Abstract
The Great Cave consists first of an entrance gallery of considerable size; the actual home of the cave folk leads the visitor to the top of Hell Ladder, a steeply descending stone stairway that soon opens out into the first great chamber. Frequent electric lights make easy the approach and where the beneficent warmth and light have been constant since the opening up in 1927, the spores of ferns, liverwort, and mosses are now springing into life and carpeting the damp rocks with green. In the first chamber opens, there is the great vault illuminated by the powerful flood-lights. At first but half of it is seen, for the extensive river chamber goes off at an angle, while at the head of the subterranean Axe stands the sphinxlike effigy of the Witch of Wookey, gazing forever down the waterway as she has gazed for ages past. It is the presiding deity of this underworld. The conditions of the burial, which one would suppose would lead to rapid disintegration and decay, has resulted in wonderful preservation, the bones being black as soot. There is some evidence of the existence of high and dry ways for if one shouts up a roof chimney beyond the entrance of the third chamber, the human voice is thrown back from some large hidden and unapproachable cavity high overhead. The author said that to any man with eyes to see, these great chambers and passages, with their story inscribed by the slow-moving finger of infinite time, afford a most fascinating study and one well deserving of attention.
Published Version
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