The cover image was restored by the transcriber and is placed in the public domain.

THE NETHERWORLD OF MENDIP

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PREFACE

The objects of this work are twofold: to describe theactual incidents of various interesting episodes in themodern sport of cave exploring, and to give an accountof the scientific results of underground investigations inthe Mendip region of Somerset. Speleology is the latestof the sporting sciences: like orology and Arctic exploration,it has two sides, sport and adventure beingthe lure to some, whilst others are chiefly attracted bythe new light thrown by these researches on the geology,the hydrology, and the natural history of the subterraneanregions explored. The chapters dealing with thescientific results are by H. E. Balch, who has beenworking on the geology of Mendip, more especiallyamong the caves, for upwards of twenty years: theaccounts of actual experiences, in which the sportingside is predominant, are by E. A. Baker, who describedthe recent exploration of the Derbyshire caves in hisMoors, Crags, and Caves of the High Peak, 1903. Noattempt is made to traverse the ground so perfectlycovered by Professor Boyd Dawkins in his fascinatingvolume on Cave Hunting, and elsewhere, most of thework described here being supplementary to that doneby him, and, largely, outside the scope of his aims.The authors are indebted to the kindness of the Editors[vi]of the Liverpool Courier and Daily Post, the ManchesterGuardian, the Standard, the Yorkshire Post, the IrishNaturalist, and the Climbers' Club Journal for permissionto use the substance of various articles which haveappeared in their pages, and to M. Martel, Mr. C.Blee, and Messrs. Gough for permission to reproducea number of excellent illustrations by them.

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CONTENTS