formed, which gives the contrast of two strongly defined colours through nearly the whole extent. In some places lichens of various shades are to be found; but the predominant colours are those which have been already mentioned.

IRISH CAVERNS.

THE principal of these is in Dunmow park near Kilkenny. It is sunk below the ground, and the opening to it is about 120 feet across, resembling a great pit or well, with trees and shrubs growing out of the sides. At the bottom of the pit the spar is of all shades, and very beautiful. There are knobs rising from the floor, and icicle-shaped cones hanging from the roof, so that the cave has been compared to the opened mouth of an enormous wild beast with teeth above and below. The cave has many turnings and windings, and as in the brook which runs through it, the bones of at least 100 human beings were once found, it is supposed that either in the time of the Civil War, or of some religious persecution, great numbers of persons took shelter in this dark hiding place, and there perished.

GIANT'S CAUSEWAY.

The Giant's Causeway in the county of Antrim in the north of Ireland, appears to have been formerly a cave like that of Staffa; and though it is now partly destroyed, a curious mass of basaltic rocks, consisting of many hundred thousand columns, still remains. These columns are formed of several joints,

fitting closely into each other like vertebræ, and, generally speaking, each having five sides. The principal mass extends nearly 600 feet into the sea, as far as can be seen at low-water mark; but it has been supposed to reach to the opposite coast of Scotland, as there are some rocks of a similar kind which can be traced into the sea. The breadth of the causeway is in general from twenty to thirty feet, but it varies very much. The highest columns are nearly 300 feet above the level of the water, but at their termination they appear to sink into the sea. The most curious circumstance relating to this range of rocks is, that each column is composed of several stones, which, as before observed, are curiously fitted one into the other so closely as to leave no cavity between; each stone having one surface convex and the other concave; so that the projection on the one

fits exactly the concavity of the other. Generally, the convex portion of the stone is upwards, so that the stone above it can only be displaced by raising it. The length of the stones between the joints differs, but in general each stone is from eighteen inches to two feet long.

There are basaltic columns similar to those of the Giant's Causeway in several of the mountainous parts. of South America, one of which is figured by Humboldt. There are also columns of the same nature in India, and in various parts of Europe.

CAVERNS FOUND ON THE CONTINENT OF EUROPE.

THESE are so exceedingly numerous, particularly in the Tyrolese Alps, that it is quite impossible to give more than a slight idea of the most remarkable.

THE GROTTO OF ADELSBERG.

THE cavern at Adelsberg is situated about half way between Laybach and Trieste, and the entrance to it is in the midst of most romantic scenery. The following account is abridged from a description given of the cavern by a visitor to it. The entrance is secured by a door, after passing which, the traveller proceeds through a gallery about a hundred paces long, which opens into a large and very lofty cavern. Beyond this, however, is one much larger, which forms a splendid hall fifty feet broad, seventy feet long, and of an enormous height. As this is the hall in which the neighbouring peasants celebrate

annually the festival of their patron saint, the floor is made quite level, and there are a few wooden benches, and rustic chandeliers. These, however, appear paltry compared with the surpassing beauty of the stalactites with which nature has decorated the walls of the cavern. From this great hall, smaller caverns branch off in different directions; those to the left are numerous, spacious, and lofty; while the others, though smaller, are more varied and fantastic in their form. They reach an enormous distance, and about two leagues from the entrance there is a deep subterranean lake. It is impossible for any language to describe the magnificence and beauty of the stalactites in these caverns. In almost every part, long shining spars hang down like enormous icicles of dazzling brilliancy, and reflect the rays of light from the torches so as to look as if set with a thousand brilliant gems. In one place, the visitor appears to wander through the aisles of a Gothic cathedral, supported by columns of gigantic height, sometimes single, and sometimes clustered together as if fluted. In other places there are crystal cascades of the most dazzling brightness, one of which takes the form of folds of drapery, rows of pillars ornamented with festoons, triumphal arches, and a kind of throne surmounted by a coronet. Indeed, to use the words of Sir Humphrey Davy, the whole scene looks like one produced by enchantment; and can "only be compared to a scenic representation of a temple or banquet hall for fairies or genii, such as those fabled in the Arabian romances." Some idea of the general appearance of the grotto may be formed from the model exhibited at the Colosseum in London; but the extreme beauty of the

stalactites, and the effect produced by their whiteness or brilliancy contrasting with the dark masses of rock around them, can scarcely be conceived by any one who has not seen the original. To add to the grandeur of the cavern, a dark river rushes through it, roaring tremendously in the abyss beneath, and making its way over the rocky ridges which are interposed in its course with a strange crashing noise, which has an indescribably awful effect when reverberated through the cavern. In one place the guides set fire to a bundle of straw, which they throw into a small dark lake in the deepest part of the abyss, into which the river is seen rushing, and which enables the stranger to form a much better idea of the fearful grandeur of the scene.

OTHER EUROPEAN CAVERNS.

THE most remarkable of these is the Grotto of Antiparos, in the island of the same name in the Grecian Archipelago. The passage to this grotto is through a large arch on the side of a rock; and the traveller soon finds himself in a low narrow alley, the sides and roof of which are covered with most beautiful crystals, which, of course, glitter in the torch-light, like various kinds of precious stones. At the end of this passage is a steep precipice, down which the visitor is lowered by a rope being tied round his waist. At the bottom of the first precipice is a level space, which extends only a short distance, when the traveller arrives at another precipice, down which he is lowered in the same manner as he was down the first, and at the bottom of this second precipice is a grotto of