The stalactites were on
an equally grand scale. Through this lovely ice-grotto we walked for
nearly ten minutes.'
[Illustration: ICE-CAVE IN THE SURTSHELLIR.]
The temperature of the caves, Mr. Holland states in a note, was from 8 deg.
to 10 deg. C. (46.4 deg. to 50 deg. F.), that of the air outside being 53.6 deg. F.
_The Gypsum Cave of Illetzkaya-Zastchita, in the Steppes of the
Kirghis, South of Orenburg_.
The district in which this cavern occurs is a small green oasis on the
undulating steppe, lying on a vast bed of rock-salt, which extends over
an area of two versts in length, and a mile in breadth, with a thickness
of more than 100 feet. When the thin cover of red sand and marl is
removed, the white salt is exposed, and is found to be so free from all
stain, or admixture of other material, excepting sometimes minute
filaments of gypsum, that it is pounded at once for use, without any
cleansing or recrystallising process.
In the immediate neighbourhood of Illetzkaya-Zastchita there are two or
three gypseous hillocks, and a cavern in one of these is used by the
inhabitants as a cellar, having been artificially enlarged for that
purpose.
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