The Jenolan Caves

The Jenolan Caves contain some of the most remarkable and beautiful

objects in Australian wonderland. They are formed in a limestone "dyke,"

surrounded by magnificent scenery, and hide in their dark recesses natural

phenomena of rare interest to the geologist, as well as of pleasurable

contemplation by non-scientific visitors; while in and about them the

moralist may find

"¿¿ tongues in trees, books in the running brooks,Sermons in stones, and

good in everything."

To see these caves once is to create a lifelong memory. The pink and the

white terraces of New Zealand, which before the recent eruptions attracted

so many tourists, did not excel in splendour the caves at Jenolan. But it is

common for people to go abroad to admire less interesting things than are

to be found within easy distance of their starting point, and which, if they

were a thousand miles away, would probably be regarded as worthy of a

special pilgrimage. There are persons living two or three leagues from the

caves who have never seen them, and who, if they embraced the

opportunity for inspection, would possibly regard them with the kind of

wonder with which they would gaze upon the transformation scene at a

pantomime. And yet the most frequent entry in the visitors' book is that the

caves are "grand beyond expectation," and in some of their principal

features "indescribably beautiful."