SWIFT HOLE, 1st (Lower)
30.753300,78.006700
Description
CAVE DESCRIPTION 1944: The bottom is reached »at the end of a 243 feet [74 m] pitch, the rope ladder hanging clear of the rock all the way down. At the bottom is a hall 18 feet wide and 50 feet long, 30 feet high [5.5 m by 15 m by 9 m] at the lowest part. The entry shaft is situated close to the lowest end of the hall and here, looking upwards, daylight can be dimly seen. The hall slopes upwards rising about ten feet to the further end; here an aven evidently leads to the Upper Swift Hole, but it is now blocked. At some time there has been a great fall of clean angular limestone chips usually less than six inches [15 cm] long. This seems to point to very insecure conditions in the upper cave. The fall of stone has blocked what may be a passage extension leading out of the hall at the aven end. At this end too but on the opposite side, a narrow fissure goes on, too small to penetrate. Down this also some small limestone chips had flowed. Looking along this fissure, as far as one could see the left-hand wall was coated with a polished calcite layer [keyword: speleothem] coloured, to a height of five feet or so, a livid blood red, perfectly uniform in hue and very startling in appearance [note 1]. I have never seen anything to equal this« (GLENNIE 1944a: 597). CAVE DESCRIPTION 1945: A clear cave entrance pitch drops to a large chamber below (GLENNIE 1945: 82; Glennie 1948.07.14 Mss). CAVE DESCRIPTION 1951: »Lower Swiftlet Hole […] reaches a depth of 243 feet [74 m] ending in a chamber. From the bottom daylight can be seen far above almost like looking up a rusty gun barrel. In this pot there is a wall of white calcite covered with a thin shell of red ochre, which seen by torch light, looks exactly like a mass of congealed blood.« (LEAKEY 1955: 60). CAVE DESCRIPTION 1986: »… the Simla Chakrata region is best known … for its numerous potholes (Lower Swift Hole, -70 m)« (MIDDLETON & WALTHAM 1986a: 101, 1986b: 101, 1992: 101). APPROACH 1948: »To find Lower Swift Hole go down the spur [from Upper –>Swift Hole] about 30 ft [9 or 10 m] vertical and then swing left (i.e. west) off the spur + [and] the hole is just at the bottom about 30 ft away from the crest of the spur. Be careful about approaching Lower Swift Hole from above as the upper lip overhangs it and you come upon it unexpectedly. As a check on your position, about 50 yards or so further west is a small cliff of rock« (Glennie 1948.07.14 Mss: Direction to find Swift Holes). SITUATION 1947: »This cave is one of a group of potholes lying about 30 or 40 miles [48 or 64 km] east of the Moila series of caves [Moila Toad Hole, Moila Swallet]« (TURK 1947: 69). POSITION: 30°45'12”N: 78°00'23”E: 8525 ft. [2598.4 m] asl (unspecified geodetic datum probably Everest 1830, TURK 1947: 69). CAVE CLIMATE: Measured on 10th May 1944 had been temperature of 47.5°F (9.2°C) in the air of the upper hall (GLENNIE 1944a Mss; 1944a: 597). CAVE LIFE: Glennie (1944.05.27 Mss: Supplementary note: Additional notes on fauna etc.): »Two large moths found pairing. I put them in cyanide tube in bag which I tied to end of ladder; as the ladder could not be got up these were lost. Some very curious red larvae, possibly of these moths, in rotting wood under stone in dejecta. Myriapods (polydesnids) & Collembola in plenty, also Moila cave spiders« (Aranea: Arachnida). GLENNIE (1944a: 596) observed on 10th May 1944 Himalayan Swiftlets (Collocalia fuciphaga): »Nests [note 2] started 50 feet [15 m] down the shaft and continued to the bottom and in the hall itself, always located at the dryest [sic!] and most sheltered parts. Only one or two nests had two eggs, all the rest had one egg only on this date. Both in this cave and in Swiftlet Pot the nests are always separate, usually a foot or more apart and never in clusters.« Leakey, R D (1946.08.20): »The young birds at the bottom were almost ready to fly last week.« TURK, F A (1947: 69-70) gives a taxonomical description of Glenniea nova (Myriapoda: Diplopoda: Vanhoeffeniidae) obtained from Lower Swiftlet Hole: »Adults of this species are creamy white … 4.5 to 5 mm long …«.
NOTE 1: »It is an egg-shell thick coating or red ochre, enamelling the surface of a white calcite flow of extreme purity. In the wet atmosphere of the cave it is lurid red, but when dry it is a tawny brown« (Glennie, Edward Aubrey 1945.04.09 Mss: Postscript). NOTE 2: Glennie, Edward Aubrey (1945.04.09 Mss: Biuni Dhar) estimated in Lower Swift Hole about 40 nests in the last week of September 1944.
Documents
Bibliography 01/06/2016- Balasz, Denes 1972; Courbon, Paul & Chabert, Claude 1986, 1989; Craven, Stephen A 1969; Fage, Louis 1946; Glennie, Edward Aubrey 1944a, 1945a, 1945b; Leakey, Robert D 1948, 1955; Middleton, John R & Waltham, Tony [Anthony C] 1986a edited 1986b, 1992; Simpson, Eli & Balance, K W 1949; Turk, Frank A 1947.
Caves nearby
| Distance (km) | Name | Length (m) | Depth (m) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0.0 | SWIFT HOLE, 2nd (Upper) | ||
| 0.4 | SWIFTLET POT, Dehra Dun | ||
| 6.2 | LAKHA MANDAL TRAP WELL | ||
| 6.7 | PUDIA BEND CAVE | ||
| 9.8 | PANDU GUPHA, Lakha Mandal | ||
| 10.3 | LAKHA MANDAL TUNNEL | ||
| 10.3 | LAKHA MANDAL KARST CAVE 1 (aa -) | ||
| 10.3 | LAKHA MANDAL SHELTER 2 | ||
| 10.3 | LAKHA MANDAL SHELTER 3 |