SWIFTLET POT, Dehra Dun
30.755600,78.009700
Description
Two cave entrances (the larger one 4.6 m in diameter) give access to the 44.5 m deep (note 1) Swiftlet Pot, which contains not only a few coloured calcite formations (speleothems) but also is famous for housing Himalayan Swiftlets (Collocalia Fuciphaga), regurgitated dejecta of undigested insect remains (note 2) and, by the end of May, a thin white crust of bird guano (vanished by end of October). GLENNIE (1952b: 89 figure 12) provides a much generalised elevation, allegedly based on a grade 3 survey. ETYMOLOGY: So far, I saw Swiftlet Pot (Dehra Dun) spelled, edited or printed asBiuni Pothole Leakey (1942.12.03 Mss: Himalayan Caves) Sunfttet Pot Browning (1946.10.04 Mss: Letter to Glennie)Surfflet Hole FAGE, L (1946) Surfttet Cave Browning (1946.10.04 Mss: Letter to Glennie) Swift Pot Leakey (1942.12.03 Mss: Himalayan caves) Swiftlet Pot Glennie (1944.04.09 Mss, 1948.07.14 Mss). CAVE DESCRIPTION 1942: »The northern entrance is an open shaft about 80 ft. [24.38 m] deep, and the southern one is a small entrance opening into a wide fissure connecting the spacious bottom of the other shaft about 20 ft. [6.1 m] from the floor« (Leakey 1942.12.01 Mss: Himalayan Caves). CAVE DESCRIPTION 1944a: »This time I entered the small lower chamber, which had previously been entered by Leakey and Douglas. There is a fine miniature cascade of basins [stacked, crescent shaped micro- gours] each not more than 1 inch [2.54 cm] in diameter and coloured [##i#s?] of the basins [from top to bottom] dark purple, below that mauve below pale red, each merging into the other. Rocks met with a small seepage of water. […] I entered by a downward squeeze with a corkscrew bend to the lower chamber about 4 ft. by 3 ft. [circa 1.2 by 0.9 m] and just high enough to sit up in. If the bacterial action goes on above, this chamber might fill with CO2 & wants caution« (Glennie 1944.05.27 Mss: Supplementary note.- Additional notes on fauna etc., two line drawings). CAVE DESCRIPTION 1944b: »… just below the top of a knife-edge ridge was a fine open pot 110 feet [33.5 m] deep and about 15 feet [4.6 m] in diameter and close by on the other side of the ridge a small opening blocked by stones leading into a separate chamber with its floor 80 feet [24.4 m] below the opening. The open pot expands downwards and at the lower portion is about 60 feet [18.3 m] long and 30 feet [9.15 m] broad. From the bottom of the shaft a slope of fallen boulders leads down N.N.W. along the long axis of the pot. At the far end there is a small extension blocked a few feet in by a rockfall cemented with calcite. Very little light penetrates from the shaft opening and about 50 feet [15.24 m] above the floor there is a gallery about four feet [1.2 m] wide and here there is a triangular window [note 3] about two feet wide and five feet high [0.6 by 1.5 m] leading into a second chamber. This second chamber continues in the N.N.W. direction and is about 40 feet [12.2 m] long, 12 feet [3.66 m] wide and about 40 feet [12.2 m] high. The floor slopes downwards from the window, and from the far end one can turn back down a steep slope and descent through an awkward squeeze into a small lower chamber where there are some fine coloured calcite formations. Elsewhere there is very little calcite formation. As the open pot is on the cool shady side of the hill a strong current of air passes down the shaft thence through the opening into the second chamber and up through the small opening on the sunny south-west side of the ridge. Himalayan Swiftlets (Collocalia fuciphaga) fly down the open pot then through the window into the other chamber and nest there in great numbers [note 4]. Only the faintest glimmer of light enters this chamber through this window and through the blocked opening above, so that the birds are practically in complete darkness …« (GLENNIE 1944a: 593-597) CAVE DESCRIPTION 1948: »Pitch to small chamber 70 ft. [21.34 m], pitch to large chamber110 ft [33.53 m]« (Glennie 1948.07.14 Mss: Direction to find Swift Holes). CAVE DESCRIPTION 1951: »This pothole has an imposing fifteen foot [4.6 m] opening on the one side of the ridge and a smaller opening on the opposite side, both shafts enlarging and joining below the surface. The total depth is one hundred and ten feet [33.5 m]« (LEAKEY 1955: 60). SITUATION 1942: »This pothole is situated on a ridge above the old Biunithach (?) Forest Rest House, at a point where the path to Chakrata (1 1/2 days march) crosses the ridge while skirting the top of the hill. This would be the highest point the path reaches and the pothole is within 50 ft. [15 m] of it. The pothole, about 8,500 up [2591 m asl], is peculiar in that it is at the top of a ridge --with of course no hint of a catchment area [note 5]-- and has one entrance on one side of the ridge and one on the other side, with about 50 ft. [15 m] of limestone separating the two« (Leakey 1942.12.01 Mss: Himalayan Caves). SITUATION 1948: The location of Swiftlet Pot (30°45'20”N: 78°00'35”E: 8525 feet = 2598 m asl) is indicated adjacent north of a spot where the path (14.5 miles = 23.3 km + circa 500 m) from Chakrata to the Biunatach Forest Rest House (circa 800 m) switches from the eastern to the western flank of the Biuna Dhar ridge (Glennie 1948.07.14 Mss: Direction to find Swift Holes). SITUATION 1951: »West of Kudog Forest Rest House [note 6] … where the path reaches its maximum height above sea level on its way to the Jumna River above the ruined Biunatach rest house. [… Swiftlet Pot itself lies] On Biuna Dhar about 20 yards north of the path where it crosses ridge« (LEAKEY 1955: 60) POSITIONS (unspecified geodetic datum probably Everest 1830): North Lat. East Long. alt. feet metres source-- -- 8500 ft 2591 m Leakey (1942.12.01 Mss)30°45'20” 78°00'35” 8525 ft 2598 m GLENNIE (1944a: 596)30°45'20” 78°00'35” 8525 ft 2598 m LEAKEY (1955: 60).30°45'20” 78°00'35” 8525 ft 2598 m Glennie (1948.07.14 Mss, text) 30°45'20” 78°00'30” -- -- Glennie (1948.07.14 Mss, map) CAVE CLIMATE: GLENNIE (1944a: 596) reports to have measured an air temperature of 47°F (8.3°C) at an unidentified location inside the Swiftlet Pot (Dehra Dun) on 9th May 1944 at an unspecified time. CAVE LIFE: Glennie (1944.05.27 Mss: Supplementary note.- Additional notes on fauna etc.) observed in the small lower chamber (entered by a downward squeeze with a corkscrew bend) »Collembola in plenty, also the cave spider [Aranea: Arachnida] as found at Moila & other clean caves. None of these or the Collembola in the Swiftlet Chamber above. In upper chamber, two Cryptophagus [?] beetles, and Larwood got a large Carabid larva ifrom 1 ft. down in the dejecta. Gardner is examining it and may write a paper on it. Almost certainly the larva of the large beetle found by me before.« GLENNIE (1944a: 594-595) observed Himalayan Swiftlets (Collocalia fuciphaga) in May 1942: »At the end of May the birds are in residence with nesting activities in all stages from no eggs, --one new laid egg, two eggs under incubation, -- to two half-fledged chicks … When the cave was visited in the last week of October, no birds were present.« GLENNIE (1944a: 596) found on 9th May 1944 »all the nests with two eggs apiece, but the birds were not yet sitting and there were no chicks.« Glennie (1945.04.09 Mss: Postscript) observed in the last week of September 1944 that »all nesting activities were over and there were no swiftlets in Swiftlet Pot; in each of the Swift Holes, however, a single swiftlet came in and out while I was there. […] Swiftlet Pot is evidently the most favoured of the caves. There are thirty-seven nests in the inner chamber, and twenty nests in the sheltered parts of the open pot. In the Swift holes no count was made but I should say about forty nests in Lower Swift Hole and twenty in Upper Swift Hole would be near the mark, making the total colony rather less than 150 adult pairs.« Glennie (1945.04.09 Mss: Postscript) collected in the last week of September 1944 samples of dejecta and material close to it. Some of the thirteen tubes (in April 1945 examination at the I.A.R. [Imperial Agricultural Research] Institute was still in progress) yielded bacteria determined by Dr. S. Desai, Imperial Agricultural Chemist (B. Subtilis Cohn, B. Mesantericus Trevisan, B. Cereus Frankland, B. Fluorescens Ford) and a mould preliminarily determined by Dr. B. B. Mundkur (Penicillium sp. --not P. notatum). Browning, F. (1946.10.04 Mss: Letter to Glennie) lists from »Sunfttet Pot« (sic!) 3 female specimens of Metella crispa and from »Surfttet Cave« (sic!) at »Birni« (sic! probably for: Biuni?) a female specimen of Bathyphantes leucophtalmus Fage captured by Glennie.
NOTE 1: The true vertical range of the pothole, considering the difference between the upper entrance to the bottom is 146 ft. (44.50 m). The British cave surveyors, not reckoning the the cave's true dimension but the fastest and most sportive way to the bottom, arrived at a depth of 110 ft. (33.53 m), which is, for all practical but no objective reasons, the vertical distance from the lower entrance to the bottom. NOTE 2: GLENNIE (1944a) estimated 200 cubic feet (5 or 6 cubic metres, in the 1940ies) of dark brown coloured dejecta, devoid of smell. LEAKEY (1955: 60) observed »under each nest is a pyramid [sic! cone-shaped heap or pile] of guano and voided insect remains, suggesting that the same nesting sites are used year after year, for some mounds must weigh many hundredweights« of 50.802 kg each. NOTE 3: »… solution has apparently been by simultaneous action on both sides of the partition […] Here the partition has been pierced by a jagged sharp-edged opening« (GLENNIE 1952b: 78 with text illustration: up to »3.5 ft.« (1 m) high and 0.6 m or 0.7 m wide). NOTE 4: »Through this triangular opening swiftlets pass through to the totally dark chamber beyond where there were 35 nests (only 12 in the outer pot where a dim light penetrated)« (GLENNIE, E A 1952b: 78). NOTE 5: R. D. Leakey uses the term "catchment area" to designate an obvious stream bed (headwaters) or closed depression draining surface water straight into that cave entrance enterable by soldiers or humans. NOTE 6: Kudog 30°47'N: 77°59'E (AMS sheet NH43-08 Ambala, U502 series, 1959 edition) lies »a full day's ride top march from Chakrata« (LEAKEY, R D 1955: 60) and »about five miles [about 8 km] as the crow flies west [sic! east] of Konain« (30°47'30”N: 77°52'20”E AMS sheet NH44-05 Dehra Dun, U502 series, 1959 edition).
Documents
Bibliography 01/06/2016Histoire
EXPLORATION HISTORY: 1942 May: Edward Aubrey Glennie made believe to have laddered and descended the 110 foot (33.5 m) deep shaft »alone« (sic!) insofar as he had been guided by unidentified shepherds without recognised names and had been assisted by many unidentified »coolies« (porters), willing informers and useful servants (GLENNIE, E A 1944a: 596). 1942.10.05: E. A. Glennie and Robert D. Leakey discovered the inner chamber (GLENNIE 1944a: 596) and Glennie captured not only three female specimens of Metella crispa Fage but also one female specimen of Bathyphantes leucophtalmus Fage (Browning, F 1946.10.04). 1943 May: E. A. Glennie and E. J. Douglas visited once more (GLENNIE 1944a: 596). 1944.05.09: Glennie and H. J. Larwood collected a specimen of Indosidama moila Turk 1945 (Opiliones: Laniatores: Assamiidae) from under stones on a balcony of Swiftlet Pot (TURK, F A 1948: 259). 1944.05.09: E. A. Glennie and H. J. Larwood descended the shaft (Glennie 1944.05.27: Mss Supplementary Note; GLENNIE 1944a: 596) and surveyed the accessible parts of the cave to a certain »grade 3« (GLENNIE 1952b: 89 figure 12). »This time I entered the small lower chamber, which had previously been entered by Leakey and Douglas …« (Glennie, E A 1944.05.27 Mss: Supplementary note: Additional notes on fauna etc.). 1944 September, last week: E. A. Glennie (1945.04.09 Mss: Biuni Dhar) kicked off a choke stone about »40 feet« (12 m) down, descended to the bottom and sampled dejecta (bacteria?) to be investigated by the Imperial Mycologist at the Imperial Agricultural Research Institute New Delhi.
Cavités proche
| Distance (km) | Nom | Longueur (m) | Profondeur (m) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0.4 | SWIFT HOLE, 1st (Lower) | ||
| 0.4 | SWIFT HOLE, 2nd (Upper) | ||
| 6.0 | LAKHA MANDAL TRAP WELL | ||
| 6.5 | PUDIA BEND CAVE | ||
| 9.7 | PANDU GUPHA, Lakha Mandal | ||
| 10.1 | LAKHA MANDAL TUNNEL | ||
| 10.1 | LAKHA MANDAL KARST CAVE 1 (aa -) | ||
| 10.1 | LAKHA MANDAL SHELTER 2 | ||
| 10.1 | LAKHA MANDAL SHELTER 3 |