Coffee Cave, Thangskai, 1st (aa -)

Herbert Daniel Gebauer - 02/04/2016

An unspecified cave entrance (unidentified shape, unidentified dimensions, unidentified orientation, unidentified characteristics) was never said to give access to steaming hot coffee but had been situated in what had been February 1999 in a coffee plantation. ETYMOLOGY: No autochthonous, indigenous or locally known name has been identified -- if it exists -- for what outsiders christened, af if this were a Khasi cave name, »Krem Kophi« (Jarratt 1999.02.03 Mss) because the entrance was found in what had been in February 1999 a "brikophi" or plantation of shrubs of the bedstraw family (Rubiaceae: Coffea spp.) bearing unripe and still white-coloured but edible coffee cherries. CAVE DESCRIPTION: »A very steep slope led to a low, static streamway (circa 50 m) which needs pushing in both directions« (Jarratt 1999.02.03 Mss: Meghalaya Cave Log, vol. 7). Later, the entrance was said to be an 8 m deep rift. CAVE POTENTIAL: This item may represent an entrance to the supposedly large Krem –>Labit, Thangskai, in the east of the washing place at the coal miners' settlement of shanty dwellings.