that the supposed carved work was nothing but myriads of sleeping bats; which, crowded together in a dormant state, adhered to the roof by the claws of their hinder legs. These bats could not be roused otherwise than by putting the torches close up to them; upon which some of them, letting go their hold, flew off to another part of the cavern. When the travellers left this gloomy place, and again emerged into daylight, they were almost as black as chimney-sweeps, from the dark powder that adhered to them."
AMERICAN CAVERNS.
One of the most remarkable caverns of North America, is the Mammoth Cave of Kentucky, which is said to extend eight or ten miles underground, with numerous windings and avenues. Six miles from the entrance, is an immense cavern, eight acres in extent, without a single pillar to support the roof, which is 100 feet high. The whole of the earth in this cavern is strongly impregnated with nitre, and works have been established for purifying it. There are many other caverns in Kentucky and Tennessee, some of which have been used as burial places. Madison's Cave in Rockingham County, Virginia, is not very extensive, but it is remarkable for its beautiful incrustations and stalactites. Weyer's Cave, in the same county, extends 2,400 feet underground, but it is very irregular in its shape and size. In the north-west of Georgia is a cave fifty feet high, and about 100 feet wide. In this cavern is a subterranean cascade formed by a stream of considerable size which runs through it; and near Corydon, in Indiana, is a cave which has been explored for a distance of several miles, and which is celebrated for producing what are called in England Epsom Salts. In South America is the Cavern of Guacharo, which is said to extend underground for many leagues.
LIMESTONE CAVERNS IN NEW ZEALAND.
In Angas's Savage Life and Scenes in Australia and New Zealand, there is a very curious account of some limestone caverns in New Zealand. They are situated on the side of a lofty hill in the volcanic region of Wanganui, and when Mr. Angas and his party explored them, they took with them torches made from the light and inflammable bark of a tree. "A large fuchsia grew at the opening of the cavern, which was evidently an occasional place of shelter with the natives. The entrance to the largest cave is a spacious arch in the side of a perpendicular wall of limestone rock. For about sixty feet the cave runs inwards, forming one grand and lofty antechamber, hung with stupendous masses of stalactite; the stalagmitic incrustations on the floor assuming the forms of huge mushrooms, tables, pillars, and frequently joining with the stalactites from above, producing columns of a picturesque appearance. At the inner extremity of this vaulted chamber is a deep descent, nearly dark, at the bottom of which a rapid subterranean stream flows across the cave; and beyond this river the cavern was supposed by the natives to terminate." Mr. Angas crossed this river, and after managing to climb up the almost perpendicular bank opposite, he reached the entrance of a gallery about twenty feet above the water, which was just large enough to admit four persons crawling in on their hands and knees. Dangerous as the passage appeared, Mr. Angas and his companion resolved to explore it. "After crawling along a corridor of sparkling stalactites for about thirty feet, forcing our bodies between huge pillars of stone, we suddenly entered a spacious chamber of indescribable loveliness; it appeared as though gnomes and fairies had been at work to adorn this magic hall. The roof, hung with stalactites of the most exquisite and pearly whiteness, was supported by columns of yellow and transparent spar, that gave it the resemblance of a natural temple; and the crystalline walls and floor were covered with a sort of fluoric bloom of the most delicate hue and texture. Ours were the first human eyes that beheld this resplendent saloon hid in the bowels of the earth; it was evident that no one had ever entered this fairy abode, for our footsteps destroyed the bloom on the floor, and not the slightest mark of intrusion was anywhere discernible. We felt it to be almost an act of desecration to intrude on this secret and glorious chamber, whose chaste splendour shone forth in the unsullied purity of its pristine beauty. The scene seemed to realise Coleridge's poetic description in his 'Kubla Khan,' of 'that sunny pleasure-dome, with caves of ice' — 'Where Alph the sacred river ran, 'Neath caverns measureless by man, Down to a sunless sea.'"
CHAPTER V. PLAINS AND DESERTS.
Vast Plains are the very opposite of ranges of mountains, and thus when we find any country partially covered with an extensive mountain range, we generally find in the same country vast plains, or, perhaps, deserts, placed near the mountains, as if to afford a natural counterpoise. Thus the plains of Lombardy are found near the Alps; the Llanos, and the Pampas of South America, are in the immediate vicinity of the Andes, and the Sahara, or Great Desert of Africa, extends to the foot of Mount Atlas.
THE PAMPAS.
The word Pampas signifies treeless plains, and it is applied to the vast tracts of level country which extend for about two thousand miles from north to south, forming a belt or band across nearly the whole Continent of South America, the band varying in breadth from 300 to 450 miles. One can easily imagine the extraordinary effect these immense ocean-like tracts produce upon a stranger, particularly as they are partially covered with a kind of coarse grass, six feet high, which waves in the wind, and gives that resemblance to the waves of the sea which has so often been noticed by travellers in this country. In some places, extensive portions of these plains are overgrown by thistles, six or eight feet high, which are used as fuel, as the country is entirely devoid of trees and shrubs, excepting a few plantations of peach-trees, which have been formed near the huts of the inhabitants, but which seldom rise above the thistles. The huts are of the most simple description, and being very low, and covered with bull-rushes or grass, they do not catch the eye. As there are occasionally slight depressions in the surface, in which water lodges during the rainy season, the grass is never burnt up, and, consequently, immense herds of cattle and horses are enabled to live upon these plains, which the inhabitants catch with the greatest adroitness by means of a leather thong, called a lasso. This thong has a slip-noose at one end which the Guachos throw with the greatest adroitness over the head of any animal they wish to entrap. These men almost live on horse-back, and they sit their horses so easily and so gracefully, and have them so perfectly under command, that they seem almost to realise the fables of the Centaurs. At the northern extremity of the Pampas is a tract of land called Las Salinas, or the Salt Deserts, and the following description of them is extracted from the account given to us by the only traveller who is known to have visited them. "The morning was ushered in by a cloudy mist, through which the red sun gradually rose, partially dispersing the upper vapours, while others appeared to resist his influence, and, attracted to the earth, remained dense and motionless near its surface. As we entered the Salinas the scene became novel and striking. The wide plain, level and smooth as a floor, and snow-white with superficial salt, stretching its treeless and shrubless waste on all sides to the horizon, unbroken by any object, save a few stunted, straggling, and leafless alkaline bushes, the black and crooked branches of which, contrasting with the whiteness of the soil, were here and there hid and intersected by a broad, compact, and very thin stratum of mist, whose under surface was slightly elevated from the soil, while its upper was below the tops of the bushes, thus permitting only their stems and tops to be recognised. This was the mirage. Over head rolled thick and broad masses of transparent white vapour, which, except at intervals, hid the sun without greatly intercepting his light; and when his rays shot between these masses, they were reflected from the space on which they fell by the saline superficies of the soil with a dazzling effulgence. Such was the appearance of the vast salt plains at the time we crossed them, in the middle of April. Great changes, however, are produced by a variation of circumstances. I have myself observed the most astonishing change in the appearance of a portion of the plain after sudden rain succeeded by a hot sun. In a region where a slight saline efflorescence is ordinarily seen, the ground became almost snow-white from the rapid crystallization of saline matter, and reflecting the rays of a fierce sun, rendered it most difficult to keep the sight fixed on the road track. The landscape appeared in one blaze of reflected light, trees and shrubs seemed on fire, and the whole scene might have been taken for the land of the genii; while the hot north wind, called the Zonda, rose by degrees, and in squalls to a gale, with a close heat like that of a furnace. In this instance nothing in the shape of a cloud or mist was present." These salt plains are entirely devoid of grass, and as there is great scarcity of water, and scarcely any rain, they are deserts of the worst description, and when the hot wind before mentioned blows, they are scarcely passable. This wind blisters the skin on the face and hands, and the leaves not only fall scorched from the trees, but the bark becomes hot and shrivelled, just as if fire had been applied. The Salinas extend about 200 miles from east to west, and about 140 miles from north to south; so that they occupy a tract of land almost as extensive as Ireland.