, now known as the Old Grotto. For ninety years this
was one of the sights of the country; and then a large piece of
stalactite was broken from the end, and the entrance to a far more
superb cavern, known as the New Grotto, lay bare.

This New Grotto is ten times larger than the old one. It is furnished
with stalactites and stalagmites of huge size and of every imaginable
shape, forming arches, pillars, cornices, and fringes of exquisite
beauty. The roof and walls are covered with lacework and pendants of
crystals, to which great fissures, leading into narrow galleries, form
backgrounds of dense shadow. The ornamental work was effected from
outside by damp lime and carbonic acid, but the actual excavator was
simply the river Poyk, which in time drained the lake and carried its
waters through soft spots in the rock below. Every little drop that
poured in did something of the digging process, and when the snows on
the mountains melted, and great floods came to help, the river was able
to tear away the rocks above, beside, and beneath its channel.
Sometimes, for a long time together, it found itself imprisoned and
could get no further, and then it would whirl round and round, boiling
with anger and beating against its rocky walls, until it had hewn out
quite a lofty chamber. Then sooner or later it would reach some softer
formation which would yield, and the great volume of water would rush
through, tearing down everything in its way, until it last it found
itself once again in the sunshine.

Now, with its work in the Adelsberg Grottoes done, the river Poyk is
taking a well-earned rest, and flows gently through the Grottoes,
reflecting in its waters the lofty bridges and vaulted roofs hewn out by
its former toil. Not that the Poyk has grown lazy! It only desires fresh
worlds to conquer; after enjoying a little run in the daylight, it
changes its name to the Laybach, and again plunges into the Grottoes of
Reifnitz, where with all its old energy it is working as hard as ever to
make the Laybach Caves as celebrated as those of Adelsberg.

Various animals live in these caverns, of which the most celebrated is
the 'Proteus,' a creature which has greatly perplexed naturalists. At
first sight it looks like a lizard, but its movements are those of a
fish. The head, lower part of the body, and tail resemble an eel, but it
has no fins, and its breathing organs are quite unlike those of fishes.
Round its neck is a ruffle, which see