d through the hole the shine of
the water in the cavern beneath. We were wondering how this curious
aperture could have been formed, when papa explained that the ground was
once level, but that there had been a cavern below it, which was
gradually increased by the roof crumbling away, and the _debris_ being
washed out by the sea, until the rock became too thin to bear the
superincumbent weight of earth, when the centre gave way, and sinking
down, the surrounding earth followed, until it was formed into its
present shape. The sea continually rushing in, again cleared out the
cavern. As we were anxious to look up it, we hurried back to the boat,
and the tide being suitable, we pulled in, and were able to look up
through the hole down which we had before gazed.

We afterwards visited two other extraordinary caverns, known as "Dolor
Hugo," and "Raven's Hugo," up one of which we pulled for a considerable
distance. Grand and picturesque in the extreme were the cliffs above
us, which in every variety of shape extend along the whole of the Lizard
peninsula.

The curing establishment we found was much more extensive than we had
expected it to be. It consists of a circular court, called a cellar,
inside which the fish are piled up on the slabs running round the court.
First, a layer of salt is spread, then a layer of pilchards, and so
on--layers of pilchards and salt alternating until a vast mound is
raised. Below the slabs are gutters which convey the brine and oil
oozing out of the fish into a large pit in the centre of the court.
Upwards of three hundredweight of salt are used for each hogshead.
After the pilchards have remained about a month, they are cleansed from
the salt, and packed in hogsheads, each of which contains two thousand
four hundred fish, weighing four hundred and seventy-six pounds.
Pilchards when thus cured are called "fair maids"--a corruption of
_fumado_--the Spanish for smoked. Originally they were cured by
smoking, but salt preserves them much better.

The fish are not always caught near the shore, for the school frequently
keep out at sea, where the fishermen go in search of them. For this
purpose two descriptions of boats are employed; the largest measures
about thirty tons, the other is much smaller. The fishermen use a
number of nets--about twenty in all--called a set, which are then joined
together; each is about forty feet deep, and one hundred and seventy
feet long. When united they fo