LABIT, Lum Dait Khung (Krem)
25.350600,92.503400
Description
There are several cave entrances on (the hill) Lumdait Khung, which rises on the western flank of the Shnongrim -Tangnub Ridge and lies some 10 walking minutes below one or the other »the left side« of a road to Shnongrim village. ETYMOLOGY: Carlyn Phyrngap (2003 personal communication) translated the Synteng Khasi (Pnar) "Lum Dait Khung" as »Hill [where the] Khung was cut / did bite« (note 1). The alternative name of the hill, "Lum Dait Krong" (Agnes Lakhiang 1998, Larsing Sukhlain 1999), seems to derive from "ka krong" (noun), a bier / stretcher"u dait" (u 'dait), an abbreviation of "u kdait" (noun), a kind of reed, ekra "ka khrong" (noun), »a tax; the toll« (SINGH, N 1906: 36), »a capitation [note 2]« (SINGH, N 1920: 60). SITUATION: Shortly before the road from Sutnga to Nongkhlieh (via Letein, Litang, Litien) passes by the peak Lumdait Krong, it runs along the very top of the ridge. From the point (N25°20'55": E92°30'18") where the road starts to skirt the peak, walk down west, then traverse 240 paces north, descend 220 paces west (295°) on a spur across grass, then 20 paces SSW (215°) down a slope and into an 8 m deep canyon in exposed limestone to reach the northern entrance (Kirsamer, H. 2001.02 personal communication). POSITIONS (all WGS84): 25°20'57”N: 92°30'01”E = Labit Lumdait Krong North entrance (Gebauer 1999.04.01). 25°21'02.2”N: 92°30'12.0”E (±7 m): 1131 m asl = Labit Lumdait Krong North entrance (Galloway 2001.02.05). 25°21'02.1'N': 92°30'12.2”E (±10 m): 1121 m (Kirsamer 2001.02.12). 25°21'02”N: 92°30'12”E = Labit 2 (Gebauer 1999.04.01). CAVE DESCRIPTION: Numerous horizontal and vertical joint-controlled entrances (about a metre wide and 5 m high) in a jungle clad area with karst alleys and pinnacles arranged in a checkerboard pattern give access to a (sub-) horizontal cave system of passages on three distinct levels. Tubular passages (up to 8 m in diameter) along vertical joints with incised meandering canyons (1 m wide, 6 to 8 m high) above meandering stream passages (up to 8 m wide and 3 m high, photograph in ARBENZ & WEIDMANN 2003: 8, 10) with few remaining relics of coarse grained (fist sized) and well rounded fluvial deposits are frequently pierced by vertical shafts. There is scarcely any breakdown and secondary calcite deposits (speleothems) are extremely rare. CAVE DESCRIPTION 1999: »… Krem Labbit or Bat Cave. Unfortunately there was no Batman (sorry girls) and no Batmobile (sorry boys), just rocks, spiders and the occasional bat flying around. Again a survey team got to work whilst another group went off to explore, arriving at a big, deep hole filled with water. Mr. Edmunds, Andy, Daniel and Gregory pushed past the hole to find a suspended boulder choke half way down a deep passage. Whilst they were exploring further down the cave, several side passages varying in size were discovered. One turned out to be a second entrance, another a tight squeeze that gradually grew smaller and another a loop which entered back into the main passage. Due to all the deep drops it became apparent that we were, in fact, in the roof of what seemed to be a much larger cave. In an attempt to locate an entrance to this cave we spent around 40 minutes walking through the jungle until Oli and Sophie spotted a large sinkhole. The rest of the group was rounded up and we tried to get down the hole but it proved too difficult without a ladder« (DAWSON 1999: 12-13). CAVE POTENTIAL - Speculation: »With the potential of one day becoming part of the Shnongrim Meghasystem!« (JARRATT 2006: 15). CAVE LIFE: Defying the Synteng Khasi cave name Krem Lymbit (Bat Cave), no bats (Chiroptera) were seen, only bat droppings. But, of course, a few of the ubiquitous large spiders (Heteropoda ?) near the surface. H. Jantschke (2003.04.04 personal communication) collected empty snail shells identified as Austenia gigas BENSON.
NOTE 1: dait (Khasi; transitive verb) means not only »to bite« (SINGH, N 1906: 64; OLDHAM, T 1854 / 1984 appendix C: lxiv) in the sense of ”bam da ki bniat” (SINGH, N 1920: 46) or »to eat with the teeth / fangs« but also »to itch; to worry« (SINGH, N 1906: 64) and »to fret« (SINGH, N 1920: 193). ”khung” (Khasi verb) »to wrap or tie up in a cloth« and ”u khung” (noun) »the cross-beam in a house« (SINGH, N 1906: 36) but the animal "ka khung" (feminale) or "u khung" (male), which is generally said to resemble a small kind of a bear (Larsing Sukhlain 2000.02, personal communication), but rather looks like a much aged cross-bread between a badger and cat with a prehensile tail, but is a species of the strange group of bear cats and better known as a binturong (Carnivora: Feloidea: Viverridae: Paradoxurinae: Arctictis binturong Raffles 1821: 253, race in India: Paradoxurus albifrons F. Cuvier 1822: 44, 48). The animal spends most of his quiet life climbing around trees and eats mostly fruits but also carrion and fish but avoids being eaten, and raises two or three youngs twice a year. You can look with your own eyes at a stuffed one exhibited in the Lady Hydari Park at Shillong (Jantschke, H 2002.04.10 personal communication). NOTE 2: Capitulation; the payment of a fee or grant to a doctor, school, or other person or body providing services to a number of people, such that the amount paid is determined by the number of patients, pupils, or customers. Origin early 17th century, denoting the counting of heads: from "capitatio" (late Latin, poll tax), from "caput" (Latin, head).
Documents
Bibliography 05/04/2016History
EXPLORATION HISTORY: 1998.02.26: Agnes Lakhiang reported the cave name »Krem Thangsadop« to Brian D. Kharpran Daly and Donbokwell Syiemlieh in company with Anthony 'Tony' R Jarratt and Brian Johnson. 1999.04.01, trip 1: Paul A. Edmunds (in DAWSON 1999) claims to have "surveyed" 465 m (no cave plan was ever produced), guided by Larsing Sukhlain and assisted by Nick Cain, Gregory D. Diengdoh, H. D. Gebauer, Katharina "Kate" Janossy, Sophie Kumar, Robert Lamb, Louise Le Fluffy, Eleanor Lock, Earl Francis Lyngdoh, Buntie Pettifer, Helen Philp, Matthew Truman, Oliver Truman and Andrew "Andy" Peter Tyler. 2001.02.21, trip 2: Tom Chapman performed a brilliant exercise of futility by descending one of the interior shafts [unidentified] without surveying. 2001.02.21, trip 3: Thomas Matthalm, Anja Renner and Daniel B. Harries descended another shaft and "surveyed" (sports caver standards) 130.15 m to a degree yielding a "survey" (total sum of survey leg lengths) but no cave survey (cave plan). The "surveyed" but not mapped total is now 595.91 m. 2003.02.08, trip 4: Andreas Neumann (ground plan), H. Daniel Gebauer (longitudinal section) and Peter Ludwig (instruments) surveyed 337.92 m of main passages but A. Neumann failed to arrive at producing the ground plan (total: 613.43 m / -38.81 m). 2005.02.28, trip 5: »A team of Shillong pressmen turned up today to film, photograph and interview team members and locals and take some footage in Krem Labbit on Lum Dait Khung« (Anthony 'Tony' R. Jarratt 2005.03.06 Mss: Cave Log, vol. XII: 27, 25/2/05). 2006.02.23, trip 6: Brian D. Kharpran Daly takes David Laitphlang (Shillong TV: PCN channel) and his crew (Andrew Kharpor, Deiama L. Siangshai, Markin Marbaniang) along with Pradeep Gogoi (journalist) and Marlon Blein into the Krem Labit on Lum Dait Khung to take video footage for public relation purposes: »Today Fraser assisted the TV crew to film Henry and Brian in the entrance series of Krem Labbit (Lum Dait Khung) -- this being the nearest accessible cave passage« (JARRATT 2006: 15).
Caves nearby
| Distance (km) | Name | Length (m) | Depth (m) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0.1 | RYNHENG (Krem) | ||
| 0.1 | SHYIENG KHLIEH, ex Shynrong Labit (Krem) | ||
| 0.1 | LUM DAIT KHUNG, 1st (Krem) | ||
| 0.1 | LUM DAIT KHUNG, 2nd (Krem) | ||
| 0.1 | LUM DAIT KHUNG, 3rd (Krem) | ||
| 0.2 | KHAIDONG (Whitaker et al. 2006) (Cave near) | ||
| 0.5 | URLE 4 (Krem) | ||
| 0.5 | URLE 3 (Krem) | ||
| 0.6 | URLE 6 (Krem) |