REMARKABLE LIMESTONE CAVE NEAR MASTERTON.

Patea Mail, Volume IX, Issue 1119, 30 November 1883, Page 3

REMARKABLE LIMESTONE CAVE NEAR MASTERTON.

A discovery of considerable interest has been made in the heart of the dense forest, abutU 17 miles from M-.slertnn, in the shape of a subterranean passage extending aborr 462 loot through a soli J limestone ridge. The cavern performs the functions of an immense culvert, not the.least peculiar feature of which is that the water, drained from an extensive area of country, disappears below the surface of the ground at the upper entrance tothecavo, and re-nppears above: the surface again about 132 yards below tire lower extremity, while the floor of the cavern, except in time of heavy rainfall, is perfectly dry. The floor throughout .averages fifteen feet in ; width, : and the walls, abounding in crevices or fissures, taper like the internal section of a hollow cone to a height of about 25 to SO lect. The upper portion of the, underground passage for about half its length is formed of the softer lime-, stone, and the lower portion of harder; limestone. This portion of the cave: prekoifts A; trply wonderful picture. Long; ■ vaults on either side reWCal ; a * weird -like; succession of beautiful alabaster grottoes, fringed and draped with eveiy description; of fantastic ornament. On every side rise massive col uni ns covered with calcareous incrustations, and overlapping huge sheets of limestone, tha result of the waters filtering throngh the porous rock or trickling through the fissures becoming charged with carbonate of lime and then evaporating. . Beautifully formed stalactites hang like crystal pendants from every crag, and lustrous petrifactions, operating like reflectors, remind one of the fairy caves in a splendid pantomime. The roof in places resembles the inside of a refrigerating .chamber, -.fromA /which are''suspended si ies and hams of carbonised pork or mutton, made radiant by myriads' of brilfinnt lights, from n small kind of glow-worm. The floor consists of blocks; of limestone that seem to have fallen from the roof, and the fragments are. abbW pMnrisehOusiy. ItKjiqa-, lions shqW:th^t, : t|ie cayornhM.prigm*nyi beVn of miich greater length, ns tire’ lower? end/for-.; a distance ofabout sixty; feet the roof has'fallen in, after which! the cavern ■ a’gain . (ipntihncs for about: 132 feet. The cave has a fall of prob-J ably between ibirtr ahd forty feet from; its upper extremity, and its exploration,: without candles and matches would have been extremely-risky. The labour in scrambling down the bush track to reach the spot is very considerable, but amply repaid,by one,of,the ip.est,wonderful in this paiKpf New |/eahind. —Wairarapa Star'. * ' : .