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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Rambles in the Mammoth Cave, during the
+Year 1844, by Alexander Clark Bullitt
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Rambles in the Mammoth Cave, during the Year 1844
+       By a Visiter
+
+Author: Alexander Clark Bullitt
+
+Release Date: July 6, 2005 [EBook #16220]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK RAMBLES IN THE MAMMOTH CAVE ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Aaron Reed and the Online Distributed
+Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+RAMBLES IN THE MAMMOTH CAVE,
+
+DURING THE YEAR 1844,
+
+BY A VISITER.
+
+
+
+By
+
+Alexander Clark Bullitt
+
+
+
+LOUISVILLE, KY.:
+MORTON & GRISWOLD.
+1845.
+
+Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1845, by
+MORTON & GRISWOLD,
+in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of Kentucky.
+
+Printed by MORTON & GRISWOLD.
+
+
+
+
+ERRATA.
+
+Page 11th, fifth line from the bottom; for _faltering_, read pattering.
+
+Page 46th, eighth line from the top--"They are well furnished, and,
+without question, _would with_ good and comfortable accommodations,
+pure air, and uniform temperature, cure the pulmonary consumption.
+_The_ invalids in the Cave ought to be cured, &c.,"
+
+    _read_,
+
+They are well furnished, and, without question, _if_ good and
+comfortable accommodations, pure air, and uniform temperature, _could_
+cure the pulmonary consumption, _the_ invalids in the Cave ought to be
+cured.
+
+Page 101, last line: read, "It has no brother: it _is like_ no brother."
+
+
+
+
+PUBLISHER'S ADVERTISEMENT.
+
+
+To meet the calls so frequently made upon as by intelligent visitors
+to our City, for some work descriptive of the Mammoth Cave, we are, at
+length, enabled to present the public a succinct, but instructive
+narrative of a visit to this "Wonder of Wonders," from the pen of a
+gentleman, who, without professing to have explored ALL that is
+curious or beautiful or sublime in its vast recesses, has yet seen
+every thing that has been seen by others, and has described enough to
+quicken and enlighten the curiosity of those who have never visited
+it.
+
+Aware of the embarrassment which most persons experience who design
+visiting the Cave, owing to the absence of any printed itinerary of
+the various routes leading to it, we have supplied, in the present
+volume, this desideratum, from information received from reliable
+persons residing on the different roads here enumerated. The road from
+Louisville to the Cave, and thence to Nashville, is graded the entire
+distance, and the greater part of it M'Adamized. From Louisville to
+the mouth of Salt river, twenty miles, the country is level, with a
+rich alluvial soil, probably at some former period the bed of a lake.
+A few miles below the former place and extending to the latter, a
+chain of elevated hills is seen to the South-East, affording beautiful
+and picturesque situations for country seats, and strangely overlooked
+by the rich and tasteful. The river is crossed by a ferry, and the
+traveler is put down at a comfortable inn in the village of West
+Point. Two miles from the mouth of Salt river, begins the ascent of
+Muldrow's Hill. The road is excellent, and having elevated hills on
+either side, is highly romantic to its summit, five miles. From the
+top of this hill to Elizabethtown, the country is well settled, though
+the improvements are generally indifferent--the soil thin, but well
+adapted to small-grain, and oak the prevailing growth. Elizabethtown,
+twenty-five miles from the mouth of Salt river, is quite a pretty and
+flourishing village, built chiefly of brick, with several churches and
+three large inns. From this place to Nolin creek, the distance is ten
+miles. Here there is a small town, containing some ten or twelve log
+houses, a large saw and grist mill, and a comfortable and very neat
+inn, kept by Mr. Mosher. Immediately after crossing this creek, the
+traveler enters "Yankee Street," as the inhabitants style this section
+of the road. For a distance of ten or twelve miles from Nolin toward
+Bacon creek, the land belongs, or did belong to the former Postmaster
+General, Gideon Granger, and on either side of the road, to the extent
+of Mr. G.'s possessions, are settlements made by emigrants from New
+York and the New England States. From Bacon creek to Munfordsville,
+eight miles, the country is pleasantly undulating, and here, indeed
+the whole route from Elizabethtown to the Cave, passes through what
+was until recently a Prairie, or, in the language of the country,
+"Barrens," and renders it highly interesting, especially to the
+botanist, from the multitude and variety of flowers with which it
+abounds during the Spring and Autumn months. Munfordsville, and
+Woodsonville directly opposite, are situated on Green river, on high
+and broken ground. They are small places, in each of which, however,
+are comfortable inns. Boats laden with tobacco and other produce,
+descend from this point and from a considerable distance above, to New
+Orleans. About two and a half miles beyond Munfordsville, the new
+State road to the Cave, (virtually made by Dr. Croghan, at a great
+expense,) leaves the Turnpike, and joins it again at the Dripping
+Springs, eight miles below, on the route to Nashville. This road, in
+going from Louisville to Nashville, is not only the shortest by three
+and a half miles, but to the Cave it is from ten to twelve miles
+shorter than the one taken by visiters previous to its construction.
+It therefore lessens the inconvenience, delay and consequent expense
+to which travelers were formerly subjected. The road itself is an
+excellent one, the country through which it passes highly picturesque,
+and Dr. Croghan has entitled himself to the gratitude of the traveling
+community by his liberality and enterprise in constructing it.
+
+Persons visiting the Cave by Steamer, (a boat leaves Louisville for
+Bowling-Green every week) will find much to interest them in the
+admirable locks and dams, rendering the navigation of Green river safe
+and good at all seasons for boats of a large class. Passengers can
+obtain conveyances at all times and at moderate rates, from
+Bowling-Green, by the Dripping Spring, to the Cave, distant twenty-two
+miles. Fifteen miles of this road is M'Adamized, the remainder is
+graded and not inferior to the finished portion. The last eight miles
+from the Dripping Spring to the Cave, cannot fail to excite the
+admiration of every one who delights in beholding wild and beautiful
+scenery. A visit to the Cedar Springs on this route, is alone worth a
+journey of many miles. Passengers on the upper turnpike, from
+Bardstown to Nashville, can, on reaching Glasgow, at all times procure
+conveyances to the Cave, either by Bell's or by Prewett's Knob.
+
+Arrived at the Cave, the visitor alights at a spacious hotel, the
+general arrangements, attendance and _cuisine_ of which, are adapted
+to the most fastidious taste. He feels that as far as the "creature
+comforts" are necessary to enjoyment, the prospect is full of promise;
+nor will he be disappointed. And now, this first and most important
+preliminary to a traveler settled to his perfect content, he may
+remain for weeks and experience daily gratification, "_Stephen_ his
+guide," in wandering through some of its two hundred and twenty-six
+avenues--in gazing, until he is oppressed with the feeling of their
+magnificence, at some of its forty-seven domes,--in listening,
+until their drowsy murmurs pain the sense, to some of its many
+water-falls,--or haply intent upon discovery, he hails some new vista,
+or fretted roof, or secret river, or unsounded lake, or crystal
+fountain, with as much rapture as Balboa, from "that peak in Darien,"
+gazed on the Pacific; he is assured that he "has a poet," and an
+historian too. Stephen has linked his name to dome, or avenue, or
+river, and it is already immortal--in the Cave.
+
+Independent of the attractions to be found in the Cave, there is much
+above ground to gratify the different tastes of visiters. There is a
+capacious ball-room, ninety feet by thirty, with a fine band of
+music,--a ten-pin alley,--romantic walks and carriage-drives in all
+directions, rendered easy of access by the fine road recently
+finished. The many rare and beautiful flowers in the immediate
+vicinity of the Cave, invite to exercise, and bouquets as exquisite as
+were ever culled in garden or green-house, may be obtained even as
+late as August. The fine sport the neighborhood affords to the hunter
+and the angler--Green river, just at hand, offers such "store of
+fish," as father Walton or his son and disciple Cotton, were they
+alive again, would love to meditate and angle in!--and the woods!
+Capt. Scott or Christopher North himself, might grow weary of the
+sight of game, winged or quadruped.
+
+
+
+
+INTERESTING FACTS.
+
+
+ 1. Accidents of no kind have ever occurred in the Mammoth Cave.
+
+ 2. Visiters, going in or coming out of the Cave, are not liable to
+contract colds; on the contrary, colds are commonly relieved by a
+visit in the Cave.
+
+ 3. No impure air exists in any part of the Cave.
+
+ 4. Reptiles, of no description, have ever been seen in the Cave; on
+the contrary, they, as well as quadrupeds, avoid it.
+
+ 5. Combustion is perfect in all parts of the Cave.
+
+ 6. Decomposition and consequent putrefaction are unobservable in all
+parts of the Cave.
+
+ 7. The water of the Cave is of the purest kind; and, besides fresh
+water, there are one or two sulphur springs.
+
+ 8. There are two hundred and twenty-six Avenues in the Cave;
+forty-seven Domes; eight Cataracts, and twenty-three Pits.
+
+ 9. The temperature of the Cave is 59° Fahrenheit, and remains so,
+uniformly, winter and Summer.
+
+10. No sound, not even the loudest peal of thunder, is heard one
+quarter of a mile in the Cave.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The author of "Rambles in the Mammoth Cave," has written a scientific
+account of the Cave, embracing its Geology, Mineralogy, etc., which we
+could not, in time, insert in this publication.
+
+
+
+
+TABLE OF DISTANCES.
+
+
+FROM LOUISVILLE TO MAMMOTH CAVE.
+
+Medley's                 10 miles.
+Mouth Salt River         10
+Trueman's                 8
+Haycraft's                7
+Elizabethtown             9
+Nolin                     9
+Lucas                    11
+Munfordsville            10
+Mammoth Cave             14-1/2
+                         ------
+                         88-1/2 miles.
+
+
+FROM LEXINGTON TO MAMMOTH CAVE.
+
+Harrodsburgh             20 miles.
+Perryville               10
+Frosts                   12
+Young                     4
+Lebanon                   7
+New Market               12
+Barbee                    6
+Somerville                3
+Carters                   5
+Moss                      5
+Mitchell                 12
+Curls                     7
+Greens                   10
+Dickeys                   8
+Mammoth Cave              9
+                        ---
+                        130 miles.
+
+
+FROM GLASGOW TO MAMMOTH CAVE, via
+
+Dickeys                  18 miles.
+
+
+FROM NASHVILLE TO MAMMOTH CAVE.
+
+Gees                      9 miles.
+Tyree Springs            13
+Buntons                  12
+Franklin                 10
+Bowling Green            20
+Pattersons               12
+Dripping Springs          3
+Mammoth Cave              8
+                         --
+                         87 miles.
+
+
+FROM BARDSTOWN TO MAMMOTH CAVE.
+
+New Haven                15 miles.
+McDougals                10
+McAchran (Cobb's stand)  12
+Bear Wallow              20
+Dickeys (Prewett's Knob)  7
+Mammoth Cave              9
+                         --
+                         73 miles.
+
+
+FROM BARDSTOWN TO MAMMOTH CAVE,
+via. MUNFORDSVILLE.
+
+McAchran (Cobb's stand)  37 miles.
+Munfordsville            12
+Mammoth Cave             14-1/2
+                         ------
+                         63-1/2 miles.
+
+
+FROM GLASGOW TO MAMMOTH CAVE, via.
+
+Bells                    18 miles.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS.
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+Mammoth Cave--Where Situated--Green River--Improved Navigation--Range
+of Highlands--Beautiful Woodlands--Hotel--Romantic Dell--Mouth of the
+Cave--Coldness of the Air--Lamps Lighted--Bones of a Giant--Violence
+of the Wind--Lamps Extinguished--Temperature of the Cave--Lamps
+Relighted--First Hopper--Grand Vestibule--Glowing Description--Audubon
+Avenue--Little Bat Room--Pit two hundred and eighty feet deep--Main
+Cave--Kentucky Cliffs--The Church Second Hopper--Extent of the
+Saltpetre Manufacture in 1814.
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+Gothic Gallery--Gothic Avenue--Good Road--Mummies--Interesting
+Account of Them--Gothic Avenue, once called Haunted Chamber--Why so
+named--Adventure of a Miner in former days.
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+Stalagmite Pillars--The Bell--Vulcan's Furnace--Register Rooms--
+Stalagmite Hall or Gothic Chapel--Devil's Arm-Chair--Elephant's
+Head--Lover's Leap--Napoleon's Dome--Salts Cave--Annetti's Dome.
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+The Ball-Room--Willie's Spring--Wandering Willie--Ox-Stalls--Giant's
+Coffin--Acute-Angle or Great Bend--Range of Cabins--Curative Properties
+of the Cave Air long known.
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+Star Chamber--Salts Room--Indian Houses--Cross Rooms--Black Chambers--A
+Dinner Party--Humble Chute--Solitary Cave--Fairy Grotto--Chief City or
+Temple--Lee's Description--Return to the Hotel.
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+Arrival of a large Party--Second Visit--Lamps Extinguished--Laughable
+Confusion--Wooden Bowl--Deserted Chambers--Richardson's
+Spring--Side-Saddle Fit--The Labyrinth--Louisa's Dome--Gorin's
+Dome--Bottomless Fit--Separation of our Party.
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+Pensico Avenue--Cheat Crossings--Pine Apple Bush--Angelica's Grotto
+Winding Way--Fat Friend in Trouble--Relief Hall--Bacon Chamber
+Bandits Hall.
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+Mammoth Dome--First Discoverers--Little Dave--Tale of a Lamp--Return.
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+Third Visit--River Hall--Dead Sea--River Styx--Lethe--Echo
+River--Purgatory--Eyeless Fish--Supposed Level of the Rivers--Sources
+and Outlet Unknown.
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+Pass of El Ghor--Silliman's Avenue--Wellington's Gallery--Sulphur
+Spring--Mary's Vineyard--Holy Sepulchre--Commencement of Cleveland
+Avenue--By whom Discovered--Beautiful Formations--Snow-ball
+Room--Rocky Mountains--Croghan's Hall--Serena's Arbor--Dining
+Table--Dinner Party and Toast--Hoax of the Guide--Homeward
+Bound Passage--Conclusion.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+Mammoth Cave--Where Situated--Green River--Improved Navigation--Range of
+Highlands--Beautiful Woodlands--Hotel--Romantic Dell--Mouth of the
+Cave--Coldness of the Air--Lamps Lighted--Bones of a Giant--Violence
+of the Wind--Lamps Extinguished--Temperature of the Cave--Lamps
+Lighted--First Hoppers--Grand Vestibule--Glowing Description--Audubon
+Avenue--Little Bat Room--Pit Two-Hundred and Eighty Feet Deep--Main
+Cave--Kentucky Cliffs--The Church--Second Hoppers--Extent of the
+Saltpetre Manufacture in 1814.
+
+
+The Mammoth Cave is situated in the County of Edmondson and State of
+Kentucky, equidistant from the cities of Louisville and Nashville,
+(about ninety miles from each,) and immediately upon the nearest road
+between those two places. Green River is within half a mile of the
+Cave, and since the improvements in its navigation, by the
+construction of locks and dams, steam-boats can, at all seasons,
+ascend to Bowling Green, distant but twenty-two miles, and, for the
+greater part of the year, to the Cave itself.
+
+In going to the Cave from Munfordsville, you will observe a lofty
+range of barren highlands to the North, which approaches nearer and
+nearer the Cave as you advance, until it reaches to within a mile of
+it. This range of highlands or cliffs, composed of calcareous rock,
+pursuing its rectilinear course, is seen the greater part of the way
+as you proceed on towards Bowling Green; and, at last, looses itself
+in the counties below. Under this extensive range of cliffs it is
+conjectured that the great subterranean territory mainly extends
+itself.
+
+For a distance of two miles from the Cave, as you approach it from the
+South-East, the country is level. It was, until recently, a prairie,
+on which, however, the oak, chestnut and hickory are now growing; and
+having no underbrush, its smooth, verdant openings present, here and
+there, no unapt resemblance to the parks of the English nobility.
+
+Emerging from these beautiful woodlands, you suddenly have a view of
+the hotel and adjacent grounds, which is truly lovely and picturesque.
+The hotel is a large edifice, two hundred feet long by forty-five
+wide, with piazzas, sixteen feet wide, extending the whole length of
+the building, both above and below, well furnished, and kept in a
+style, by Mr. Miller, that cannot fail to please the most fastidious
+epicure.
+
+The Cave is about two-hundred yards from the hotel, and you proceed to
+it down a lovely and romantic dell, rendered umbrageous by a forest of
+trees and grape vines; and passing by the ruins of saltpetre furnaces
+and large mounds of ashes, you turn abruptly to the right and behold
+the mouth of the great cavern and as suddenly feel the coldness of its
+air.
+
+It is an appalling spectacle,--how dark, how dismal, how dreary.
+Descending some thirty feet down rather rude steps of stone, you are
+fairly under the arch of this "nether world"--before you, in looking
+outwards, is seen a small stream of water falling from the face of the
+crowning rock, with a wild faltering sound, upon the ruins below, and
+disappearing in a deep pit,--behind you, all is gloom and darkness!
+
+Let us now follow the guide--who, placing on his back a canteen of
+oil, lights the lamps, and giving one to each person, we commence our
+subterranean journey; having determined to confine ourselves, for this
+day, to an examination of _some_ of the avenues on this side of the
+rivers, and to resume, on a future occasion, our visit to the fairy
+scenes beyond. I emphasize the word _some_ of the avenues, because no
+visitor has ever yet seen one in twenty; and, although I shall attempt
+to describe only a few of them, and in so doing will endeavor to
+represent things as I saw them, and as they impressed me, I am not the
+less apprehensive that my descriptions will appear as unbounded
+exaggerations, so wonderfully vast is the Cave, so singular its
+formations, and so unique its characteristics.
+
+At the place where our lamps were lighted, are to be seen the wooden
+pipes which conducted the water, as it fell from the ceiling, to the
+vats or saltpetre hoppers; and near this spot too, are interred the
+bones of a _giant_, of such vast size is the skeleton, at least of
+such portions of it as remain. With regard to this giant, or more
+properly skeleton, it may be well to state, that it was found by the
+saltpetre workers far within the Cave years ago, and was buried by
+their employer where it now lies, to quiet their superstitious fears,
+not however before it was bereft of its head by some fearless
+antiquary.
+
+Proceeding onward about one-hundred feet, we reached a door, set in a
+rough stone wall, stretched across and completely blocking up the
+Cave; which was no sooner opened, than our lamps were extinguished by
+the violence of the wind rushing outwards. An accurate estimate of the
+external temperature, may at any time, be made, by noting the force of
+the wind as it blows inward or outward. When it is very warm without,
+the wind blows outwards with violence; but when cold, it blows inwards
+with proportionate force. The temperature of the Cave, (winter and
+summer,) is invariably the same--59° Fahrenheit; and its atmosphere is
+perfectly uniform, dry, and of most extraordinary salubrity.
+
+Our lamps being relighted, we soon reached a narrow passage faced on
+the left side by a wall, built by the miners to confine the loose
+stone thrown up in the course of their operations, when gradually
+descending a short distance, we entered the great vestibule or
+ante-chamber of the Cave. What do we now see? Midnight!--the
+blackness of darkness!--Nothing! Where is the wall we were lately
+elbowing out of the way? It has vanished!--It is lost! We are walled
+in by darkness, and darkness canopies us above. Look again;--Swing
+your torches aloft! Aye, now you can see it; far up, a hundred feet
+above your head, a grey ceiling rolling dimly away like a cloud, and
+heavy buttresses, bending under the weight, curling and toppling over
+their base, begin to project their enormous masses from the shadowy
+wall. How vast! How solemn! How awful! The little bells of the brain
+are ringing in your ears; you hear nothing else--not even a sigh of
+air--not even the echo of a drop of water falling from the roof. The
+guide triumphs in your look of amazement and awe; he falls to work on
+certain old wooden ruins, to you, yet invisible, and builds a brace or
+two of fires, by the aid of which you begin to have a better
+conception of the scene around you. You are in the vestibule or
+ante-chamber, to which the spacious entrance of the Cave, and the
+narrow passage that succeeds it, should be considered the mere
+gate-way and covered approach. It is a basilica of an oval
+figure--two-hundred feet in length by one-hundred and fifty wide, with
+a roof which is as flat and level as if finished by the trowel of the
+plasterer, of fifty or sixty or even more feet in height. Two
+passages, each a hundred feet in width, open into it at its opposite
+extremities, but at right angles to each other; and as they preserve a
+straight course for five or six-hundred feet, with the same flat roof
+common to each, the appearance to the eye, is that of a vast hall in
+the shape of the letter L expanded at the angle, both branches being
+five-hundred feet long by one-hundred wide. The passage to the right
+hand is the "Great Bat Room;" (Audubon Avenue.) That in the front, the
+beginning of the Grand Gallery, or the Main Cavern itself. The whole
+of this prodigious space is covered by a single rock, in which the eye
+can detect no break or interruption, save at its borders, where is a
+broad, sweeping cornice, traced in horizontal panel-work, exceedingly
+noble and regular; and not a single pier or pillar of any kind
+contributes to support it. It needs no support. It is like the arched
+and ponderous roof of the poet's mausoleum:
+
+    "By its own weight made stedfast and immoveable."
+
+The floor is very irregularly broken, consisting of vast heaps of the
+nitrous earth, and of the ruins of the hoppers or vats, composed of
+heavy planking, in which the miners were accustomed to leach it. The
+hall was, in fact, one of their chief factory rooms. Before their day,
+it was a cemetery; and here they disinterred many a mouldering
+skeleton, belonging it seems, to that gigantic eight or nine feet race
+of men of past days, whose jaw-bones so many vivacious persons have
+clapped over their own, like horse-collars, without laying by a single
+one to convince the soul of scepticism.
+
+Such is the vestibule of the Mammoth Cave,--a hall which hundreds of
+visitors have passed through without being conscious of its existence.
+The path, leading into the Grand Gallery, hugs the wall on the left
+hand; and is, besides, in a hollow, flanked on the right hand by lofty
+mounds of earth, which the visitor, if he looks at them at all, which
+he will scarcely do, at so early a period after entering, will readily
+suppose to be the opposite walls. Those who enter the Great Bat Room,
+(Audubon Avenue,) into which flying visitors are seldom conducted,
+will indeed have some faint suspicion, for a moment, that they are
+passing through infinite space; but the walls of the Cave being so
+dark as to reflect not one single ray of light from the dim torches,
+and a greater number of them being necessary to disperse the gloom
+than are usually employed, they will still remain in ignorance of the
+grandeur around them.
+
+Such is the vestibule of the Mammoth Cave, as described by the
+ingenious author of "Calavar," "Peter Pilgrim," &c.
+
+From the vestibule we entered Audubon Avenue, which is more than a
+mile long, fifty or sixty feet wide and as many high. The roof or
+ceiling exhibits, as you walk along, the appearance of floating
+clouds--and such is observable in many other parts of the Cave. Near
+the termination of this avenue, a natural well, twenty-five feet deep,
+and containing the purest water, has been recently discovered; it is
+surrounded by stalagmite columns, extending from the floor to the
+roof, upon the incrustations of which, when lights are suspended, the
+reflection from the water below and the various objects above and
+around, gives to the whole scene an appearance equally rare and
+picturesque. This spot, however, being difficult of access, is but
+seldom visited.
+
+The Little Bat Room Cave--a branch of Audubon Avenue,--is on the left
+as you advance, and not more than three-hundred yards from the great
+vestibule. It is but little more than a quarter of a mile in length,
+and is remarkable for its pit of two-hundred and eighty feet in depth;
+and as being the hibernal resort of bats. Tens of thousands of them
+are seen hanging from the walls, in apparently a torpid state, during
+the winter, but no sooner does the spring open, than they disappear.
+
+Returning from the Little Bat Room and Audubon Avenue, we pass again
+through the vestibule, and enter the Main Cave or Grand Gallery. This
+is a vast tunnel extending for miles, averaging throughout, fifty feet
+in width by as many in height It is truly a noble subterranean avenue;
+the largest of which man has any knowledge, and replete with interest,
+from its varied characteristics and majestic grandeur.
+
+Proceeding down the main Cave about a quarter of a mile, we came to
+the Kentucky Cliffs, so called from the fancied resemblance to the
+cliffs on the Kentucky River, and descending gradually about twenty
+feet entered the church, when our guide was discovered in the _pulpit_
+fifteen feet above us, having reached there by a gallery which leads
+from the cliffs. The ceiling here is sixty three feet high, and the
+church itself, including the recess, cannot be less than one hundred
+feet in diameter. Eight or ten feet above and immediately behind the
+pulpit, is the organ loft, which is sufficiently capacious for an.
+organ and choir of the largest size. There would appear to be
+something like design in all this;--here is a church large enough to
+accomodate thousands, a solid projection of the wall of the Cave to
+serve as a pulpit, and a few feet back a place for an organ and choir.
+In this great temple of nature, religious service has been frequently
+held, and it requires but a slight effort on the part of a speaker, to
+make himself distinctly heard by the largest congregation.
+
+Sometimes the guides climb up the high and ragged sides, and suspend
+lamps in the crevices and on the projections of the rock, thus
+lighting up a scene of wild grandeur and sublimity.
+
+Concerts too have been held here, and the melody of song has been
+heard, such as would delight the ear of a Catalini or a Malibran.
+
+Leaving the church you will observe, on ascending, a large embankment
+of lixiviated earth thrown out by the miners more than thirty years
+ago, the print of wagon wheels and the tracks of oxen, as distinctly
+defined as though they were made but yesterday; and continuing on for
+a short distance, you arrive at the Second Hoppers. Here are seen the
+ruins of the old nitre works, leaching vats, pump frames and two lines
+of wooden pipes; one to lead fresh water from the dripping spring to
+the vats filled with the nitrous earth, and the other to convey the
+lye drawn from the large reservoir, back to the furnace at the mouth
+of the Cave.
+
+The quantity of nitrous earth contained in the Cave is "sufficient to
+supply the whole population of the globe with saltpetre."
+
+"The dirt gives from three to five pounds of nitrate of lime to the
+bushel, requiring a large proportion of fixed alkali to produce the
+required crystalization, and when left in the Cave become
+re-impregnated in three years. When saltpetre bore a high price,
+immense quantities were manufactured at the Mammoth Cave, but the
+return of peace brought the saltpetre from the East Indies in
+competition with the American, and drove that of the produce of our
+country entirely from the market. An idea may be formed of the extent
+of the manufacture of saltpetre at this Cave, from the fact that the
+contract for the supply of the fixed alkali alone for the Cave, for
+the year 1814, was twenty thousand dollars."
+
+"The price of the article was so high, and the profits of the
+manufacturer so great, as to set half the western world gadding after
+nitre caves--the gold mines of the day. Cave hunting in fact became a
+kind of mania, beginning with speculators, and ending with hair
+brained young men, who dared for the love of adventure the risk which
+others ran for profit." Every hole, remarked an old miner, the size of
+a man's body, has been penetrated for miles around the Mammoth Cave,
+but although we found "_petre earth_," we never could find a cave
+worth having.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+Gothic Gallery--Gothic Avenue--Good Road--Mummies--Interesting Account
+of Them--Gothic Avenue once called Haunted Chamber--Why so Named--
+Adventure of a Miner in Former Days.
+
+
+In looking from the ruins of the nitre works, to the left and some
+thirty feet above, you will see a large cave, connected with which is
+a narrow gallery sweeping across the Main Cave and losing itself in a
+cave, which is seen above to your right This latter cave is the Gothic
+Avenue, which no doubt was at one time connected with the cave
+opposite and on the same level, forming a complete bridge over the
+main avenue, but afterwards broken down and separated by some great
+convulsion.
+
+The cave on the left, which is filled with sand, has been penetrated
+but a short distance; still from its great size at its entrance, it is
+more than probable, that, were all obstructions removed, it might be
+found to extend for miles.
+
+[Illustration: ENTRANCE TO THE GOTHIC AVENUE.
+On Stone by T. Campbell
+Bauer & Teschemacher's Lith.]
+
+While examining the old saltpetre works, the guide left us without our
+being aware of it, but casting our eyes around we perceived him
+standing some forty feet above, on the projection of a huge rock, or
+tower, which commands a view of the grand gallery to a great extent
+both up and down.
+
+Leaving the Main Cave and ascending a flight of stairs twenty or
+thirty feet, we entered the Gothic Avenue, so named from the Gothic
+appearance of some of its compartments. This avenue is about forty
+feet wide, fifteen feet high and two miles long. The ceiling looks in
+many places as smooth and white as though it had been under the trowel
+of the most skilful plasterer. A good road has been made throughout
+this cave, and such is the temperature and purity of its atmosphere,
+that every visitor must experience their salutary influences.
+
+In a recess on the left hand elevated a few feet above the floor and
+about fifty feet from the head of the stairs leading up from the Main
+Avenue, two mummies long since taken away, were to be seen in 1813.
+They were in good preservation; one was a female with her extensive
+wardrobe placed before her. The removal of those mummies from the
+place in which they were found can be viewed as little less than
+sacrilege. There they had been, perhaps for centuries, and there they
+ought to have been left. What has become of them I know not. One of
+them, it is said, was lost in the burning of the Cincinnati museum.
+The wardrobe of the female was given to a Mr. Ward, of Massachusetts,
+who I believe presented it to the British Museum.
+
+Two of the miners found a mummy in Audubon Avenue, in 1814. With a
+view to conceal it for a time, they placed large stones over it, and
+marked the walls about the spot so that they might find it at some
+future period; this however, they were never able to effect. In 1840,
+the present hotel keeper Mr. Miller, learning the above facts, went in
+search of the place designated, taking with him very many lights, and
+found the marks on the walls, and near to them the mummy. It was,
+however, so much injured and broken to pieces by the heavy weights
+which had been placed upon it, as to be of little interest or value. I
+have no doubt, that if proper efforts were made, mummies and other
+objects of curiosity might be found, which would tend to throw light
+on the early history of the first inhabitants of this continent.
+
+Believing, that whatever may relate to these mummies cannot fail to
+interest, I will extract from the recently published narrative of a
+highly scientific gentleman of New York, himself one of the early
+visitors to the Cave.
+
+"On my first visit to the Mammoth Cave in 1813, I saw a relic of
+ancient times, which requires a minute description. This description
+is from a memorandum made in the Cave at the time.
+
+"In the digging of saltpetre earth, in the short cave, a flat rock was
+met with by the workmen, a little below the surface of the earth in
+the Cave; this stone was raised, and was about four feet wide and as
+many long; beneath it was a square excavation about three feet deep
+and as many in length and width. In this small nether subterranean
+chamber, sat in solemn silence one of the human species, a female with
+her wardrobe and ornaments placed at her side. The body was in a state
+of perfect preservation, and sitting erect The arms were folded up and
+the hands were laid across the bosom; around the two wrists was wound
+a small cord, designed probably, to keep them in the posture in which
+they were first placed; around the body and next thereto, was wrapped
+two deer-skins. These skins appear to have been dressed in some mode
+different from what is now practised by any people, of whom I have any
+knowledge. The hair of the skins was cut off very near the surface.
+The skins were ornamented with the imprints of vines and leaves, which
+were sketched with a substance perfectly white. Outside of these two
+skins was a large square sheet, which was either wove or knit. This
+fabric was the inner bark of a tree, which I judge from appearances to
+be that of the linn tree. In its texture and appearance, it resembled
+the South Sea Island cloth or matting; this sheet enveloped the whole
+body and the head. The hair on the head was cut off within an eighth
+of an inch of the skin, except near the neck, where it was an inch
+long. The color of the hair was a dark red; the teeth were white and
+perfect. I discovered no blemish upon the body, except a wound between
+two ribs near the back-bone; one of the eyes had also been injured.
+The finger and toe nails were perfect and quite long. The features
+were regular. I measured the length of one of the bones of the arm
+with a string, from the elbow to the wrist joint, and they equalled my
+own in length, viz: ten and a half inches. From the examination of the
+whole frame, I judged the figure to be that of a very tall female, say
+five feet ten inches in height. The body, at the time it was first
+discovered, weighed but fourteen pounds, and was perfectly dry; on
+exposure to the atmosphere, it gained in weight by absorbing dampness
+four pounds. Many persons have expressed surprise that a human body of
+great size should weigh so little, as many human skeletons of nothing
+but bone, exceed this weight. Recently some experiments have been made
+in Paris, which have demonstrated the fact of the human body being
+reduced to ten pounds, by being exposed to a heated atmosphere for a
+long period of time. The color of the skin was dark, not black; the
+flesh was hard and dry upon the bones. At the side of the body lay a
+pair of moccasins, a knapsack and an indispensable or reticule. I will
+describe these in the order in which I have named them. The moccasins
+were made of wove or knit bark, like the wrapper I have described.
+Around the top there was a border to add strength and perhaps as an
+ornament. These were of middling size, denoting feet of small size.
+The shape of the moccasins differs but little from the deer-skin
+moccasins worn by the Northern Indians. The knapsack was of wove or
+knit bark, with a deep, strong border around the top, and was about
+the size of knapsacks used by soldiers. The workmanship of it was
+neat, and such as would do credit as a fabric, to a manufacturer of
+the present day. The reticule was also made of knit or wove bark. The
+shape was much like a horseman's valise, opening its whole length on
+the top. On the side of the opening and a few inches from it, were two
+rows of hoops, one row on each side. Two cords were fastened to one
+end of the reticule at the top, which passed through the loop on one
+side and then on the other side, the whole length, by which it was
+laced up and secured. The edges of the top of the reticule were
+strengthened with deep fancy borders. The articles contained in the
+knapsack and reticule were quite numerous, and are as follows: one
+head cap, made of wove or knit bark, without any border, and of the
+shape of the plainest night cap; seven head-dresses made of the quills
+of large birds, and put together somewhat in the same way that feather
+fans are made, except that the pipes of the quills are not drawn to a
+point, but are spread out in straight lines with the top. This was
+done by perforating the pipe of the quill in two places and running
+two cords through these holes, and then winding around the quills and
+the cord, fine thread, to fasten each quill in the place designed for
+it. These cords extended some length beyond the quills on each side,
+so that on placing the feathers erect on the head, the cords could be
+tied together at the back of the head. This would enable the wearer to
+present a beautiful display of feathers standing erect and extending a
+distance above the head, and entirely surrounding it. These were most
+splendid head dresses, and would be a magnificent ornament to the head
+of a female at the present day,--several hundred strings of beads;
+these consisted of very hard brown seed smaller than hemp seed, in
+each of which a small hole had been made, and through this hole a
+small three corded thread, similar in appearance and texture to seine
+twine; these were tied up in bunches, as a merchant ties up coral
+beads when he exposes them for sale. The red hoofs of fawns, on a
+string supposed to be worn around the neck as a necklace. These hoofs
+were about twenty in number, and may have been emblematic of
+Innocence; the claw of an eagle, with a hole made in it, through which
+a cord was passed, so that it could be worn pendent from the neck; the
+jaw of a bear designed to be worn in the same manner as the eagle's
+claw, and supplied with a cord to suspend it around the neck; two
+rattlesnake-skins, one of these had fourteen rattles upon it, these
+were neatly folded up; some vegetable colors done up in leaves; a
+small bunch of deer sinews, resembling cat-gut in appearance; several
+bunches of thread and twine, two and three threaded, some of which
+were nearly white; seven needles, some of these were of horn and some
+of bone, they were smooth and appeared to have been much used. These
+needles had each a knob or whirl on the top, and at the other end were
+brought to a point like a large sail needle. They had no eyelets to
+receive a thread. The top of one of these needles was handsomely
+scalloped; a hand-piece made of deer-skin, with a hole through it for
+the thumb, and designed probably to protect the hand in the use of the
+needle, the same as thimbles are now used; two whistles about eight
+inches long made of cane, with a joint about one third the length;
+over the joint is an opening extending to each side of the tube of the
+whistle, these openings were about three-fourths of an inch long and a
+quarter of an inch wide, and had each a flat reed placed in the
+opening. These whistles were tied together with a cord wound around
+them.
+
+"I have been thus minute in describing the mute witness from the days
+of other times, and the articles which were deposited within her
+earthen house. Of the race of people to whom she belonged when living,
+we know nothing; and as to conjecture, the reader who gathers from
+these pages this account, can judge of the matter as well as those who
+saw the remnant of mortality in the subterranean chambers in which she
+was entombed. The cause of the preservation of her body, dress and
+ornaments is no mystery. The dry atmosphere of the Cave, with the
+nitrate of lime, with which the earth that covers the bottom of these
+nether palaces is so highly impregnated, preserves animal flesh, and
+it will neither putrify nor decompose when confined to its unchanging
+action. Heat and moisture are both absent from the Cave, and it is
+these two agents, acting together, which produce both animal and
+vegetable decomposition and putrefaction.
+
+"In the ornaments, etc., of this mute witness of ages gone, we have a
+record of olden time, from which, in the absence of a written record,
+we may draw some conclusions. In the various articles which
+constituted her ornaments, there were no metallic substances. In the
+make of her dress, there is no evidence of the use of any other
+machinery than the bone and horn needles. The beads are of a
+substance, of the use of which for such purposes, we have no account
+among people of whom we have any written record. She had no warlike
+arms. By what process the hair upon her head was cut short, or by what
+process the deer-skins were shorn, we have no means of conjecture.
+These articles afford us the same means of judging of the nation to
+which she belonged, and of their advances in the arts, that future
+generations will have in the exhumation of a tenant of one of our
+modern tombs, with the funeral shroud, etc. in a state of like
+preservation; with this difference, that with the present inhabitants
+of this section of the globe, but few articles of ornament are
+deposited with the body. The features of this ancient member of the
+human family much resembled those of a tall, handsome American woman.
+The forehead was high, and the head well formed.
+
+  "Ye mouldering relics of a race departed,
+  Your names have perished; not a trace remains."
+
+The Gothic Avenue was once called the Haunted Chamber, and owed its
+name to an adventure that befell one of the miners in former days,
+which is thus related by the author of "Calavar."
+
+In the Lower Branch is a room called the Salts Room, which produces
+considerable quantities of the sulphate of magnesia, or of soda, we
+forget which--a mineral that the proprietor of the Cave did not fail
+to turn to account. The miner in question was a new and raw hand--of
+course neither very well acquainted with the Cave itself, nor with the
+approved modes of averting or repairing accidents, to which, from the
+nature of their occupation, the miners were greatly exposed. Having
+been sent, one day, in charge of an older workman, to the Salts Room
+to dig a few sacks of the salt, and finding that the path to this
+sequestered nook was perfectly plain; and that, from the Haunted
+Chambers being a single, continuous passage without branches, it was
+impossible to wander from it, our hero disdained on his second visit,
+to seek or accept assistance, and trudged off to his work alone. The
+circumstance being common enough he was speedily forgotten by his
+brother miners; and it was not until several hours after, when they
+all left off their toil for the more agreeable duty of eating their
+dinner, that his absence was remarked, and his heroical resolution to
+make his way alone to the Salts Room remembered. As it was apparent,
+from the time he had been gone, that some accident must have happened
+to him, half a dozen men, most of them negroes, stripped half naked,
+their usual working costume, were sent to hunt him up, a task supposed
+to be of no great difficulty, unless he had fallen into a pit. In the
+meanwhile, the poor miner, it seems, had succeeded in reaching the
+Salts Room, filling his sack, and retracing his steps half way back to
+the Grand Gallery; when finding the distance greater than he thought
+it ought to be, the conceit entered his unlucky brain that he _might_
+perhaps be going wrong. No sooner had the suspicion struck him, than
+he fell into a violent terror, dropped his sack, ran backwards, then
+returned, then ran back again--each time more frightened and
+bewildered than before; until at last he ended his adventure by
+tumbling over a stone and extinguishing his lamp. Thus left in the
+dark, not knowing where to turn, frightened out of his wits besides,
+he fell to remembering his sins--always remembered by those who are
+lost in the Cave--and praying with all his might for succor. But hours
+passed away, and assistance came not; the poor fellow's frenzy
+increased; he felt himself a doomed man; he thought his terrible
+situation was a judgment imposed on him for his wickedness; nay, he
+even believed, at last, that he was no longer an inhabitant of the
+earth--that he had been translated, even in the body, to the place of
+torment--in other words, that he was in hell itself, the prey of the
+devils, who would presently be let loose upon him. It was at this
+moment the miners in search of him made their appearance; they lighted
+upon his sack, lying where he had thrown it, and set up a great shout,
+which was the first intimation he had of their approach. He started
+up, and seeing them in the distance, the half naked negroes in
+advance, all swinging their torches aloft, he, not doubting they were
+those identical devils whose appearance he had been expecting, took to
+his heels, yelling lustily for mercy; nor did he stop, notwithstanding
+the calls of his amazed friends, until he had fallen a second time
+over the rocks, where he lay on his face, roaring for pity, until, by
+dint of much pulling and shaking, he was convinced that he was still
+in the world and the Mammoth Cave. Such is the story of the Haunted
+Chambers, the name having been given to commemorate the incident.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+Stalagmite Pillars--The Bell--Vulcan's Furnace--Register Rooms--
+Stalagmite Hall or Gothic Chapel--Devil's Arm-Chair--Elephant's
+Head--Lover's Leap--Napoleon's Dome--Salts Cave--Annetti's Dome.
+
+
+Resuming our explorations in this most interesting avenue, we soon
+came in sight of stalagmite pillars, reaching from the floor to the
+ceiling, once perhaps white and translucent, but now black and
+begrimed with smoke. At this point we were startled by the hollow
+tread of our feet, caused by the proximity of another large avenue
+underneath, which the guide assured us he had often visited. In this
+neighborhood too, there are a number of Stalactites, one of which was
+called the Bell, which on being struck, sounded like the deep bell of
+a cathedral; but it now no longer tolls, having been broken in twain
+by a visiter from Philadelphia some years ago. Further on our way, we
+passed Louisa's Bower and Vulcan's Furnace, where there is a heap, not
+unlike cinders in appearance, and some dark colored water, in which I
+suppose the great forger used to slake his iron and perhaps his bolts.
+Next in order and not very distant are the new and old Register Rooms.
+Here on the ceiling which is as smooth and white as if it had been
+finished off by the plasterer, thousands of names have been traced by
+the smoke of a candle--names which can create no pleasing associations
+or recollections; names unknown to fame, and which might excite
+disgust, when read for the first time on the ceiling which they have
+disfigured.
+
+[Illustration: STALAGMITE HALL OR GOTHIC CHAPEL.
+On Stone by T. Campbell
+Bauer & Teschemacher's Lith.]
+
+
+Soon after leaving the old Register Room, we were halted by our guide,
+who took from us all the lamps excepting one. Having made certain
+arrangements, he cried aloud, "Come on!" which we did, and in a few
+moments entered an apartment of surprising grandeur and magnificence.
+This apartment or hall is elliptical in shape and eighty feet long by
+fifty wide. Stalagmite columns, of vast size nearly block up the two
+ends; and two rows of pillars of smaller dimensions, reaching from
+floor to ceiling and equidistant from the wall on either side, extend
+its entire length. Against the pillars, and in many places from the
+ceiling, our lamps were hanging, and, lighting up the whole space,
+exhibited to our enraptured sight a scene surpassingly grand, and well
+calculated to inspire feelings of solemnity and awe. This is the
+Stalagmite Hall, or as some call it, the Gothic Chapel, which no one
+can see under such circumstances as did our party, without being
+forcibly reminded of the old, very old cathedrals of Europe.
+Continuing our walk we came to the Devil's Arm-Chair. This is a large
+Stalagmite column, in the centre of which is formed a capacious seat.
+Like most other visiters we seated ourselves in the chair of his
+Satanic Majesty, and drank sulphur water dipped up from a small basin
+of rock, near the foot of the chair. Further on we passed a number of
+Stalactites and Stalagmites, Napoleon's Breast-Work, (behind which we
+found ashes and burnt cane,) the Elephant's Head, the Curtain, and
+arrived at last at the Lover's Leap. The Lover's Leap is a large
+pointed rock projecting over a dark and gloomy hollow, thirty or more
+feet deep. Our guide told us that the young ladies often asked their
+beaux to take the Lover's Leap, but that he never knew any to "love
+hard enough" to attempt it. We descended into the hollow, immediately
+below the Lover's Leap, and entered to the left and at right-angle
+with our previous course, a passage or chasm in the rock, three feet
+wide and fifty feet high, which conducted us to the lower branch of
+the Gothic Avenue. At the entrance of this lower branch is an
+immensely large flat rock called Gatewood's Dining Table, to the right
+of which is a cave, which we penetrated, as far as the Cooling Tub--a
+beautiful basin of water six feet wide and three deep--into which a
+small stream of the purest water pours itself from the ceiling and
+afterwards finds its way into the Flint Pit at no great distance.
+Returning, we wound around Gatewood's Dining Table, which nearly
+blocks up the way, and continued our walk along the lower branch more
+than half a mile, passing Napoleon's Dome, the Cinder Banks, the
+Crystal Pool, the Salts Cave, etc., etc. Descending a few feet and
+leaving the cave which continues onwards, we entered, on our right, a
+place of great seclusion and grandeur, called Annetti's Dome. Through
+a crevice in the right wall of the dome is a waterfall. The water
+issues in a stream a foot in diameter, from a high cave in the side of
+the dome--falls upon the solid bottom, and passes off by a small
+channel into the Cistern, which is directly on the pathway of the
+cave. The Cistern is a large pit, which is usually kept nearly full of
+water.
+
+Near the end of this branch, (the lower branch) there is a crevice in
+the ceiling over the last spring, through which the sound of water may
+be heard falling in a cave or open space above.
+
+Highly gratified with what we had now seen in the Gothic Avenue, we
+concluded to pursue it no further, but to retrace our steps to the
+Main Cave, regretting however, that we had not visited the Salts Cave,
+(a branch of the Gothic Avenue,) on being told, when too late, that it
+would have amply compensated us for our trouble, being rich in fine
+specimens of Epsom or Glauber salts.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+The Ball-Room--Willie's Spring--Wandering Willie--Ox-Stalls--Giant's
+Coffin--Acute-Angle or Great Bend--Range of Cabins--Curative Properties
+of the Cave Air long known.
+
+
+We are now again in the Main Cave or Grand Gallery, which continues to
+increase in interest as we advance, eliciting from our party frequent
+and loud exclamations of admiration and wonder. Not many steps from
+the stairs leading down from the Gothic Avenue into the Main Cave, is
+the Ball-Room, so called from its singular adaptedness to such a
+purpose; for there is an orchestra, fifteen or eighteen feet high,
+large enough to accommodate a hundred or more musicians, with a
+gallery extending back to the level of the high embankment near the
+Gothic Avenue; besides which, the avenue here is lofty, wide, straight
+and perfectly level for several hundred feet. At the trifling expense
+of a plank floor, seats and lamps, a ball-room might be had, if not
+more splendid, at all events more grand and magnificent than any other
+on earth. The effect of music here would be truly inspiring; but the
+awful solemnity of the place may, in the opinion of many, prevent its
+being used as a temple of Terpsichore. Extremes, we are told, often
+meet. The same objection has been urged against the Cave's being used
+for religious services. "No clergyman," remarked a distinguished
+divine, "be he ever so eloquent could concentrate the attention of his
+congregation in such a place. The God of nature speaks too loud here
+for _man to be heard_."
+
+Leaving these points to be settled as they may, we will proceed
+onwards; the road now is broad and fine, and in many places dusty.
+Next in order is Willie's Spring, a beautifully fluted niche in the
+left hand wall, caused by the continual attrition of water trickling
+down into a basin below. This spring derives its name from that of a
+young gentleman, the son of a highly respectable clergyman of
+Cincinnati, who, in the spirit of romance, assumed the name of
+Wandering Willie, and taking with him his violin, marched on foot to
+the Cave. Wishing no better place in which to pass the night, he
+selected this spot, requesting the guide to call for him in the
+morning. This he did and found him fast asleep upon his bed of earth,
+with his violin beside him--ever since it has been called Willie's
+Spring. Just beyond the spring and near the left wall, is the place
+where the oxen were fed during the time of the miners; and strewn
+around are a great many corn-cobs, to all appearance, and in fact,
+perfectly sound, although they have lain there for more than thirty
+years. In this neighborhood is a niche of great size in the wall on
+the left, and reaching from the roof to the bottom of a pit more than
+thirty feet deep, down the sides of which, water of the purest kind is
+continually dripping, and is afterwards conducted to a large trough,
+from which the invalids obtain their supply of water, during their
+sojourn in the Cave. Near the bottom, this pit or well expands into a
+large room, out of which, there is no opening. It is probable that
+Richardson's Spring in the Deserted Chambers is supplied from this
+well. Passing the Well Cave, Rocky Cave, etc., etc., we arrived at the
+Giant's Coffin, a huge rock on the right, thus named from its singular
+resemblance in shape to a coffin; its locality, apart from its great
+size, renders it particularly conspicuous, as all must pass around it,
+in leaving the Main Cave, to visit the rivers and the thousand wonders
+beyond. At this point commence those incrustations, which, portraying
+every imaginable figure on the ceiling, afford full scope to the
+fanciful to picture what they will, whether of "birds, or beasts, or
+creeping things." About a hundred yards beyond the Coffin, the Cave
+makes a majestic curve, and sweeping round the Great Bend or
+Acute-Angle, resumes its general course. Here the guide ignited a
+Bengal light. This vast amphitheatre became illuminated, and a scene
+of enchantment was exposed to our view. Poets may conceive, but no
+language can describe, the splendor and sublimity of the scene. The
+rapturous exclamations of our party might have been heard from afar,
+both up and down this place of wonders. Opposite to the Great Bend, is
+the entrance of the Sick Room Cave, so called from the fact of the
+sudden sickness of a visiter a few years ago, supposed to have been
+caused by his smoking, with others, cigars in one of its most remote
+and confined nooks. Immediately beyond the Great Bend, a row of
+cabins, built for consumptive patients, commences. All of these are
+framed buildings, with the exception of two, which are of stone. They
+stand in line, from thirty to one hundred feet apart, exhibiting a
+picturesque, yet at the same time, a gloomy and mournful appearance.
+They are well furnished, and without question, would with good and
+comfortable accommodations, pure air and uniform temperature, cure the
+pulmonary consumption. The invalids in the Cave ought to be cured; but
+I doubt whether the Cave air or any thing else can cure confirmed
+Phthisis. A knowledge of the curative properties of the Cave air, is
+not, as is generally supposed, of recent date. It has been long known.
+A physician of great respectability, formerly a member of Congress
+from the district adjoining the Cave, was so firmly convinced of the
+medical properties of its air, as to express more than twenty years
+ago, as his opinion, that the State of Kentucky ought to purchase it,
+with a view to establish a hospital in one of its avenues. Again the
+author of "Calavar," himself a distinguished professor of medicine,
+makes the following remarks in relation to the Cave air, as far back
+as 1832, the date of his visit:
+
+"It is always temperate. Its purity, judging from its effects on the
+lungs, and from other circumstances, is remarkable, though in what its
+purity consists, I know not. But, be its composition what it may, it
+is certain its effects upon the spirits and bodily powers of visiters,
+are extremely exhilarating; and that it is not less salubrious than
+enlivening. The nitre diggers were a famously healthy set of men; it
+was a common and humane practice to employ laborers of enfeebled
+constitutions, who were soon restored to health and strength, though
+kept at constant labour; and more joyous, merry fellows were never
+seen. The oxen, of which several were kept day and night in the Cave,
+hauling the nitrous earth, were after a month or two of toil, in as
+fine condition for the shambles, as if fattened in the stall. The
+ordinary visiter, though rambling a dozen hours or more, over paths of
+the roughest and most difficult kind, is seldom conscious of fatigue,
+until he returns to the upper air; and then it seems to him, at least
+in the summer season, that he has exchanged the atmosphere of paradise
+for that of a charnel warmed by steam--all without is so heavy, so
+dank, so dead, so mephitic. Awe and even apprehension, if that has
+been felt, soon yield to the influence of the delicious air of the
+Cave; and after a time a certain jocund feeling is found mingled with
+the deepest impressions of sublimity, which there are so many objects
+to awaken. I recommend all broken hearted lovers and dyspeptic dandies
+to carry their complaints to the Mammoth Cave, where they will
+undoubtedly find themselves "translated" into very buxom and happy
+persons before they are aware of it."
+
+[Illustration: STAR CHAMBER.
+On Stone by T. Campbell
+Bauer & Teschemacher's Lith.]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+Star Chamber--Salts Room--Indian Houses--Cross Rooms--Black Chambers--
+A Dinner Party--Humble Chute--Solitary Care--Fairy Grotto--Chief City
+or Temple--Lee's Description--Return to the Hotel.
+
+
+The Star Chamber next attracted our attention. It presents the most
+perfect optical illusion imaginable; in looking up to the ceiling,
+which is here very high, you seem to see the very firmament itself,
+studded with stars; and afar off, a comet with its long, bright tail.
+Not far from this Star Chamber, may be seen, in a cavity in the wall
+on the right, and about twenty feet above the floor, an oak pole about
+ten feet long and six inches in diameter, with two round sticks of
+half the thickness and three feet long, tied on to it transversely, at
+about four feet apart. By means of a ladder we ascended to the cavity,
+and found the pole to be firmly fixed--one end resting on the bottom
+of the cavity, and the other reaching across and forced into a crevice
+about three feet above. We supposed that this was a ladder once used
+by the former inhabitants of the Cave, in getting the salts which are
+incrusted on the walls in many places. Doct. Locke, of the Medical
+College of Ohio, is, however, of the opinion, that on it was placed a
+dead body,--similar contrivances being used by some Indian tribes on
+which to place their dead. Although thousands have passed the spot,
+still this was never seen until the fall of 1841. Ages have doubtless
+rolled by since this was placed here, and yet it is perfectly sound;
+even the bark which confines the transverse pieces shows no marks of
+decay.
+
+We passed through some Side Cuts, as they are called. These are caves
+opening on the sides of the avenues; and after running for some
+distance, entering them again. Some of them exceed half a mile in
+length; but most generally they are short. In many of them, "quartz,
+calcedony, red ochre, gypsum, and salts are found." The walking, in
+this part of the avenue, being rough, we progressed but slowly, until
+we reached the Salts Room; here we found the walls and ceiling covered
+with salts hanging in crystals. The least agitation of the air causing
+flakes of the crystals to fall like snow. In the Salts Room are the
+Indian houses, under the rocks--small spaces or rooms completely
+covered--some of which contain ashes and cane partly burnt. The
+_Cross Rooms_, which we next come to, is a grand section of this
+avenue; the ceiling has an unbroken span of one hundred and seventy
+feet, without a column to support it! The mouths of two caves are seen
+from this point, neither of which we visited, and much to our loss, as
+will appear from the following extract from the "Notes on the Mammoth
+Cave, by E.F. Lee, Esq., Civil Engineer," in relation to one of
+them--the Black Chambers:
+
+"At the ruins in the Black Chambers, there are a great many large
+blocks composed of different strata of rocks, cemented together,
+resembling the walls, pedestals, cornices, etc., of some old castle,
+scattered over the bottom of the Cave. The avenue here is so wide, as
+to make it quite a task to walk from one side to the other. On the
+right hand, beyond the ruins, you enter the right branch, on the same
+level--the ceiling of which is regularly arched. Through the Big
+Chimneys you ascend into an upper room, about the size of the Main
+Cave, the bottom of which is higher than the ceiling of the one below.
+Proceeding on we soon heard the low murmurings of a water-fall,--the
+sound of which becomes louder and louder as we advanced, until we
+reached the Cataract. In the roof are perforations as large as a
+hogshead, on the right hand side, from which water is ever falling, on
+ordinary occasions in not very large quantities; but after heavy
+rains--in torrents; and with a horrible roar that shakes the walls and
+resounds afar through the Cave. It is at such times that these
+cascades are worthy the name of cataracts, which they bear. The water
+falling into a great funnel-shaped pit, immediately vanishes."
+
+Here we concluded to dine, and at quite a fashionable hour--4, P.M.
+The guide arranged the plates, knives and forks, wine-glasses, etc.,
+on a huge table of rock, and announced,--"Dinner is ready!" We filled
+our plates with the excellent viands prepared at the Cave House, and
+seating ourselves on the rocks or nitre earth, partook of our repast
+with the gusto of gourmands, and quaffing, ever and anon, wines which
+would have done credit to the Astor or Tremont House. "There may be,"
+remarked our corpulent friend B., "a great deal of romance in this way
+of eating--with your plate on your lap, and seated on a rock or a lump
+of nitre earth--but for my part I would rather dispense with the
+poetry of the thing and eat a good dinner, whether above or below
+ground, from off a bona-fide table, and seated in a good substantial
+chair. The proprietor ought to have at all the watering places, (and
+they are numerous,) tables, chairs, and the necessary table furniture,
+that visitors might partake of their collations in some degree of
+comfort." The guide who, by the way, is a very intelligent and
+facetious fellow, was much amused at the suggestion of our friend, and
+remarked that "the owner of the Cave, Doct. Croghan, lived near
+Louisville, and that the only way to get such '_fixings_' at the
+watering places, was to write to him on the subject." "Then," said B.,
+"for the sake of those who may follow after us, I will take it upon
+myself to write."
+
+From this point you have a view of the Main Avenue on our left,
+pursuing its general course, and exhibiting the same solemn grandeur
+as from the commencement,--and directly before us the way to the
+Humble Chute and the Cataract. The Humble Chute is the entrance to the
+Solitary Chambers; before entering which, we must crawl on our hands
+and knees some fifteen or twenty feet under a low arch. It is
+appropriately named; as is the Solitary Chambers which we have now
+entered. You feel here,--to use an expression of one of our
+party,--"out of the world." Without dwelling on the intervening
+objects--although they are numerous and not without interest,--we will
+enter at once the Fairy Grotto of the Solitary Cave. It is in truth a
+fairy grotto; a countless number of Stalactites are seen extending, at
+irregular distances, from the roof to the floor, of various sizes and
+of the most fantastic shapes--some quite straight, some crooked, some
+large and hollow--forming irregularly fluted columns; and some solid
+near the ceiling, and divided lower down, into a great number of small
+branches like the roots of trees; exhibiting the appearance of a coral
+grove. Hanging our lamps to the incrustations on the columns, the
+grove of Stalactites became faintly lighted up, disclosing a scene of
+extraordinary wildness and beauty. "This is nothing to what you'll see
+on the other side of the rivers," cries our guide, smiling at our
+enthusiastic admiration. With all its present beauty, this grotto is
+far from being what it was, before it was despoiled and robbed some
+eight or nine years ago, by a set of vandals, who, through sheer
+wantonness, broke many of the stalactites, leaving them strewn on the
+floor--a disgustful memorial of their vulgar propensities and
+barbarian-like conduct.
+
+Returning from the Fairy Grotto, we entered the Main Cave at the
+Cataract, and continued our walk to the Chief City or Temple, which is
+thus described by Lee, in his "Notes on the Mammoth Cave:"
+
+"The Temple is an immense vault covering an area of two acres, and
+covered by a single dome of solid rock, one hundred and twenty feet
+high. It excels in size the Cave of Staffa; and rivals the celebrated
+vault in the Grotto of Antiparos, which is said to be the largest in
+the world. In passing through from one end to the other, the dome
+appears to follow like the sky in passing from place to place on the
+earth. In the middle of the dome there is a large mound of rocks
+rising on one side nearly to the top, very steep and forming what is
+called the _Mountain_. When first I ascended this mound from the cave
+below, I was struck with a feeling of awe more deep and intense, than
+any thing that I had ever before experienced. I could only observe the
+narrow circle which was illuminated immediately around me; above and
+beyond was apparently an unlimited space, in which the ear could catch
+not the slightest sound, nor the eye find an object to rest upon. It
+was filled with silence and darkness; and yet I knew that I was
+beneath the earth, and that this space, however large it might be, was
+actually bounded by solid walls. My curiosity was rather excited than
+gratified. In order that I might see the whole in one connected view,
+I built fires in many places with the pieces of cane which I found
+scattered among the rocks. Then taking my stand on the Mountain, a
+scene was presented of surprising magnificence. On the opposite side
+the strata of gray limestone, breaking up by steps from the bottom,
+could scarcely be discerned in the distance by the glimmering light.
+Above was the lofty dome, closed at the top by a smooth oval slab,
+beautifully defined in the outline, from which the walls sloped away
+on the right and left into thick darkness. Every one has heard of the
+dome of the Mosque of St. Sophia, of St. Peter's and St. Paul's; they
+are never spoken of but in terms of admiration, as the chief works of
+architecture, and among the noblest and most stupendous examples of
+what man can do when aided by science; and yet when compared with the
+dome of this Temple, they sink into comparative insignificance. Such
+is the surpassing grandeur of Nature's works."
+
+[Illustration: CHIEF CITY OR TEMPLE.
+On Stone by T. Campbell
+Bauer & Teschemacher's Lith.]
+
+To us, the Temple seemed to merit the glowing description above given,
+but what would Lee think, on being told, that since the discovery of
+the rivers and the world of beauties beyond them, not one person in
+fifty visits the Temple or the Fairy Grotto; they are now looked upon
+as tame and uninteresting. The hour being now late, we concluded to
+proceed no further, but to return to the hotel, where we arrived at
+11, P.M.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+Arrival of a large Party--Second Visit--Lamps Extinguished--Laughable
+Confusion--Wooden Bowl--Deserted Chambers--Richardson's Side-Saddle
+Pit--The Labyrinth--Louisa's Dome--Gorin's Dome--Bottomless Pit--
+Separation of our Party.
+
+
+On being summoned to breakfast the next morning, we ascertained that a
+large party of ladies and gentlemen had arrived during our absence,
+who, like ourselves, were prepared to enter the Cave. They, however,
+were for hurrying over the rivers, to the distant points beyond--we,
+for examining leisurely the avenues on this side. At 8 o'clock, both
+parties accompanied by their respective guides and making a very
+formidable array, set out from the hotel, happy in the anticipation of
+the "sights to be seen." It was amusing to hear the remarks, and to
+witness the horror of some of the party on first beholding the mouth
+of the Cave. Oh! it is so frightful!--It is so cold!--I _cannot_ go
+in! Notwithstanding all this, curiosity prevailed, and down we
+went--arranged our lamps, which being extinguished in passing through
+the doorway by the strong current of air rushing outwards, there arose
+such a clamor, such laughter, such screaming, such crying out for the
+guides, as though all Bedlam had broke loose,--the guides exerting
+themselves to quiet apprehensions, and the visiters of yesterday
+knowing that there was neither danger nor just cause of alarm, doing
+their utmost to counteract their efforts, by well feigned exclamations
+of terror. At length the lamps were re-lighted and order being
+restored, onward we went. The Vestibule and Church were each in turn
+illuminated, to the enthusiastic delight of all--even those of the
+party, who were but now so terrified, were loud in their expressions
+of admiration and wonder. Arrived at the Giant's Coffin, we leave the
+Main Cave to enter regions very dissimilar to those we have seen. A
+narrow passage behind the Coffin leads to a circular room, one hundred
+feet in diameter, with a low roof, called the Wooden Bowl, in allusion
+to its figure, or as some say, from a wooden bowl having been found
+here by some old miner. This Bowl is the vestibule of the Deserted
+Chambers. On the right, are the Steeps of Time, (why so called we are
+left to conjecture,) down which, descending about twenty feet, and
+almost perpendicularly for the first ten, we enter the Deserted
+Chambers, which in their course present features extremely wild,
+terrific and multiform. For two hundred yards the ceiling as you
+advance is rough and broken, but further on, it is waving, white and
+smooth as if worn by water. At Richardson's Spring, the imprint of
+moccasins and of children's feet, of some by-gone age, were recently
+seen. There are more pits in the Deserted Chambers than in any other
+portion of the Cave; and among the most noted are the Covered Pit, the
+Side-Saddle Pit and the Bottomless Pit. Indeed the whole range of
+these chambers, is so interrupted by pits, and throughout is so
+irregular and serpentine and so bewildering from the number of its
+branches, that the visiter, doubtful of his footing, and uncertain as
+to his course, is soon made sensible of the prudence of the
+regulation, which enjoins him, "not to leave the guide." "The Covered
+Pit is in a little branch to the left; this pit is twelve or fifteen
+feet in diameter, covered with a thin rock, around which a narrow
+crevice extends, leaving only a small support on one side. There is a
+large rock resting on the centre of the cover. The sound of a
+waterfall may be heard from the pit but cannot be seen." The
+Side-Saddle Pit is about twenty feet long and eight feet wide, with a
+margin about three feet high, and extending lengthwise ten feet,
+against which one may safely lean, and view the interior of the pit
+and dome. After a short walk from this place, we came to a ladder on
+our right, which conducted us down about fifteen feet into a narrow
+pass, not more than five feet wide; this pass is the Labyrinth, one
+end of which leads to the Bottomless Pit, entering it about fifty feet
+down, and the other after various windings, now up, now down, over a
+bridge, and up and down ladders, conducts you to one of the chief
+glories of the Cave,--Gorin's Dome; which, strange to tell, was not
+discovered until a few years ago. Immediately behind the ladder, there
+is a narrow opening in the rock, extending up very nearly to the cave
+above, which leads about twenty feet back to Louisa's Dome, a pretty
+little place of not more than twelve feet in diameter, but of twice
+that height. This dome is directly under the centre of the cave we had
+just been traversing, and when lighted up, persons within it can be
+plainly seen from above, through a crevice in the rock. Arrived at
+Gorin's Dome, we were forcibly struck by the seeming appearance of
+_design_, in the arrangement of the several parts, for the special
+accommodation of visiters--even with reference to their number. The
+Labyrinth, which we followed up, brought us at its termination, to a
+window or hole, about four feet square, three feet above the floor,
+opening into the interior of the dome, about midway between the bottom
+and top; the wall of rock being at this spot, not more than eighteen
+inches thick; and continuing around, and on the outside of the dome,
+along a gallery of a few feet in width, for twenty or more paces, we
+arrived at another opening of much larger size, eligibly disposed, and
+commanding, like the first, a view of very nearly the whole interior
+space. Whilst we are arranging ourselves, the guide steals away,
+passes down, down, one knows not how, and is presently seen by the dim
+light of his lamp, fifty feet below, standing near the wall on the
+inside of the dome. The dome is of solid rock, with sides apparently
+fluted and polished, and perhaps two hundred feet high. Immediately in
+front and about thirty feet from the window, a huge rock seems
+suspended from above and arranged in folds like a curtain. Here we are
+then, the guide fifty feet below us. Some of the party thrusting their
+heads and, in their anxiety to see, their bodies through the window
+into the vast and gloomy dome of two hundred feet in height. The
+window is not large enough to afford a view to all at once, they crowd
+one on the top of the other; the more cautious, and those who do not
+like to be squeezed, stand back; but still holding fast to the
+garments of their friends for fear they might in the ecstasy of their
+feelings, leap into the frightful abyss into which they are looking.
+Suddenly the guide ignites a _Bengal light_. The vast dome is radiant
+with light. Above, as far as the eye can reach, are seen the shining
+sides of the fluted walls; below, the yawning gulf is rendered the
+more terrific, by the pallid light exposing to view its vast depth,
+the whole displaying a scene of sublimity and splendor, such as words
+have not power to describe. Returning, we ascended the ladder near
+Louisa's Dome, and continued on, having the Labyrinth on our right
+side until it terminates in the Bottomless Pit. This pit terminates
+also the range of the Deserted Chambers, and was considered the Ultima
+Thule of all explorers, until within the last few years, when Mr.
+Stephenson of Georgetown, Ky. and the intrepid guide, Stephen,
+conceived the idea of reaching the opposite side by throwing a ladder
+across the frightful chasm. This they accomplished, and on this
+ladder, extending across a chasm of twenty feet wide and near two
+hundred deep, did these daring explorers cross to the opposite side,
+and thus open the way to all those splendid discoveries, which have
+added so much to the value and renown of the Mammoth Cave. The
+Bottomless Pit is somewhat in the shape of a horse-shoe, having a
+tongue of land twenty seven feet long, running out into the middle of
+it. From the end of this point of land, a substantial bridge has been
+thrown across to the cave on the opposite side.
+
+[Illustration: BOTTOMLESS PIT.
+On Stone by T. Campbell
+Bauer & Teschemacher's Lith.]
+
+While standing on the bridge, the guide lets down a lighted paper into
+the deep abyss; it descends twisting and turning, lower and lower, and
+is soon lost in total darkness, leaving us to conjecture, as to what
+may be below. Crossing the bridge to the opposite cave, we find
+ourselves in the midst of rocks of the most gigantic size lying along
+the edge of the pit and on our left hand. Above the pit is a dome of
+great size, but which, from its position, few have seen. Proceeding
+along a narrow passage for some distance, we arrived at the point from
+which diverge two noted routes--the Winding Way and Pensico Avenue.
+Here we called a short halt; then wishing our newly formed
+acquintances [Transcriber's note: sic] a safe voyage over the "deep
+waters," we parted; they taking the left hand to the Winding Way and
+the rivers, and we the right to Pensico Avenue.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+Pensico Avenue--Great Crossings--Pine Apple Bush--Angelica's Grotto--
+Winding Way--Fat Friend in Trouble--Relief Hall--Bacon Chamber--
+Bandit's Hall.
+
+
+Pensico Avenue averages about fifty feet in width, with a height of
+about thirty feet; and is said to be two miles long. It unites in an
+eminent degree the truly beautiful with the sublime, and is highly
+interesting throughout its entire extent. For a quarter of a mile from
+the entrance, the roof is beautifully arched, about twelve feet high
+and sixty wide, and formerly was encrusted with rosettes and other
+formations, nearly all of which have been taken away or demolished,
+leaving this section of the Cave quite denuded. The walking here is
+excellent; a dozen persons might run abreast for a quarter of a mile
+to Bunyan's Way, a branch of the avenue, leading on to the river. At
+this point the avenue changes its features of beauty and regularity,
+for those of wild grandeur and sublimity, which it preserves to the
+end. The way, no longer smooth and level, is frequently interrupted
+and turned aside by huge rocks, which lie tumbled around, in all
+imaginable disorder. The roof now becomes very lofty and imposingly
+magnificent; its long, pointed or lancet arches, forcibly reminding
+you of the rich and gorgeous ceilings of the old Gothic Cathedrals, at
+the same time solemnly impressing you with the conviction that this is
+a "building not made with hands." No one, not dead to all the more
+refined sensibilities of our nature, but must exclaim, in beholding
+the sublime scenes which here present themselves, this is not the work
+of man! No one can be here without being reminded of the all pervading
+presence of the great "Father of all."
+
+    "What, but God, pervades, adjusts and agitates the whole!"
+
+Not far from the point at which the avenue assumes the rugged
+features, which now characterize it, we separated from our guide, he
+continuing his straight-forward course, and we descending gradually a
+few feet and entering a tunnel of fifteen feet wide on our left, the
+ceiling twelve or fourteen feet high, perfectly arched and beautifully
+covered with white incrustations, very soon reached the Great
+Crossings. Here the guide jumped down some six or eight feet from the
+avenue which we had left, into the tunnel where we were standing, and
+crossing it, climbed up into the avenue, which he pursued for a short
+distance or until it united with the tunnel, where he again joined us.
+In separating from, then crossing, and again uniting with the avenue,
+it describes with it something like the figure 8. The name, Great
+Crossings, is not unapt. It was however, not given, as our intelligent
+guide veritably assured us, in honor of the Great Crossings where the
+man lives who killed Tecumseh, but because two great caves cross here;
+and moreover said he, "the valiant Colonel ought to change the name of
+his place, as no two places in a State should bear the same name, and
+this being the _great_ place ought to have the preference."
+
+Not very far from this point, we ascended a hill on our left, and
+walking a short distance over our shoe-tops in dry nitrous earth, in a
+direction somewhat at a right angle with the avenue below, we arrived
+at the Pine Apple Bush, a large column, composed of a white, soft,
+crumbling material, with bifurcations extending from the floor to the
+ceiling. At a short distance, either to the right or left, you have a
+fine view of the avenue some twenty feet below, both up and down. Why
+this crumbling stalactite is called the Pine Apple Bush, I cannot
+divine. It stands however in a charming, secluded spot, inviting to
+repose; and we luxuriated in inhaling the all-inspiring air, while
+reclining on the clean, soft and dry salt petre earth.
+
+All lovers of romantic scenery ought to visit this avenue, and all
+dyspeptic hypochondriacs and love-sick despondents should do likewise,
+for there is something wonderfully exhilarating in the air of Pensico.
+Our friend B. remarked while rolling on the salt petre earth at the
+Pine Apple Bush, that he felt "especially happy," and whether from
+sympathy, air or what not, we all partook of the same feeling. The
+guide seeing the position of our fat friend, and hearing his remark,
+said, laughing most immoderately, "these sort of feelings would come
+over one, now and then in the Cave, but wait till you get in the
+Winding Way and see how you feel then."
+
+Having descended into the avenue we had left, we passed a number of
+stalactites and stalagmites, bearing a remarkable resemblance to
+coral, and a hundred or more paces beyond, arrived at a recess on the
+left, lined with innumerable crystals of dog-tooth spar, shining most
+brilliantly, called Angelica's Grotto. One would think it almost
+sacrilege to deface a spot like this; yet, did a Clergyman (the back
+of the guide being turned,) deliberately demolish a number of
+beautiful crystals to inscribe the initials of his name.
+
+Returning to the head of Pensico Avenue, we turned to our right, and
+entered the narrow pass which leads to the river, pursuing which, for
+a few hundred yards, descending all the while, at one or two places
+down a ladder or stone steps, we came to a path cut through a high and
+broad embankment of sand, which very soon conducted us to the much
+talked of and anxiously looked for Winding Way. The Winding Way, has,
+in the opinion of many, been channeled in the rock by the gradual
+attrition of water. If this be so, and appearances seem to support
+such belief, at what early age of the world did the work commence? Was
+it not when "the earth was without form and void," thousands of years
+perhaps, before the date of the Mosaic account of the Creation? The
+Winding Way is one hundred and five feet long, eighteen inches wide,
+and from three to seven feet deep, widening out above, sufficiently to
+admit the free use of one's arms. It is throughout tortuous, a perfect
+_zig-zag_, the terror of the Falstaffs and the ladies of "fat, fair
+and forty," who have an instinctive dread of the trials to come, and
+are well aware of the merriment that their efforts to _force a
+passage_ will excite among their companions of less length of girdle.
+Into this winding way, we entered in Indian file, and turning our
+right side, then our left, twisting this way, then that, had nearly
+made good the passage, when our _fat friend_, who was puffing and
+blowing behind us like a high pressure engine, cried out, "Halt, ahead
+there! I am stuck as tight as a wedge in a log!" Halt we did, when the
+guide, looking at our friend, who was in truth "wedg'd in the rocky
+way and sticking fast," cried out, "I told you, when you said at the
+Pine Apple Bush, that you felt _especially happy_, to wait till you
+got to the Winding Way, to see how you would feel then!" The
+imprisoned gentleman soon burst his bonds, not, however, without
+damage to his indispensables; and at length forcing his way into
+Relief Hall, he cried out, in the joy of his heart, while stretching
+himself and wiping the perspiration from his jolly, rubicund face,
+"never was a name more appropriate given to any place--Relief. I feel
+already the _expansive faculty_ of the atmosphere, I can now breathe
+again."
+
+Relief Hall, which you enter from the Winding Way, at a right-angle,
+is very wide and lofty but not long; turning to the right, we reached
+its termination at River Hall, a distance of perhaps, one hundred
+yards. Here two routes present themselves; the one to the left
+conducts to the Dead Sea and the Rivers, and that to the right, to the
+Bacon Chamber, the Bandit's Hall, the Mammoth Dome and an infinity of
+other caves, domes, etc. We will speak of the Bacon Chamber; but
+before doing so, let us take our lunch. The air or exercise, or
+probably both, acted as powerful appetizers, and we soon gave proof
+that we needed not Stoughton's bitters to provoke an appetite. Having
+discussed a few glasses of excellent Hock, we left the Bacon Chamber,
+which is a pretty fair representation of a low ceiling, thickly hung
+with canvassed hams and shoulders; and proceeded to the Bandit's Hall,
+up a steep ascent of twenty or thirty feet, rendered very difficult,
+by the huge rocks which obstructed the way and over which we were
+forced to clamber. The name is indicative of the spot. It is a vast
+and lofty chamber, the floor covered with a mountainous heap of rocks
+rising amphitheatrically almost to the ceiling, and so disposed as to
+furnish at different elevations, galleries or platforms, reaching
+immediately around the chamber itself or leading off into some of its
+hidden recesses. The guide is presently seen standing at a fearful
+height above, and suddenly a Bengal light, blazes up, "when the rugged
+roof, the frowning cliffs and the whole chaos of rocks are refulgent
+in the brilliant glare." The sublimity of the scene is beyond the
+powers of the imagination.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+Mammoth Dome--First Discoverers--Little Dome--Tale of a Lamp--Return.
+
+
+From the Bandit's Hall, diverge two caves; one of which, the left,
+leads you to a multitude of domes; and the right, to one which, _par
+excellence_, is called the Mammoth Dome. Taking the right, we arrived,
+after a rugged walk of nearly a mile, to a platform, which commands an
+indistinct view of this dome of domes. It was discovered by a German
+gentleman and the guide Stephen about two years ago, but was not
+explored until some months after, when it was visited by a party of
+four or five, accompanied by two guides, and well prepared with ropes,
+&c. From the platform, the guides were let down about twenty feet, by
+means of a rope, and upon reaching the ground below, they found
+themselves on the side of a hill, which, descending about fifty feet,
+brought them immediately under the Great Dome, from the summit of
+which, there is a water-fall. This dome is near four hundred feet
+high, and is justly considered one of the most sublime and wonderful
+spectacles of this most wonderful of caverns. From the bottom of the
+dome they ascended the hill to the place to which they had been
+lowered from the platform, and continuing thence up a very steep hill,
+more than one hundred feet, they reached its summit. Arrived at the
+summit, a scene of awful grandeur and magnificence is presented to the
+view. Looking down the declivity, you see far below to the left, the
+visiters whom you have left behind, standing on the platform or
+termination of the avenue along which they had come; and lower down
+still, the bottom of the Great Dome itself. Above, two hundred and
+eighty feet, is the ceiling, lost in the obscurity of space and
+distance. The height of the ceiling was determined by E.F. Lee, civil
+engineer. This fact in regard to the elevation of the ceiling and the
+locality of the Great Hall, was subsequently ascertained, by finding
+on the summit of the hill, (a spot never before trodden by man,) an
+iron lamp!! The astonishment of the guides, as well as of the whole
+party, on beholding the lamp, can be easily imagined; and to this day
+they would have been ignorant of its history, but for the accidental
+circumstance of an old man being at the Cave Hotel, who, thirty years
+ago, was engaged as a miner in the saltpetre establishment of Wilkins
+& Gratz. He, on being shown the lamp, said at once, that it had been
+found under the crevice pit (a fact that surprised all,); that during
+the time Wilkins & Gratz were engaged in the manufacture of saltpetre,
+a Mr. Gatewood informed Wilkins, that in all probability, the richest
+nitre earth was under the crevice pit. The depth of this pit being
+then unknown, Wilkins, to ascertain it, got a rope of 45 feet long,
+and fastening this identical lamp to the end of it, lowered it into
+the pit, in the doing of which, the string caught on fire, and down
+fell the lamp. Wilkins made an offer of two dollars to any one of the
+miners who would descend the pit and bring up the lamp. His offer was
+accepted by a man, who, in consequence of his diminutive stature, was
+nicknamed Little Dave; and the rope being made fast about his waist,
+he, torch in hand, was lowered to the full extent of the forty-five
+feet. Being then drawn up, the poor fellow was found to be so
+excessively alarmed, that he could scarcely articulate; but having
+recovered from his fright, and again with the full power of utterance,
+he declared that no money could tempt him to try again for the lamp;
+and in excuse for such a determination, he related the most marvellous
+story of what he had seen--far exceeding the wonderful things which
+the unexampled Don Quixote de la Mancha declared he had seen in the
+deep cave of Montesinos. Dave was, in fact, suspended at the height of
+two hundred and forty feet above the level below. Such is the history
+of the _lamp_, as told by the old miner, Holton, the correctness of
+which was very soon verified; for guides having been sent to the place
+where the lamp was found, and persons at the same time stationed at
+the mouth of the crevice pit, their proximity was at once made
+manifest by the very audible sound of each other's voices, and by the
+fact that sticks thrown into the pit fell at the feet of the guides
+below, and were brought out by them. The distance from the mouth of
+the Cave to this pit, falls short of half a mile; yet to reach the
+grand apartment immediately under it, requires a circuit to be made of
+at least three miles. The illumination of that portion of the Great
+Dome on the left, and of the hall on the top of the hill to the right,
+as seen from the platform, was unquestionably one of the most
+impressive spectacles we had witnessed; but to be seen to advantage,
+another position ought to be taken by the spectator, and the dome with
+its towering height, and the hall on the summit of the hill, with its
+gigantic stalagmite columns, and ceiling two hundred feet high,
+illuminated by the simultaneous ignition of a number of Bengal lights,
+judiciously arranged. Such was the enthusiastic admiration of some
+foreigners on witnessing an illumination of the Great Dome and Hall,
+that they declared, it alone would compensate for a voyage across the
+Atlantic. With the partial illumination of the Great Dome, we closed
+our explorations on this side of the rivers, and retracing our steps,
+reached the hotel about sun-set. At mid-night, the party which
+separated from us at the entrance of Pensico Avenue, returned from the
+points beyond the Echo river.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+Third Visit--River Hall--Dead Sea--River Styx--Lethe--Echo River--
+Purgatory--Eyeless Fish--Supposed Boil of the Rivers--Sources and
+Outlet Unknown.
+
+
+Early the next morning, having made all the necessary preparations for
+the grand tour, which we were the more anxious to take from the
+glowing accounts of the party recently returned, we entered the cave
+immediately after an early breakfast, and proceeded rapidly on to
+River Hall. It was evident from the appearance of the flood here, that
+it had been recently overflown.
+
+[Illustration: RIVER SCENE.
+On Stone by T. Campbell
+Bauer & Teschemacher's Lith.]
+
+"The cave, or the River Hall," remarks a fair and distinguished
+authoress, whose description of the river scenery is so graphic, that
+I cannot do better than transcribe it throughout: "The River Hall
+descends like the slope of a mountain; the ceiling stretches
+away--away before you, vast and grand as the firmament at midnight."
+Going on, and gradually ascending and keeping close to the right hand
+wall, you observe on your left "a steep precipice, over which you can
+look down by the aid of blazing missiles, upon a broad black sheet of
+water, eighty feet below, called the Dead Sea. This is an awfully
+impressive place; the sights and sounds of which, do not easily pass
+from memory. He who has seen it, will have it vividly brought before
+him, by Alfieri's description of Filippo, 'only a transient word or
+act gives us a short and dubious glimmer, that reveals to us the
+abysses of his being--dark, lurid and terrific, as the throat of the
+infernal pool.' Descending from the eminence, by a ladder of about
+twenty feet, we find ourselves among piles of gigantic rocks, and one
+of the most picturesque sights in the world, is to see a file of men
+and women passing along those wild and scraggy paths, moving
+slowly--slowly, that their lamps may have time to illuminate their
+sky-like ceiling and gigantic walls--disappearing behind high
+cliffs--sinking into ravines--their lights shining upwards through
+fissures in the rocks--then suddenly emerging from some abrupt angle,
+standing in the bright gleam of their lamps, relieved by the towering
+black masses around them. He, who could paint the infinite variety of
+creation, can alone give an adequate idea of this marvellous region.
+As you pass along, you hear the roar of invisible waterfalls; and at
+the foot of the slope, the river Styx lies before you, deep and black,
+overarched with rock. The first glimpse of it brings to mind, the
+descent of Ulysses into hell,
+
+  "Where the dark rock o'erhangs the infernal lake,
+  And mingling streams eternal murmurs make."
+
+Across (or rather down) these unearthly waters, the guide can convey
+but four passengers at once. The lamps are fastened to the prow; the
+images of which, are reflected in the dismal pool. If you are
+impatient of delay, or eager for new adventures, you can leave your
+companions lingering about the shore, and cross the Styx by a
+dangerous bridge of precipices overhead. In order to do this, you must
+ascend a steep cliff, and enter a cave above, 300 yards long, from an
+egress of which, you find yourself on the bank of the river, eighty
+feet above its surface, commanding a view of those in the boat, and
+those waiting on the shore. Seen from this height, the lamps in the
+canoe glare like fiery eye-balls; and the passengers, sitting there so
+hushed and motionless, look like shadows. The scene is so strangely
+funereal and spectral, that it seems as if the Greeks must have
+witnessed it, before they imagined Charon conveying ghosts to the dim
+regions of Pluto. Your companions thus seen, do indeed--
+
+  "Skim along the dusky glades,
+  Thin airy souls, and visionary shades."
+
+If you turn your eyes from the canoe to the parties of men and women
+whom you left waiting on the shore, you will see them by the gleam of
+their lamps, scattered in picturesque groups, looming out in bold
+relief from the dense darkness around them.
+
+Having passed the Styx, (much the smallest of the rivers,) you walk
+over a pile of large rocks, and are on the banks of Lethe; and looking
+back, you will see a line of men and women descending the high hill
+from the cave, which runs _over_ the river Styx. Here are two boats,
+and the parties, which have come by the two routes, _down_ the Styx or
+_over_ it, uniting, descend the Lethe about a quarter of a mile, the
+ceiling for the entire distance being very high--certainly not less
+than fifty feet. On landing, you enter a level and lofty hall, called
+the Great Walk, which stretches to the banks of the Echo, a distance
+of three or four hundred yards. The Echo is truly a river: it is wide
+and deep enough, at all times, to float the largest steamer. At the
+point of embarkation, the arch is very low, not more than three feet,
+in an ordinary stage of water, being left for a boat to pass through.
+Passengers, of course, are obliged to double up, and lie upon each
+others shoulders, in a most uncomfortable way, but their suffering is
+of short duration; in two boat lengths, they emerge to where the vault
+of the cave is lofty and wide. The boat in which we embarked was
+sufficiently large to carry twelve persons, and our voyage down the
+river was one of deep, indeed of most intense interest. The novelty,
+the grandeur, the magnificence of every thing around elicited
+unbounded admiration and wonder. All sense of danger, (had any been
+experienced before,) was lost in the solemn, quiet sublimity of the
+scene. The rippling of the water caused by the motion of our boat is
+heard afar off, beating under the low arches and in the cavities of
+the rocks. The report of a pistol is as that of the heaviest
+artillery, and long and afar does the echo resound, like the muttering
+of distant thunder. The voice of song was raised on this dark, deep
+water, and the sound was as that of the most powerful choir. A fall
+band of music on this river of echoes would indeed be overpowering.
+The aquatic excursion was more to our taste than any thing we had
+seen, and never can the impression it made be obliterated from our
+memories.
+
+The Echo is three quarters of a mile long. A rise of the water of
+merely a few feet connects the three rivers. After long and heavy
+rains, these rivers sometimes rise to a perpendicular height of more
+than fifty feet; and then they, as well as the cataracts, exhibit a
+most terrific appearance. The low arch at the entrance of the Echo,
+can not be passed when there is a rise of water of even two feet. Once
+or twice parties have been caught on the further side by a sudden
+rise, and for a time their alarm was great, not knowing that there was
+an upper cave through which they could pass, that would lead them
+around the arch to the Great Walk. This upper cave, or passage, is
+called Purgatory, and is, for a distance of forty feet, so low, that
+persons have to crawl on their faces, or, as the guides say, _snake
+it_. We were pleased to learn that this passage would soon be
+sufficiently enlarged to enable persons to walk through erect. This
+accomplished, an excursion to Cleveland's Avenue may be made almost
+entirely by land, at the same time that all apprehensions of being
+caught beyond Echo will be removed. It is in these rivers, that the
+extraordinary white eyeless fish are caught--we secured two of them.
+There is not the slightest indication of an organ similar to an eye,
+to be discovered. They have been dissected by skillful anatomists, who
+declare that they are not only without eyes, but also develope other
+anomalies in their organization, singularly interesting to the
+naturalist. "The rivers of Mammoth Cave were never crossed till 1840.
+Great efforts have been made to discover whence they come and whither
+they go, yet they still remain as much a mystery as ever--without
+beginning or end; like eternity."
+
+  "Darkly thou glidest onward,
+    Thou deep and hidden wave!
+  The laughing sunshine hath not look'd
+    Into thy secret cave.
+
+  Thy current makes no music--
+    A hollow sound we hear;
+  A muffled voice of mystery,
+    And know that thou art near.
+
+  No brighter line of verdure
+    Follows thy lonely way
+  No fairy moss, or lily's cup,
+    Is freshened by thy play."
+
+According to the barometrical measurement of Professor Locke, the
+rivers of the Cave are nearly on a level with Green River; but the
+report of Mr. Lee, civil engineer, is widely different. He says, "The
+bottom of the Little Bat Room Pit is one hundred and twenty feet
+_below_ the bed of Green River. The Bottomless Pit is also deeper than
+the bed of Green River, and so far as a surveyor's level can be relied
+on, the same may be said of the Cavern Pit and some others." The
+rivers of the Cave were unknown at the time of Mr. Lee's visit in
+1835, but they are unquestionably _lower_ than the bottom of the pits,
+and receive the water which flows from them. According to the
+statement of Lee, the bed of these rivers is lower than the bed of
+Green River at its junction with the Ohio, taking for granted that the
+report of the State engineers as to the extent of fall between a point
+above the Cave and the Ohio, be correct, of which there is no doubt.
+"It becomes, then," continues Mr. Lee, in reference to the waters of
+the Cave, "an object of interesting inquiry to determine in what way
+it is disposed of. If it empties into Green River, the Ohio, or the
+ocean, it must run a great distance under ground, with a very small
+descent."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+Pass of El Ghor--Silliman's Avenue--Wellington's Gallery--Sulphur
+Spring--Mary's Vineyard--Holy Sepulchre--Commencement of Cleveland
+Avenue--By whom Discovered--Beautiful Formations--Snow-ball Room--
+Rocky Mountains--Croghan's Hall--Serena's Arbor--Dining Table--
+Dinner Party and Toast--Hoax of the Guide--Homeward Bound Passage--
+Conclusion.
+
+
+Having now left the Echo, we have a walk of four miles to Cleveland's
+Avenue. The intervening points are of great interest; but it would
+occupy too much time to describe them. We will therefore hurry on
+through the pass of El Ghor, Silliman's Avenue, and Wellington's
+Gallery, to the foot of the ladder which leads up to the Elysium of
+Mammoth cave. And here, for the benefit of the weary and thirsty, and
+of all others whom it may interest, coming after us, be it known, that
+Carneal's Spring is close at hand, and equally near, a sulphur spring,
+the water of which, equals in quality and quantity that of the
+far-famed White Sulphur Spring, of Virginia. At the head of the
+ladder, you find yourself surrounded by overhanging stalactites, in
+the form of rich clusters of grapes, hard as flint, and round and
+polished, as if done by a sculptor's hand. This is called Mary's
+Vineyard--the commencement of Cleveland's Avenue, the crowning wonder
+and glory of this subterranean world. Proceeding to the right about, a
+hundred feet from this spot, over a rough and rather difficult way,
+you reach the base of the height or hill, on which, stands the Holy
+Sepulchre. This interesting spot is reached at some hazard, as the
+ascent, which is very steep, and more than twenty feet high, affords
+no secure footing, owing to the loose and shingly character of the
+surface, until the height is gained. Having achieved this, you stand
+immediately at the beautiful door-way of the Chapel, or anteroom of
+the Sepulchre. This Chapel, which is, perhaps, twelve feet square,
+with a low ceiling, and decorated in the most gorgeous manner, with
+well-arranged draperies of stalactite of every imaginable shape, leads
+you to the room of the Holy Sepulchre adjoining, which is without
+ornament or decoration of any kind; exhibiting nothing but dark and
+bare walls--like a charnel house. In the centre of this room, which
+stands a few feet below the Chapel, is, to all appearance, a grave,
+hewn out of the living rock. This is the Holy Sepulchre. A Roman
+Catholic priest discovered it about three years ago, and with fervent
+enthusiasm exclaimed, "The Holy Sepulchre!" a name which it has since
+borne. Returning from the Holy Sepulchre, we commence our wanderings
+through Cleveland's Avenue--an avenue three miles long, seventy feet
+wide, and twelve or fifteen feet high--an avenue more rich and
+gorgeous than any ever revealed to man--an avenue abounding in
+formations such as are no where else to be seen, and which the most
+stupid observer could not behold without feelings of wonder and
+admiration. Some of the formations in the avenue, have been
+denominated by Professor Locke, oulophilites, or curled leafed stone;
+and in remarking upon them, he says, "They are unlike any thing yet
+discovered; equally beautiful for the cabinet of the amateur, and
+interesting to the geological philosopher." And I, although a wanderer
+myself in various climes, and somewhat of a mineralogist withal, have
+never seen or heard of such. Apprehensive that I might, in attempting
+to describe much that I have seen, color too highly, I will, in lieu
+thereof, offer the remarks of an intelligent clergyman, extracted from
+the New York Christian Observer, of a recent date: "The most
+imaginative poet never conceived or painted a palace of such exquisite
+beauty and loveliness, as Cleveland's Cabinet, into which you now
+pass. Were the wealth of princes bestowed on the most skilful
+lapidaries, with the view of rivaling the splendors of this single
+chamber, the attempt would be vain. How then can I hope to give you a
+conception of it? You must see it; and you will then feel that all
+attempt at description, is futile." The Cabinet was discovered by Mr.
+Patten, of Louisville, and Mr. Craig, of Philadelphia, accompanied by
+the guide Stephen, and extends in nearly a direct line about one and a
+half miles, (the guides say two miles.) It is a perfect arch, of fifty
+feet span, and of an average height of ten feet in the centre--just
+high enough to be viewed with ease in all its parts. It is incrusted
+from end to end with the most beautiful formations, in every variety
+of form. The base of the whole, is carbonate (sulphate) of lime, in
+part of dazzling whiteness, and perfectly smooth, and in other places
+crystallized so as to glitter like diamonds in the light. Growing from
+this, in endlessly diversified forms, is a substance resembling
+selenite, translucent and imperfectly laminated. It is most probably
+sulphate of lime, (a gypsum,) combined with sulphate of magnesia. Some
+of the crystals bear a striking resemblance to branches of celery, and
+all about the same length; while others, a foot or more in length,
+have the color and appearance of _vanilla cream candy_; others are set
+in sulphate of lime, in the form of a rose; and others still roll out
+from the base, in forms resembling the ornaments on the capitol of a
+Corinthian column. (You see how I am driven for analogies.) Some of
+the incrustations are massive and splendid; others are as delicate as
+the lily, or as fancy-work of shell or wax. Think of traversing an
+arched way like this for a mile and a half, and all the wonders of the
+tales of youth--"Arabian Nights," and all--seem tame, compared with
+the living, growing reality. Yes, _growing_ reality; for the process
+is going on before your eyes. Successive coats of these incrustations,
+have been perfected and crowded off by others; so that hundreds of
+tons of these gems lie at your feet, and are crushed as you pass,
+while the work of restoring the ornaments for nature's _boudoir_, is
+proceeding around you. Here and there, through the whole extent, you
+will find openings in the sides, into which you may thrust the person,
+and often stand erect in little grottoes, perfectly incrusted with a
+delicate white substance, reflecting the light from a thousand
+glittering points. All the way you might have heard us exclaiming,
+"Wonderful, wonderful! O, Lord, how manifold are thy works!" With
+general unity of form and appearance, there is considerable variety in
+"the Cabinet." The "_Snow-ball Room_," for example, is a section of
+the cave described above, some 200 feet in length, entirely different
+from the adjacent parts; its appearance being aptly indicated by its
+name. If a hundred rude school boys had but an hour before completed
+their day's sport, by throwing a thousand snow-balls against the roof,
+while an equal number were scattered about the floor, and all
+petrified, it would have presented precisely such a scene as you
+witness in this room of nature's frolics. So far as I know, these
+"snow-balls" are a perfect anomaly among all the strange forms of
+crystalization. It is the result, I presume, of an unusual combination
+of the sulphates of lime and magnesia, with a carbonate of the former.
+We found here and elsewhere in the Cabinet, fine specimens of the
+sulphate of Magnesia, (or Epsom salts,) a foot or two long, and three
+inches in thickness.
+
+Leaving the quiet and beautiful "Cabinet," you come suddenly upon the
+"Rocky Mountains," furnishing a contrast so bold and striking, as
+almost to startle you. Clambering up the rough side some thirty feet,
+you pass close under the roof of the cavern you have left, and find
+before you an immense transverse cave, 100 feet or more from the
+ceiling to the floor, with a huge pile of rocks half filling the
+hither side--they were probably dashed from the roof in the great
+earthquake of 1811. Taking the left hand branch, you are soon brought
+to "Croghan's Hall," which is nine miles from the mouth, and is the
+farthest point explored in that direction. The "Hall" is 50 or 60 feet
+in diameter, and perhaps, thirty-five feet high, of a semi-circular
+form. Fronting you as you enter, are massive stalactites, ten or
+fifteen feet in length, attached to the rock, like sheets of ice, and
+of a brilliant color. The rock projects near the floor, and then
+recedes with a regular and graceful curve, or swell, leaving a cavity
+of several feet in width between it and the floor. At intervals,
+around this swell, stalactites of various forms are suspended, and
+behind the sheet of stalactites first described, are numerous
+stalagmites, in fanciful forms. I brought one away that resembles the
+horns of the deer, being nearly translucent. In the centre of this
+hall, a very large stalactite hangs from the roof; and a corresponding
+stalagmite rises from the floor, about three feet in height and a foot
+in diameter, of an amber color, perfectly smooth and translucent, like
+the other formations. On the right, is a deep pit, down which the
+water dashes from a cascade that pours from the roof. Other avenues
+could most likely be found by sounding the sides of the pit, if any
+one had the courage to attempt the descent. We are far enough from
+_terra supra_, and our dinner which we had left at the "Vineyard." We
+hastened back to the Rocky Mountains, and took the branch which we
+left at our right on emerging from the Cabinet. Pursuing the uneven
+path for some distance, we reached "Serena's Arbor," which was
+discovered but three months since, by our guide "Mat." The descent to
+the Arbor seemed so perilous, from the position of the loose rocks
+around, that several of the party would not venture. Those of us who
+scrambled down regarded this as the crowning object of interest. The
+"Arbor" is not more than twelve feet in diameter, and of about the
+same height, of a circular form; but is, of itself, floor, sides,
+roof, and ornaments, one perfect, seamless stalactite, of a beautiful
+hue, and exquisite workmanship. Folds or blades of stalactitic matter
+hang like drapery around the sides, reaching half way to the floor;
+and opposite the door, a canopy of stone projects, elegantly
+ornamented, as if it were the resting-place of a fairy bride. Every
+thing seemed fresh and new; indeed, the invisible architect has not
+quite finished this master-piece; for you can see the pure water,
+trickling down its tiny channels and perfecting the delicate points of
+some of the stalactites. Victoria, with all her splendor, has not in
+Windsor Castle, so beautiful an apartment as "Serena's Arbor."
+
+Such is the description of Cleveland's Avenue, as given by this
+clerical gentleman. It is perfectly graphic, and corresponds with all
+the glowing accounts I have read of this famous place. Exquisitely
+beautiful and rare as are the formations in this avenue, it will soon
+be, I fear, like the Grotto of Pensico--shorn of its beauties. Many a
+little Miss, to decorate her centre table or boudoir, and many a
+thoughtless dandy to present a specimen to his lady fair, have broken
+from the walls (regardless of the published rules prohibiting it,)
+those lovely productions of the Almighty, which required ages to
+perfect; thus destroying in a moment the work of centuries. These
+beautiful and gorgeous formations were encrusted on the walls by the
+hands of our Maker, and who so impious as to desecrate them--to tear
+them from their place? there they are, all lovely and beautiful, and
+there they ought to remain, _untouched_ by the hands of man, for the
+admiration and wonder of all future ages. If the comparatively small
+cave of Adelburg which belongs to the Emperor of Austria, be placed
+for the preservation of its formations under the protecting care of
+the government [Transcriber's note: sic] (as is the case,) what ought
+not to be done to preserve the mineralogical treasures, in this great
+Cave of America, and especially in Cleveland's Cabinet, which are
+worth more than all the caves in Europe, indeed of the world, so far
+as our knowledge of caverns extends.
+
+Returning from Serena's Arbor, we passed on our left the mouth of an
+avenue more than three miles long, lofty and wide, and at its
+termination there is a hall, which in the opinion of the guide is
+larger than any other in the Cave. It is as yet without a name.
+Equidistant from the commencement and the termination of Cleveland's
+Avenue, is a huge rock, nearly circular, flat on the top and three
+feet high. This is the "_dining table_." More than one hundred persons
+could be seated around this table; on it the guide arranged our
+dinner, and we luxuriated on "flesh and fowl" and "choice old sherry."
+Never did a set of fellows enjoy dinner more than we did ours. Our
+friend B. was perfectly at his ease and happy; and, in the exuberance
+of his spirits, proposed the following toast:
+
+    "Prosperity to the subterranean territory of Cimmeria; large
+    enough, if not populous enough, for admission into the Union as
+    an independent State."
+
+We emptied our glasses and gave nine hearty cheers in honor of the
+sentiment. A proposition was made to adjourn, but B. was not inclined
+to locomotion, and opposed it with great warmth, insisting that it was
+too soon to move after such a dinner, and that a state of rest was
+absolutely essential to healthy digestion. We had much argument on the
+motion to adjourn; when our sagacious guide Stephen, with a meaning
+look interposed, saying "we had as well be going, for the river might
+take a rise and shut us up here." "What!" exclaimed B. in utter
+consternation, and with a start, literally bouncing from his seat,
+cried aloud "Let's be off!" at the same time suiting the action to the
+word. In a second we were all in motion, and hurrying past beautiful
+incrustations, through galleries long and tortuous, down one hill and
+up another, (poor B. puffing and blowing, and all the while exclaiming
+against the _terrible_ length and ruggedness of the way,) we at last
+reached the Echo, which we found to our great relief had _not risen_.
+It seems, the guide had used this stratagem for our own advantage, to
+break off our banquet, lest it trenched too far upon the night. We
+were too happy in having our fears relieved, to fall out with him. On
+our homeward bound passage over the rivers, our admiration was rather
+increased than diminished. The death-like stillness! the awful
+silence! the wild grandeur and sublimity of the scene, tranquilizing
+the feeling and disposing to pensive musings and quiet contemplation;
+on a sudden a pistol is fired--a tremendous report ensues--its echoes
+are heard reverberating from wall to wall, in caves far away, like the
+low murmuring sound of distant thunder--the spell of silence and deep
+reverie is broken--we become roused and animated, and the mighty
+cavern resounds with our song. We believe every one will, under
+similar circumstances, experience this sudden transition from pensive
+musings to joyous hilarity. Leaving the rivers, we hastened onward to
+the outlet to the upper world. Far ahead we perceive the first
+_dawnings of day_, shining with a silvery pallid hue on the walls, and
+increasing in brightness as we advance, until it bursts forth in all
+the golden rays and glorious effulgence of the setting sun. This
+_parting_ scene is lovely and interesting. We bid adieu to the "Great
+Monarch of Caves." We here terminate our subterranean tour. Standing
+on the grassy terrace above, we inhale the cool, pure air, and take a
+last look at the "great Wonder of Wonders!" To all we would say "go
+and see--explore the greatest of the Almighty's subterranean works."
+No description can give you an idea of it--neither can inspection of
+other caves; it is "the Monarch of Caves!" none that have ever been
+measured can at all compare with it, in extent, in grandeur, in wild,
+solemn, serene, unadorned majesty; it stands entirely alone.--"It has
+no brother; it has no brother."
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Rambles in the Mammoth Cave, during
+the Year 1844, by Alexander Clark Bullitt
+
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+Rambles In The Mammoth Cave, During The Year 1844, By A Visiter, by
+Alexander Clark Bullitt
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+
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Rambles in the Mammoth Cave, during the
+Year 1844, by Alexander Clark Bullitt
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Rambles in the Mammoth Cave, during the Year 1844
+       By a Visiter
+
+Author: Alexander Clark Bullitt
+
+Release Date: July 6, 2005 [EBook #16220]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK RAMBLES IN THE MAMMOTH CAVE ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Aaron Reed and the Online Distributed
+Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<h1>
+RAMBLES IN THE MAMMOTH CAVE,<br>
+DURING THE YEAR 1844,<br>
+BY A VISITER.
+</h1>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<h4><i>By</i></h4>
+<h2>Alexander Clark Bullitt</h2>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p class="ctr">
+LOUISVILLE, KY.:<br>
+MORTON &amp; GRISWOLD.<br>
+1845.
+</p>
+
+
+
+<p class="ctr">
+Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1845, by<br>
+MORTON &amp; GRISWOLD,<br>
+in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of Kentucky.
+</p>
+
+<p class="ctr">
+Printed by MORTON &amp; GRISWOLD.
+</p>
+<hr class="long">
+<h3>
+ERRATA.
+</h3>
+
+<p class="errata">
+<a href="#11">Page 11th</a>, fifth line from the bottom; for <i>faltering</i>, read pattering.
+</p>
+
+<p class="errata">
+<a href="#46">Page 46th</a>, eighth line from the top&mdash;&quot;They are well furnished, and,
+without question, <i>would with</i> good and comfortable accommodations,
+pure air, and uniform temperature, cure the pulmonary consumption.
+<i>The</i> invalids in the Cave ought to be cured, &amp;c.,&quot;
+</p>
+
+<p class="erratacenter">
+    <i>read</i>,
+</p>
+
+<p class="errata">
+They are well furnished, and, without question, <i>if</i> good and
+comfortable accommodations, pure air, and uniform temperature, <i>could</i>
+cure the pulmonary consumption, <i>the</i> invalids in the Cave ought to be
+cured.
+</p>
+
+<p class="errata">
+<a href="#101">Page 101</a>, last line: read, &quot;It has no brother: it <i>is like</i> no brother.&quot;
+</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<h3>
+PUBLISHER'S ADVERTISEMENT.
+</h3>
+
+
+<p>
+To meet the calls so frequently made upon as by intelligent visitors
+to our City, for some work descriptive of the Mammoth Cave, we are, at
+length, enabled to present the public a succinct, but instructive
+narrative of a visit to this &quot;Wonder of Wonders,&quot; from the pen of a
+gentleman, who, without professing to have explored ALL that is
+curious or beautiful or sublime in its vast recesses, has yet seen
+every thing that has been seen by others, and has described enough to
+quicken and enlighten the curiosity of those who have never visited
+it.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Aware of the embarrassment which most persons experience who design
+visiting the Cave, owing to the absence of any printed itinerary of
+the various routes leading to it, we have supplied, in the present
+volume, this desideratum, from information received from reliable
+persons residing on the different roads here enumerated. The road from
+Louisville to the Cave, and thence to Nashville, is graded the entire
+distance, and the greater part of it M'Adamized. From Louisville to
+the mouth of Salt river, twenty miles, the country is level, with a
+rich alluvial soil, probably at some former period the bed of a lake.
+A few miles below the former place and extending to the latter, a
+chain of elevated hills is seen to the South-East, affording beautiful
+and picturesque situations for country seats, and strangely overlooked
+by the rich and tasteful. The river is crossed by a ferry, and the
+traveler is put down at a comfortable inn in the village of West
+Point. Two miles from the mouth of Salt river, begins the ascent of
+Muldrow's Hill. The road is excellent, and having elevated hills on
+either side, is highly romantic to its summit, five miles. From the
+top of this hill to Elizabethtown, the country is well settled, though
+the improvements are generally indifferent&mdash;the soil thin, but well
+adapted to small-grain, and oak the prevailing growth. Elizabethtown,
+twenty-five miles from the mouth of Salt river, is quite a pretty and
+flourishing village, built chiefly of brick, with several churches and
+three large inns. From this place to Nolin creek, the distance is ten
+miles. Here there is a small town, containing some ten or twelve log
+houses, a large saw and grist mill, and a comfortable and very neat
+inn, kept by Mr. Mosher. Immediately after crossing this creek, the
+traveler enters &quot;Yankee Street,&quot; as the inhabitants style this section
+of the road. For a distance of ten or twelve miles from Nolin toward
+Bacon creek, the land belongs, or did belong to the former Postmaster
+General, Gideon Granger, and on either side of the road, to the extent
+of Mr. G.'s possessions, are settlements made by emigrants from New
+York and the New England States. From Bacon creek to Munfordsville,
+eight miles, the country is pleasantly undulating, and here, indeed
+the whole route from Elizabethtown to the Cave, passes through what
+was until recently a Prairie, or, in the language of the country,
+&quot;Barrens,&quot; and renders it highly interesting, especially to the
+botanist, from the multitude and variety of flowers with which it
+abounds during the Spring and Autumn months. Munfordsville, and
+Woodsonville directly opposite, are situated on Green river, on high
+and broken ground. They are small places, in each of which, however,
+are comfortable inns. Boats laden with tobacco and other produce,
+descend from this point and from a considerable distance above, to New
+Orleans. About two and a half miles beyond Munfordsville, the new
+State road to the Cave, (virtually made by Dr. Croghan, at a great
+expense,) leaves the Turnpike, and joins it again at the Dripping
+Springs, eight miles below, on the route to Nashville. This road, in
+going from Louisville to Nashville, is not only the shortest by three
+and a half miles, but to the Cave it is from ten to twelve miles
+shorter than the one taken by visiters previous to its construction.
+It therefore lessens the inconvenience, delay and consequent expense
+to which travelers were formerly subjected. The road itself is an
+excellent one, the country through which it passes highly picturesque,
+and Dr. Croghan has entitled himself to the gratitude of the traveling
+community by his liberality and enterprise in constructing it.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Persons visiting the Cave by Steamer, (a boat leaves Louisville for
+Bowling-Green every week) will find much to interest them in the
+admirable locks and dams, rendering the navigation of Green river safe
+and good at all seasons for boats of a large class. Passengers can
+obtain conveyances at all times and at moderate rates, from
+Bowling-Green, by the Dripping Spring, to the Cave, distant twenty-two
+miles. Fifteen miles of this road is M'Adamized, the remainder is
+graded and not inferior to the finished portion. The last eight miles
+from the Dripping Spring to the Cave, cannot fail to excite the
+admiration of every one who delights in beholding wild and beautiful
+scenery. A visit to the Cedar Springs on this route, is alone worth a
+journey of many miles. Passengers on the upper turnpike, from
+Bardstown to Nashville, can, on reaching Glasgow, at all times procure
+conveyances to the Cave, either by Bell's or by Prewett's Knob.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Arrived at the Cave, the visitor alights at a spacious hotel, the
+general arrangements, attendance and <i>cuisine</i> of which, are adapted
+to the most fastidious taste. He feels that as far as the &quot;creature
+comforts&quot; are necessary to enjoyment, the prospect is full of promise;
+nor will he be disappointed. And now, this first and most important
+preliminary to a traveler settled to his perfect content, he may
+remain for weeks and experience daily gratification, &quot;<i>Stephen</i> his
+guide,&quot; in wandering through some of its two hundred and twenty-six
+avenues&mdash;in gazing, until he is oppressed with the feeling of their
+magnificence, at some of its forty-seven domes,&mdash;in listening,
+until their drowsy murmurs pain the sense, to some of its many
+water-falls,&mdash;or haply intent upon discovery, he hails some new vista,
+or fretted roof, or secret river, or unsounded lake, or crystal
+fountain, with as much rapture as Balboa, from &quot;that peak in Darien,&quot;
+gazed on the Pacific; he is assured that he &quot;has a poet,&quot; and an
+historian too. Stephen has linked his name to dome, or avenue, or
+river, and it is already immortal&mdash;in the Cave.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Independent of the attractions to be found in the Cave, there is much
+above ground to gratify the different tastes of visiters. There is a
+capacious ball-room, ninety feet by thirty, with a fine band of
+music,&mdash;a ten-pin alley,&mdash;romantic walks and carriage-drives in all
+directions, rendered easy of access by the fine road recently
+finished. The many rare and beautiful flowers in the immediate
+vicinity of the Cave, invite to exercise, and bouquets as exquisite as
+were ever culled in garden or green-house, may be obtained even as
+late as August. The fine sport the neighborhood affords to the hunter
+and the angler&mdash;Green river, just at hand, offers such &quot;store of
+fish,&quot; as father Walton or his son and disciple Cotton, were they
+alive again, would love to meditate and angle in!&mdash;and the woods!
+Capt. Scott or Christopher North himself, might grow weary of the
+sight of game, winged or quadruped.
+</p>
+<hr class="med">
+<h3>
+INTERESTING FACTS.
+</h3>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<ul>
+<li>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;1. Accidents of no kind have ever occurred in the Mammoth Cave.
+</li>
+<li>&nbsp;</li>
+<li>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;2. Visiters, going in or coming out of the Cave, are not liable to
+contract colds; on the contrary, colds are commonly relieved by a
+visit in the Cave.
+</li>
+<li>&nbsp;</li>
+<li>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;3. No impure air exists in any part of the Cave.
+</li>
+<li>&nbsp;</li>
+<li>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;4. Reptiles, of no description, have ever been seen in the Cave; on
+the contrary, they, as well as quadrupeds, avoid it.
+</li>
+<li>&nbsp;</li>
+<li>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;5. Combustion is perfect in all parts of the Cave.
+</li>
+<li>&nbsp;</li>
+<li>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;6. Decomposition and consequent putrefaction are unobservable in all
+parts of the Cave.
+</li>
+<li>&nbsp;</li>
+<li>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;7. The water of the Cave is of the purest kind; and, besides fresh
+water, there are one or two sulphur springs.
+</li>
+<li>&nbsp;</li>
+<li>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;8. There are two hundred and twenty-six Avenues in the Cave;
+forty-seven Domes; eight Cataracts, and twenty-three Pits.
+</li>
+<li>&nbsp;</li>
+<li>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;9. The temperature of the Cave is 59&deg; Fahrenheit, and remains so,
+uniformly, winter and Summer.
+</li>
+<li>&nbsp;</li>
+<li>
+10. No sound, not even the loudest peal of thunder, is heard one
+quarter of a mile in the Cave.
+</li>
+</ul>
+<hr class="med">
+<p>
+The author of &quot;Rambles in the Mammoth Cave,&quot; has written a scientific
+account of the Cave, embracing its Geology, Mineralogy, etc., which we
+could not, in time, insert in this publication.
+</p>
+<hr class="med">
+
+
+<h3>TABLE OF DISTANCES.</h3>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<table width="80%" summary="Table of Distances" cellspacing="1">
+<tr><td><b>FROM LOUISVILLE TO MAMMOTH CAVE.</b></td></tr>
+<tr><td>Medley's</td><td width="15%">10 miles.</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Mouth Salt River</td><td width="15%">10</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Trueman's</td><td width="15%">&nbsp;&nbsp;8</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Haycraft's</td><td width="15%">&nbsp;&nbsp;7</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Elizabethtown</td><td width="15%">&nbsp;&nbsp;9</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Nolin</td><td width="15%">&nbsp;&nbsp;9</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Lucas</td><td width="15%">11</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Munfordsville</td><td width="15%">10</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Mammoth Cave</td><td width="15%"><u>14&frac12;</u></td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td><td width="25%">88&frac12; miles.</td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+
+<tr><td><b>FROM LEXINGTON TO MAMMOTH CAVE.</b></td></tr>
+<tr><td>Harrodsburgh</td><td width="15%">&nbsp;&nbsp;20 miles.</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Perryville</td><td width="15%">&nbsp;&nbsp;10</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Frosts</td><td width="15%">&nbsp;&nbsp;12</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Young</td><td width="15%">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;4</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Lebanon</td><td width="15%">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;7</td></tr>
+<tr><td>New Market</td><td width="15%">&nbsp;&nbsp;12</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Barbee</td><td width="15%">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;6</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Somerville</td><td width="15%">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;3</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Carters</td><td width="15%">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;5</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Moss</td><td width="15%">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;5</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Mitchell</td><td width="15%">&nbsp;&nbsp;12</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Curls</td><td width="15%">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;7</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Greens</td><td width="15%">&nbsp;&nbsp;10</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Dickeys</td><td width="15%">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;8</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Mammoth Cave</td><td width="15%"><u>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;9</u></td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td><td width="25%">130 miles.</td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+
+<tr><td><b>FROM GLASGOW TO MAMMOTH CAVE,<br>via</b></td></tr>
+<tr><td>Dickeys</td><td width="25%">18 miles.</td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+
+<tr><td><b>FROM NASHVILLE TO MAMMOTH CAVE.</b></td></tr>
+<tr><td>Gees</td><td width="15%">&nbsp;&nbsp;9 miles.</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Tyree Springs</td><td width="15%">13</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Buntons</td><td width="15%">12</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Franklin</td><td width="15%">10</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Bowling Green</td><td width="15%">20</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Pattersons</td><td width="15%">12</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Dripping Springs</td><td width="15%">&nbsp;&nbsp;3</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Mammoth Cave</td><td width="15%"><u>&nbsp;&nbsp;8</u></td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td><td width="25%">87 miles.</td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+
+<tr><td><b>FROM BARDSTOWN TO MAMMOTH CAVE.</b></td></tr>
+<tr><td>New Haven</td><td width="15%">15 miles.</td></tr>
+<tr><td>McDougals</td><td width="15%">10</td></tr>
+<tr><td>McAchran (Cobb's stand)</td><td width="15%">12</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Bear Wallow</td><td width="15%">20</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Dickeys (Prewett's Knob)</td><td width="15%">&nbsp;&nbsp;7</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Mammoth Cave</td><td width="15%"><u>&nbsp;&nbsp;9</u></td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td><td width="25%">73 miles.</td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+
+<tr><td><b>FROM BARDSTOWN TO MAMMOTH CAVE, via. MUNFORDSVILLE.</b></td></tr>
+<tr><td>McAchran (Cobb's stand)</td><td width="15%">37 miles.</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Munfordsville</td><td width="15%">12</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Mammoth Cave</td><td width="15%"><u>14&frac12;</u></td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td><td width="25%">63&frac12; miles.</td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+
+<tr><td><b>FROM GLASGOW TO MAMMOTH CAVE, via.</b></td></tr>
+<tr><td>Bells</td><td width="25%">18 miles.</td></tr>
+</table>
+
+<hr class="med">
+<h3>
+CONTENTS.
+</h3>
+
+
+<p class="ctr">
+<a href="#i">CHAPTER I.</a>
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+Mammoth Cave&mdash;Where Situated&mdash;Green River&mdash;Improved Navigation&mdash;Range
+of Highlands&mdash;Beautiful Woodlands&mdash;Hotel&mdash;Romantic Dell&mdash;Mouth of the
+Cave&mdash;Coldness of the Air&mdash;Lamps Lighted&mdash;Bones of a Giant&mdash;Violence
+of the Wind&mdash;Lamps Extinguished&mdash;Temperature of the Cave&mdash;Lamps
+Relighted&mdash;First Hopper&mdash;Grand Vestibule&mdash;Glowing Description&mdash;Audubon
+Avenue&mdash;Little Bat Room&mdash;Pit two hundred and eighty feet deep&mdash;Main
+Cave&mdash;Kentucky Cliffs&mdash;The Church Second Hopper&mdash;Extent of the
+Saltpetre Manufacture in 1814.
+</p>
+
+<p class="ctr">
+<a href="#ii">CHAPTER II.</a>
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+Gothic Gallery&mdash;Gothic Avenue&mdash;Good Road&mdash;Mummies&mdash;Interesting
+Account of Them&mdash;Gothic Avenue, once called Haunted Chamber&mdash;Why so
+named&mdash;Adventure of a Miner in former days.
+</p>
+
+<p class="ctr">
+<a href="#iii">CHAPTER III.</a>
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+Stalagmite Pillars&mdash;The Bell&mdash;Vulcan's Furnace&mdash;Register Rooms&mdash;Stalagmite
+Hall or Gothic Chapel&mdash;Devil's Arm-Chair&mdash;Elephant's Head&mdash;Lover's
+Leap&mdash;Napoleon's Dome&mdash;Salts Cave&mdash;Annetti's Dome.
+</p>
+
+<p class="ctr">
+<a href="#iv">CHAPTER IV.</a>
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+The Ball-Room&mdash;Willie's Spring&mdash;Wandering Willie&mdash;Ox-Stalls&mdash;Giant's
+Coffin&mdash;Acute-Angle or Great Bend&mdash;Range of Cabins&mdash;Curative Properties
+of the Cave Air long known.
+</p>
+
+<p class="ctr">
+<a href="#v">CHAPTER V.</a>
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+Star Chamber&mdash;Salts Room&mdash;Indian Houses&mdash;Cross Rooms&mdash;Black Chambers&mdash;A
+Dinner Party&mdash;Humble Chute&mdash;Solitary Cave&mdash;Fairy Grotto&mdash;Chief City or
+Temple&mdash;Lee's Description&mdash;Return to the Hotel.
+</p>
+
+<p class="ctr">
+<a href="#vi">CHAPTER VI.</a>
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+Arrival of a large Party&mdash;Second Visit&mdash;Lamps Extinguished&mdash;Laughable
+Confusion&mdash;Wooden Bowl&mdash;Deserted Chambers&mdash;Richardson's
+Spring&mdash;Side-Saddle Fit&mdash;The Labyrinth&mdash;Louisa's Dome&mdash;Gorin's
+Dome&mdash;Bottomless Fit&mdash;Separation of our Party.
+</p>
+
+<p class="ctr">
+<a href="#vii">CHAPTER VII.</a>
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+Pensico Avenue&mdash;Cheat Crossings&mdash;Pine Apple Bush&mdash;Angelica's Grotto
+Winding Way&mdash;Fat Friend in Trouble&mdash;Relief Hall&mdash;Bacon Chamber
+Bandits Hall.
+</p>
+
+<p class="ctr">
+<a href="#viii">CHAPTER VIII.</a>
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+Mammoth Dome&mdash;First Discoverers&mdash;Little Dave&mdash;Tale of a Lamp&mdash;Return.
+</p>
+
+<p class="ctr">
+<a href="#ix">CHAPTER IX.</a>
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+Third Visit&mdash;River Hall&mdash;Dead Sea&mdash;River Styx&mdash;Lethe&mdash;Echo
+River&mdash;Purgatory&mdash;Eyeless Fish&mdash;Supposed Level of the Rivers&mdash;Sources
+and Outlet Unknown.
+</p>
+
+<p class="ctr">
+<a href="#x">CHAPTER X.</a>
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+Pass of El Ghor&mdash;Silliman's Avenue&mdash;Wellington's Gallery&mdash;Sulphur
+Spring&mdash;Mary's Vineyard&mdash;Holy Sepulchre&mdash;Commencement of Cleveland
+Avenue&mdash;By whom Discovered&mdash;Beautiful Formations&mdash;Snow-ball
+Room&mdash;Rocky Mountains&mdash;Croghan's Hall&mdash;Serena's Arbor&mdash;Dining
+Table&mdash;Dinner Party and Toast&mdash;Hoax of the Guide&mdash;Homeward
+Bound Passage&mdash;Conclusion.
+</p>
+
+<hr class="long">
+<p class="chapter">
+<a name="i">CHAPTER I.</a>
+</p>
+
+<p class="subjects">
+Mammoth Cave&mdash;Where Situated&mdash;Green River&mdash;Improved Navigation&mdash;Range of Highlands&mdash;Beautiful Woodlands&mdash;Hotel&mdash;Romantic Dell&mdash;Mouth of the Cave&mdash;Coldness of the Air&mdash;Lamps Lighted&mdash;Bones of a Giant&mdash;Violence of the Wind&mdash;Lamps Extinguished&mdash;Temperature of the Cave&mdash;Lamps Lighted&mdash;First Hoppers&mdash;Grand Vestibule&mdash;Glowing Description&mdash;Audubon Avenue&mdash;Little Bat Room&mdash;Pit Two-Hundred and Eighty Feet Deep&mdash;Main Cave&mdash;Kentucky Cliffs&mdash;The Church&mdash;Second Hoppers&mdash;Extent of the Saltpetre Manufacture in 1814.
+</p>
+
+
+<p>
+The Mammoth Cave is situated in the County of Edmondson and State of
+Kentucky, equidistant from the cities of Louisville and Nashville,
+(about ninety miles from each,) and immediately upon the nearest road
+between those two places. Green River is within half a mile of the
+Cave, and since the improvements in its navigation, by the
+construction of locks and dams, steam-boats can, at all seasons,
+ascend to Bowling Green, distant but twenty-two miles, and, for the
+greater part of the year, to the Cave itself.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In going to the Cave from Munfordsville, you will observe a lofty
+range of barren highlands to the North, which approaches nearer and
+nearer the Cave as you advance, until it reaches to within a mile of
+it. This range of highlands or cliffs, composed of calcareous rock,
+pursuing its rectilinear course, is seen the greater part of the way
+as you proceed on towards Bowling Green; and, at last, looses itself
+in the counties below. Under this extensive range of cliffs it is
+conjectured that the great subterranean territory mainly extends
+itself.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+For a distance of two miles from the Cave, as you approach it from the
+South-East, the country is level. It was, until recently, a prairie,
+on which, however, the oak, chestnut and hickory are now growing; and
+having no underbrush, its smooth, verdant openings present, here and
+there, no unapt resemblance to the parks of the English nobility.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Emerging from these beautiful woodlands, you suddenly have a view of
+the hotel and adjacent grounds, which is truly lovely and picturesque.
+The hotel is a large edifice, two hundred feet long by forty-five
+wide, with piazzas, sixteen feet wide, extending the whole length of
+the building, both above and below, well furnished, and kept in a
+style, by Mr. Miller, that cannot fail to please the most fastidious
+epicure.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Cave is about two-hundred yards from the hotel, and you proceed to
+it down a lovely and romantic dell, rendered umbrageous by a forest of
+trees and grape vines; and passing by the ruins of saltpetre furnaces
+and large mounds of ashes, you turn abruptly to the right and behold
+the mouth of the great cavern and as suddenly feel the coldness of its
+air.
+</p>
+
+
+<p>
+It is an appalling spectacle,&mdash;how dark, how dismal, how dreary.
+Descending some thirty feet down rather rude steps of stone, you are
+fairly under the arch of this &quot;nether world&quot;&mdash;before you, in looking
+outwards, is seen a small stream of water falling from the face of the
+crowning rock, with a wild <a name="11">faltering</a> sound, upon the ruins below, and
+disappearing in a deep pit,&mdash;behind you, all is gloom and darkness!
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Let us now follow the guide&mdash;who, placing on his back a canteen of
+oil, lights the lamps, and giving one to each person, we commence our
+subterranean journey; having determined to confine ourselves, for this
+day, to an examination of <i>some</i> of the avenues on this side of the
+rivers, and to resume, on a future occasion, our visit to the fairy
+scenes beyond. I emphasize the word <i>some</i> of the avenues, because no
+visitor has ever yet seen one in twenty; and, although I shall attempt
+to describe only a few of them, and in so doing will endeavor to
+represent things as I saw them, and as they impressed me, I am not the
+less apprehensive that my descriptions will appear as unbounded
+exaggerations, so wonderfully vast is the Cave, so singular its
+formations, and so unique its characteristics.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At the place where our lamps were lighted, are to be seen the wooden
+pipes which conducted the water, as it fell from the ceiling, to the
+vats or saltpetre hoppers; and near this spot too, are interred the
+bones of a <i>giant</i>, of such vast size is the skeleton, at least of
+such portions of it as remain. With regard to this giant, or more
+properly skeleton, it may be well to state, that it was found by the
+saltpetre workers far within the Cave years ago, and was buried by
+their employer where it now lies, to quiet their superstitious fears,
+not however before it was bereft of its head by some fearless
+antiquary.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Proceeding onward about one-hundred feet, we reached a door, set in a
+rough stone wall, stretched across and completely blocking up the
+Cave; which was no sooner opened, than our lamps were extinguished by
+the violence of the wind rushing outwards. An accurate estimate of the
+external temperature, may at any time, be made, by noting the force of
+the wind as it blows inward or outward. When it is very warm without,
+the wind blows outwards with violence; but when cold, it blows inwards
+with proportionate force. The temperature of the Cave, (winter and
+summer,) is invariably the same&mdash;59&deg; Fahrenheit; and its atmosphere is
+perfectly uniform, dry, and of most extraordinary salubrity.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Our lamps being relighted, we soon reached a narrow passage faced on
+the left side by a wall, built by the miners to confine the loose
+stone thrown up in the course of their operations, when gradually
+descending a short distance, we entered the great vestibule or
+ante-chamber of the Cave. What do we now see? Midnight!&mdash;the
+blackness of darkness!&mdash;Nothing! Where is the wall we were lately
+elbowing out of the way? It has vanished!&mdash;It is lost! We are walled
+in by darkness, and darkness canopies us above. Look again;&mdash;Swing
+your torches aloft! Aye, now you can see it; far up, a hundred feet
+above your head, a grey ceiling rolling dimly away like a cloud, and
+heavy buttresses, bending under the weight, curling and toppling over
+their base, begin to project their enormous masses from the shadowy
+wall. How vast! How solemn! How awful! The little bells of the brain
+are ringing in your ears; you hear nothing else&mdash;not even a sigh of
+air&mdash;not even the echo of a drop of water falling from the roof. The
+guide triumphs in your look of amazement and awe; he falls to work on
+certain old wooden ruins, to you, yet invisible, and builds a brace or
+two of fires, by the aid of which you begin to have a better
+conception of the scene around you. You are in the vestibule or
+ante-chamber, to which the spacious entrance of the Cave, and the
+narrow passage that succeeds it, should be considered the mere
+gate-way and covered approach. It is a basilica of an oval
+figure&mdash;two-hundred feet in length by one-hundred and fifty wide, with
+a roof which is as flat and level as if finished by the trowel of the
+plasterer, of fifty or sixty or even more feet in height. Two
+passages, each a hundred feet in width, open into it at its opposite
+extremities, but at right angles to each other; and as they preserve a
+straight course for five or six-hundred feet, with the same flat roof
+common to each, the appearance to the eye, is that of a vast hall in
+the shape of the letter L expanded at the angle, both branches being
+five-hundred feet long by one-hundred wide. The passage to the right
+hand is the &quot;Great Bat Room;&quot; (Audubon Avenue.) That in the front, the
+beginning of the Grand Gallery, or the Main Cavern itself. The whole
+of this prodigious space is covered by a single rock, in which the eye
+can detect no break or interruption, save at its borders, where is a
+broad, sweeping cornice, traced in horizontal panel-work, exceedingly
+noble and regular; and not a single pier or pillar of any kind
+contributes to support it. It needs no support. It is like the arched
+and ponderous roof of the poet's mausoleum:
+</p>
+
+<p class="quote">
+    &quot;By its own weight made stedfast and immoveable.&quot;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The floor is very irregularly broken, consisting of vast heaps of the
+nitrous earth, and of the ruins of the hoppers or vats, composed of
+heavy planking, in which the miners were accustomed to leach it. The
+hall was, in fact, one of their chief factory rooms. Before their day,
+it was a cemetery; and here they disinterred many a mouldering
+skeleton, belonging it seems, to that gigantic eight or nine feet race
+of men of past days, whose jaw-bones so many vivacious persons have
+clapped over their own, like horse-collars, without laying by a single
+one to convince the soul of scepticism.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Such is the vestibule of the Mammoth Cave,&mdash;a hall which hundreds of
+visitors have passed through without being conscious of its existence.
+The path, leading into the Grand Gallery, hugs the wall on the left
+hand; and is, besides, in a hollow, flanked on the right hand by lofty
+mounds of earth, which the visitor, if he looks at them at all, which
+he will scarcely do, at so early a period after entering, will readily
+suppose to be the opposite walls. Those who enter the Great Bat Room,
+(Audubon Avenue,) into which flying visitors are seldom conducted,
+will indeed have some faint suspicion, for a moment, that they are
+passing through infinite space; but the walls of the Cave being so
+dark as to reflect not one single ray of light from the dim torches,
+and a greater number of them being necessary to disperse the gloom
+than are usually employed, they will still remain in ignorance of the
+grandeur around them.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Such is the vestibule of the Mammoth Cave, as described by the
+ingenious author of &quot;Calavar,&quot; &quot;Peter Pilgrim,&quot; &amp;c.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+From the vestibule we entered Audubon Avenue, which is more than a
+mile long, fifty or sixty feet wide and as many high. The roof or
+ceiling exhibits, as you walk along, the appearance of floating
+clouds&mdash;and such is observable in many other parts of the Cave. Near
+the termination of this avenue, a natural well, twenty-five feet deep,
+and containing the purest water, has been recently discovered; it is
+surrounded by stalagmite columns, extending from the floor to the
+roof, upon the incrustations of which, when lights are suspended, the
+reflection from the water below and the various objects above and
+around, gives to the whole scene an appearance equally rare and
+picturesque. This spot, however, being difficult of access, is but
+seldom visited.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Little Bat Room Cave&mdash;a branch of Audubon Avenue,&mdash;is on the left
+as you advance, and not more than three-hundred yards from the great
+vestibule. It is but little more than a quarter of a mile in length,
+and is remarkable for its pit of two-hundred and eighty feet in depth;
+and as being the hibernal resort of bats. Tens of thousands of them
+are seen hanging from the walls, in apparently a torpid state, during
+the winter, but no sooner does the spring open, than they disappear.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Returning from the Little Bat Room and Audubon Avenue, we pass again
+through the vestibule, and enter the Main Cave or Grand Gallery. This
+is a vast tunnel extending for miles, averaging throughout, fifty feet
+in width by as many in height It is truly a noble subterranean avenue;
+the largest of which man has any knowledge, and replete with interest,
+from its varied characteristics and majestic grandeur.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Proceeding down the main Cave about a quarter of a mile, we came to
+the Kentucky Cliffs, so called from the fancied resemblance to the
+cliffs on the Kentucky River, and descending gradually about twenty
+feet entered the church, when our guide was discovered in the <i>pulpit</i>
+fifteen feet above us, having reached there by a gallery which leads
+from the cliffs. The ceiling here is sixty three feet high, and the
+church itself, including the recess, cannot be less than one hundred
+feet in diameter. Eight or ten feet above and immediately behind the
+pulpit, is the organ loft, which is sufficiently capacious for an.
+organ and choir of the largest size. There would appear to be
+something like design in all this;&mdash;here is a church large enough to
+accomodate thousands, a solid projection of the wall of the Cave to
+serve as a pulpit, and a few feet back a place for an organ and choir.
+In this great temple of nature, religious service has been frequently
+held, and it requires but a slight effort on the part of a speaker, to
+make himself distinctly heard by the largest congregation.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Sometimes the guides climb up the high and ragged sides, and suspend
+lamps in the crevices and on the projections of the rock, thus
+lighting up a scene of wild grandeur and sublimity.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Concerts too have been held here, and the melody of song has been
+heard, such as would delight the ear of a Catalini or a Malibran.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Leaving the church you will observe, on ascending, a large embankment
+of lixiviated earth thrown out by the miners more than thirty years
+ago, the print of wagon wheels and the tracks of oxen, as distinctly
+defined as though they were made but yesterday; and continuing on for
+a short distance, you arrive at the Second Hoppers. Here are seen the
+ruins of the old nitre works, leaching vats, pump frames and two lines
+of wooden pipes; one to lead fresh water from the dripping spring to
+the vats filled with the nitrous earth, and the other to convey the
+lye drawn from the large reservoir, back to the furnace at the mouth
+of the Cave.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The quantity of nitrous earth contained in the Cave is &quot;sufficient to
+supply the whole population of the globe with saltpetre.&quot;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&quot;The dirt gives from three to five pounds of nitrate of lime to the
+bushel, requiring a large proportion of fixed alkali to produce the
+required crystalization, and when left in the Cave become
+re-impregnated in three years. When saltpetre bore a high price,
+immense quantities were manufactured at the Mammoth Cave, but the
+return of peace brought the saltpetre from the East Indies in
+competition with the American, and drove that of the produce of our
+country entirely from the market. An idea may be formed of the extent
+of the manufacture of saltpetre at this Cave, from the fact that the
+contract for the supply of the fixed alkali alone for the Cave, for
+the year 1814, was twenty thousand dollars.&quot;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&quot;The price of the article was so high, and the profits of the
+manufacturer so great, as to set half the western world gadding after
+nitre caves&mdash;the gold mines of the day. Cave hunting in fact became a
+kind of mania, beginning with speculators, and ending with hair
+brained young men, who dared for the love of adventure the risk which
+others ran for profit.&quot; Every hole, remarked an old miner, the size of
+a man's body, has been penetrated for miles around the Mammoth Cave,
+but although we found &quot;<i>petre earth</i>,&quot; we never could find a cave
+worth having.
+</p>
+
+
+
+
+<p class="chapter">
+<a name="ii">CHAPTER II.</a>
+</p>
+
+<p class="subjects">
+Gothic Gallery&mdash;Gothic Avenue&mdash;Good Road&mdash;Mummies&mdash;
+Interesting Account of Them&mdash;Gothic Avenue once called Haunted
+Chamber&mdash;Why so Named&mdash;Adventure of a Miner in Former Days.
+</p>
+
+
+<p>
+In looking from the ruins of the nitre works, to the left and some
+thirty feet above, you will see a large cave, connected with which is
+a narrow gallery sweeping across the Main Cave and losing itself in a
+cave, which is seen above to your right This latter cave is the Gothic
+Avenue, which no doubt was at one time connected with the cave
+opposite and on the same level, forming a complete bridge over the
+main avenue, but afterwards broken down and separated by some great
+convulsion.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The cave on the left, which is filled with sand, has been penetrated
+but a short distance; still from its great size at its entrance, it is
+more than probable, that, were all obstructions removed, it might be
+found to extend for miles.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+While examining the old saltpetre works, the guide left us without our
+being aware of it, but casting our eyes around we perceived him
+standing some forty feet above, on the projection of a huge rock, or
+tower, which commands a view of the grand gallery to a great extent
+both up and down.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Leaving the Main Cave and ascending a flight of stairs twenty or
+thirty feet, we entered the Gothic Avenue, so named from the Gothic
+appearance of some of its compartments. This avenue is about forty
+feet wide, fifteen feet high and two miles long. The ceiling looks in
+many places as smooth and white as though it had been under the trowel
+of the most skilful plasterer. A good road has been made throughout
+this cave, and such is the temperature and purity of its atmosphere,
+that every visitor must experience their salutary influences.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In a recess on the left hand elevated a few feet above the floor and
+about fifty feet from the head of the stairs leading up from the Main
+Avenue, two mummies long since taken away, were to be seen in 1813.
+They were in good preservation; one was a female with her extensive
+wardrobe placed before her. The removal of those mummies from the
+place in which they were found can be viewed as little less than
+sacrilege. There they had been, perhaps for centuries, and there they
+ought to have been left. What has become of them I know not. One of
+them, it is said, was lost in the burning of the Cincinnati museum.
+The wardrobe of the female was given to a Mr. Ward, of Massachusetts,
+who I believe presented it to the British Museum.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Two of the miners found a mummy in Audubon Avenue, in 1814. With a
+view to conceal it for a time, they placed large stones over it, and
+marked the walls about the spot so that they might find it at some
+future period; this however, they were never able to effect. In 1840,
+the present hotel keeper Mr. Miller, learning the above facts, went in
+search of the place designated, taking with him very many lights, and
+found the marks on the walls, and near to them the mummy. It was,
+however, so much injured and broken to pieces by the heavy weights
+which had been placed upon it, as to be of little interest or value. I
+have no doubt, that if proper efforts were made, mummies and other
+objects of curiosity might be found, which would tend to throw light
+on the early history of the first inhabitants of this continent.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Believing, that whatever may relate to these mummies cannot fail to
+interest, I will extract from the recently published narrative of a
+highly scientific gentleman of New York, himself one of the early
+visitors to the Cave.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&quot;On my first visit to the Mammoth Cave in 1813, I saw a relic of
+ancient times, which requires a minute description. This description
+is from a memorandum made in the Cave at the time.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&quot;In the digging of saltpetre earth, in the short cave, a flat rock was
+met with by the workmen, a little below the surface of the earth in
+the Cave; this stone was raised, and was about four feet wide and as
+many long; beneath it was a square excavation about three feet deep
+and as many in length and width. In this small nether subterranean
+chamber, sat in solemn silence one of the human species, a female with
+her wardrobe and ornaments placed at her side. The body was in a state
+of perfect preservation, and sitting erect The arms were folded up and
+the hands were laid across the bosom; around the two wrists was wound
+a small cord, designed probably, to keep them in the posture in which
+they were first placed; around the body and next thereto, was wrapped
+two deer-skins. These skins appear to have been dressed in some mode
+different from what is now practised by any people, of whom I have any
+knowledge. The hair of the skins was cut off very near the surface.
+The skins were ornamented with the imprints of vines and leaves, which
+were sketched with a substance perfectly white. Outside of these two
+skins was a large square sheet, which was either wove or knit. This
+fabric was the inner bark of a tree, which I judge from appearances to
+be that of the linn tree. In its texture and appearance, it resembled
+the South Sea Island cloth or matting; this sheet enveloped the whole
+body and the head. The hair on the head was cut off within an eighth
+of an inch of the skin, except near the neck, where it was an inch
+long. The color of the hair was a dark red; the teeth were white and
+perfect. I discovered no blemish upon the body, except a wound between
+two ribs near the back-bone; one of the eyes had also been injured.
+The finger and toe nails were perfect and quite long. The features
+were regular. I measured the length of one of the bones of the arm
+with a string, from the elbow to the wrist joint, and they equalled my
+own in length, viz: ten and a half inches. From the examination of the
+whole frame, I judged the figure to be that of a very tall female, say
+five feet ten inches in height. The body, at the time it was first
+discovered, weighed but fourteen pounds, and was perfectly dry; on
+exposure to the atmosphere, it gained in weight by absorbing dampness
+four pounds. Many persons have expressed surprise that a human body of
+great size should weigh so little, as many human skeletons of nothing
+but bone, exceed this weight. Recently some experiments have been made
+in Paris, which have demonstrated the fact of the human body being
+reduced to ten pounds, by being exposed to a heated atmosphere for a
+long period of time. The color of the skin was dark, not black; the
+flesh was hard and dry upon the bones. At the side of the body lay a
+pair of moccasins, a knapsack and an indispensable or reticule. I will
+describe these in the order in which I have named them. The moccasins
+were made of wove or knit bark, like the wrapper I have described.
+Around the top there was a border to add strength and perhaps as an
+ornament. These were of middling size, denoting feet of small size.
+The shape of the moccasins differs but little from the deer-skin
+moccasins worn by the Northern Indians. The knapsack was of wove or
+knit bark, with a deep, strong border around the top, and was about
+the size of knapsacks used by soldiers. The workmanship of it was
+neat, and such as would do credit as a fabric, to a manufacturer of
+the present day. The reticule was also made of knit or wove bark. The
+shape was much like a horseman's valise, opening its whole length on
+the top. On the side of the opening and a few inches from it, were two
+rows of hoops, one row on each side. Two cords were fastened to one
+end of the reticule at the top, which passed through the loop on one
+side and then on the other side, the whole length, by which it was
+laced up and secured. The edges of the top of the reticule were
+strengthened with deep fancy borders. The articles contained in the
+knapsack and reticule were quite numerous, and are as follows: one
+head cap, made of wove or knit bark, without any border, and of the
+shape of the plainest night cap; seven head-dresses made of the quills
+of large birds, and put together somewhat in the same way that feather
+fans are made, except that the pipes of the quills are not drawn to a
+point, but are spread out in straight lines with the top. This was
+done by perforating the pipe of the quill in two places and running
+two cords through these holes, and then winding around the quills and
+the cord, fine thread, to fasten each quill in the place designed for
+it. These cords extended some length beyond the quills on each side,
+so that on placing the feathers erect on the head, the cords could be
+tied together at the back of the head. This would enable the wearer to
+present a beautiful display of feathers standing erect and extending a
+distance above the head, and entirely surrounding it. These were most
+splendid head dresses, and would be a magnificent ornament to the head
+of a female at the present day,&mdash;several hundred strings of beads;
+these consisted of very hard brown seed smaller than hemp seed, in
+each of which a small hole had been made, and through this hole a
+small three corded thread, similar in appearance and texture to seine
+twine; these were tied up in bunches, as a merchant ties up coral
+beads when he exposes them for sale. The red hoofs of fawns, on a
+string supposed to be worn around the neck as a necklace. These hoofs
+were about twenty in number, and may have been emblematic of
+Innocence; the claw of an eagle, with a hole made in it, through which
+a cord was passed, so that it could be worn pendent from the neck; the
+jaw of a bear designed to be worn in the same manner as the eagle's
+claw, and supplied with a cord to suspend it around the neck; two
+rattlesnake-skins, one of these had fourteen rattles upon it, these
+were neatly folded up; some vegetable colors done up in leaves; a
+small bunch of deer sinews, resembling cat-gut in appearance; several
+bunches of thread and twine, two and three threaded, some of which
+were nearly white; seven needles, some of these were of horn and some
+of bone, they were smooth and appeared to have been much used. These
+needles had each a knob or whirl on the top, and at the other end were
+brought to a point like a large sail needle. They had no eyelets to
+receive a thread. The top of one of these needles was handsomely
+scalloped; a hand-piece made of deer-skin, with a hole through it for
+the thumb, and designed probably to protect the hand in the use of the
+needle, the same as thimbles are now used; two whistles about eight
+inches long made of cane, with a joint about one third the length;
+over the joint is an opening extending to each side of the tube of the
+whistle, these openings were about three-fourths of an inch long and a
+quarter of an inch wide, and had each a flat reed placed in the
+opening. These whistles were tied together with a cord wound around
+them.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&quot;I have been thus minute in describing the mute witness from the days
+of other times, and the articles which were deposited within her
+earthen house. Of the race of people to whom she belonged when living,
+we know nothing; and as to conjecture, the reader who gathers from
+these pages this account, can judge of the matter as well as those who
+saw the remnant of mortality in the subterranean chambers in which she
+was entombed. The cause of the preservation of her body, dress and
+ornaments is no mystery. The dry atmosphere of the Cave, with the
+nitrate of lime, with which the earth that covers the bottom of these
+nether palaces is so highly impregnated, preserves animal flesh, and
+it will neither putrify nor decompose when confined to its unchanging
+action. Heat and moisture are both absent from the Cave, and it is
+these two agents, acting together, which produce both animal and
+vegetable decomposition and putrefaction.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&quot;In the ornaments, etc., of this mute witness of ages gone, we have a
+record of olden time, from which, in the absence of a written record,
+we may draw some conclusions. In the various articles which
+constituted her ornaments, there were no metallic substances. In the
+make of her dress, there is no evidence of the use of any other
+machinery than the bone and horn needles. The beads are of a
+substance, of the use of which for such purposes, we have no account
+among people of whom we have any written record. She had no warlike
+arms. By what process the hair upon her head was cut short, or by what
+process the deer-skins were shorn, we have no means of conjecture.
+These articles afford us the same means of judging of the nation to
+which she belonged, and of their advances in the arts, that future
+generations will have in the exhumation of a tenant of one of our
+modern tombs, with the funeral shroud, etc. in a state of like
+preservation; with this difference, that with the present inhabitants
+of this section of the globe, but few articles of ornament are
+deposited with the body. The features of this ancient member of the
+human family much resembled those of a tall, handsome American woman.
+The forehead was high, and the head well formed.
+</p>
+
+<div class="poem">
+<div class="stanza">
+<p>&quot;Ye mouldering relics of a race departed,</p>
+<p>Your names have perished; not a trace remains.&quot;</p></div></div>
+
+<p>
+The Gothic Avenue was once called the Haunted Chamber, and owed its
+name to an adventure that befell one of the miners in former days,
+which is thus related by the author of &quot;Calavar.&quot;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In the Lower Branch is a room called the Salts Room, which produces
+considerable quantities of the sulphate of magnesia, or of soda, we
+forget which&mdash;a mineral that the proprietor of the Cave did not fail
+to turn to account. The miner in question was a new and raw hand&mdash;of
+course neither very well acquainted with the Cave itself, nor with the
+approved modes of averting or repairing accidents, to which, from the
+nature of their occupation, the miners were greatly exposed. Having
+been sent, one day, in charge of an older workman, to the Salts Room
+to dig a few sacks of the salt, and finding that the path to this
+sequestered nook was perfectly plain; and that, from the Haunted
+Chambers being a single, continuous passage without branches, it was
+impossible to wander from it, our hero disdained on his second visit,
+to seek or accept assistance, and trudged off to his work alone. The
+circumstance being common enough he was speedily forgotten by his
+brother miners; and it was not until several hours after, when they
+all left off their toil for the more agreeable duty of eating their
+dinner, that his absence was remarked, and his heroical resolution to
+make his way alone to the Salts Room remembered. As it was apparent,
+from the time he had been gone, that some accident must have happened
+to him, half a dozen men, most of them negroes, stripped half naked,
+their usual working costume, were sent to hunt him up, a task supposed
+to be of no great difficulty, unless he had fallen into a pit. In the
+meanwhile, the poor miner, it seems, had succeeded in reaching the
+Salts Room, filling his sack, and retracing his steps half way back to
+the Grand Gallery; when finding the distance greater than he thought
+it ought to be, the conceit entered his unlucky brain that he <i>might</i>
+perhaps be going wrong. No sooner had the suspicion struck him, than
+he fell into a violent terror, dropped his sack, ran backwards, then
+returned, then ran back again&mdash;each time more frightened and
+bewildered than before; until at last he ended his adventure by
+tumbling over a stone and extinguishing his lamp. Thus left in the
+dark, not knowing where to turn, frightened out of his wits besides,
+he fell to remembering his sins&mdash;always remembered by those who are
+lost in the Cave&mdash;and praying with all his might for succor. But hours
+passed away, and assistance came not; the poor fellow's frenzy
+increased; he felt himself a doomed man; he thought his terrible
+situation was a judgment imposed on him for his wickedness; nay, he
+even believed, at last, that he was no longer an inhabitant of the
+earth&mdash;that he had been translated, even in the body, to the place of
+torment&mdash;in other words, that he was in hell itself, the prey of the
+devils, who would presently be let loose upon him. It was at this
+moment the miners in search of him made their appearance; they lighted
+upon his sack, lying where he had thrown it, and set up a great shout,
+which was the first intimation he had of their approach. He started
+up, and seeing them in the distance, the half naked negroes in
+advance, all swinging their torches aloft, he, not doubting they were
+those identical devils whose appearance he had been expecting, took to
+his heels, yelling lustily for mercy; nor did he stop, notwithstanding
+the calls of his amazed friends, until he had fallen a second time
+over the rocks, where he lay on his face, roaring for pity, until, by
+dint of much pulling and shaking, he was convinced that he was still
+in the world and the Mammoth Cave. Such is the story of the Haunted
+Chambers, the name having been given to commemorate the incident.
+</p>
+
+
+
+
+<p class="chapter">
+<a name="iii">CHAPTER III.</a>
+</p>
+
+<p class="subjects">
+Stalagmite Pillars&mdash;The Bell&mdash;Vulcan's
+Furnace&mdash;Register Rooms&mdash;Stalagmite Hall or Gothic
+Chapel&mdash;Devil's Arm-Chair&mdash;Elephant's Head&mdash;Lover's
+Leap&mdash;Napoleon's Dome&mdash;Salts Cave&mdash;Annetti's Dome.
+</p>
+
+
+<p>
+Resuming our explorations in this most interesting avenue, we soon
+came in sight of stalagmite pillars, reaching from the floor to the
+ceiling, once perhaps white and translucent, but now black and
+begrimed with smoke. At this point we were startled by the hollow
+tread of our feet, caused by the proximity of another large avenue
+underneath, which the guide assured us he had often visited. In this
+neighborhood too, there are a number of Stalactites, one of which was
+called the Bell, which on being struck, sounded like the deep bell of
+a cathedral; but it now no longer tolls, having been broken in twain
+by a visiter from Philadelphia some years ago. Further on our way, we
+passed Louisa's Bower and Vulcan's Furnace, where there is a heap, not
+unlike cinders in appearance, and some dark colored water, in which I
+suppose the great forger used to slake his iron and perhaps his bolts.
+Next in order and not very distant are the new and old Register Rooms.
+Here on the ceiling which is as smooth and white as if it had been
+finished off by the plasterer, thousands of names have been traced by
+the smoke of a candle&mdash;names which can create no pleasing associations
+or recollections; names unknown to fame, and which might excite
+disgust, when read for the first time on the ceiling which they have
+disfigured.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Soon after leaving the old Register Room, we were halted by our guide,
+who took from us all the lamps excepting one. Having made certain
+arrangements, he cried aloud, &quot;Come on!&quot; which we did, and in a few
+moments entered an apartment of surprising grandeur and magnificence.
+This apartment or hall is elliptical in shape and eighty feet long by
+fifty wide. Stalagmite columns, of vast size nearly block up the two
+ends; and two rows of pillars of smaller dimensions, reaching from
+floor to ceiling and equidistant from the wall on either side, extend
+its entire length. Against the pillars, and in many places from the
+ceiling, our lamps were hanging, and, lighting up the whole space,
+exhibited to our enraptured sight a scene surpassingly grand, and well
+calculated to inspire feelings of solemnity and awe. This is the
+Stalagmite Hall, or as some call it, the Gothic Chapel, which no one
+can see under such circumstances as did our party, without being
+forcibly reminded of the old, very old cathedrals of Europe.
+Continuing our walk we came to the Devil's Arm-Chair. This is a large
+Stalagmite column, in the centre of which is formed a capacious seat.
+Like most other visiters we seated ourselves in the chair of his
+Satanic Majesty, and drank sulphur water dipped up from a small basin
+of rock, near the foot of the chair. Further on we passed a number of
+Stalactites and Stalagmites, Napoleon's Breast-Work, (behind which we
+found ashes and burnt cane,) the Elephant's Head, the Curtain, and
+arrived at last at the Lover's Leap. The Lover's Leap is a large
+pointed rock projecting over a dark and gloomy hollow, thirty or more
+feet deep. Our guide told us that the young ladies often asked their
+beaux to take the Lover's Leap, but that he never knew any to &quot;love
+hard enough&quot; to attempt it. We descended into the hollow, immediately
+below the Lover's Leap, and entered to the left and at right-angle
+with our previous course, a passage or chasm in the rock, three feet
+wide and fifty feet high, which conducted us to the lower branch of
+the Gothic Avenue. At the entrance of this lower branch is an
+immensely large flat rock called Gatewood's Dining Table, to the right
+of which is a cave, which we penetrated, as far as the Cooling Tub&mdash;a
+beautiful basin of water six feet wide and three deep&mdash;into which a
+small stream of the purest water pours itself from the ceiling and
+afterwards finds its way into the Flint Pit at no great distance.
+Returning, we wound around Gatewood's Dining Table, which nearly
+blocks up the way, and continued our walk along the lower branch more
+than half a mile, passing Napoleon's Dome, the Cinder Banks, the
+Crystal Pool, the Salts Cave, etc., etc. Descending a few feet and
+leaving the cave which continues onwards, we entered, on our right, a
+place of great seclusion and grandeur, called Annetti's Dome. Through
+a crevice in the right wall of the dome is a waterfall. The water
+issues in a stream a foot in diameter, from a high cave in the side of
+the dome&mdash;falls upon the solid bottom, and passes off by a small
+channel into the Cistern, which is directly on the pathway of the
+cave. The Cistern is a large pit, which is usually kept nearly full of
+water.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Near the end of this branch, (the lower branch) there is a crevice in
+the ceiling over the last spring, through which the sound of water may
+be heard falling in a cave or open space above.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Highly gratified with what we had now seen in the Gothic Avenue, we
+concluded to pursue it no further, but to retrace our steps to the
+Main Cave, regretting however, that we had not visited the Salts Cave,
+(a branch of the Gothic Avenue,) on being told, when too late, that it
+would have amply compensated us for our trouble, being rich in fine
+specimens of Epsom or Glauber salts.
+</p>
+
+
+
+
+<p class="chapter">
+<a name="iv">CHAPTER IV.</a>
+</p>
+
+<p class="subjects">
+The Ball-Room&mdash;Willie's Spring&mdash;Wandering Willie Ox-Stalls
+Giant's Coffin&mdash; Acute-Angle or Great Bend&mdash; Range of
+Cabins&mdash; Curative Properties of the Cave Air long known.
+</p>
+
+
+<p>
+We are now again in the Main Cave or Grand Gallery, which continues to
+increase in interest as we advance, eliciting from our party frequent
+and loud exclamations of admiration and wonder. Not many steps from
+the stairs leading down from the Gothic Avenue into the Main Cave, is
+the Ball-Room, so called from its singular adaptedness to such a
+purpose; for there is an orchestra, fifteen or eighteen feet high,
+large enough to accommodate a hundred or more musicians, with a
+gallery extending back to the level of the high embankment near the
+Gothic Avenue; besides which, the avenue here is lofty, wide, straight
+and perfectly level for several hundred feet. At the trifling expense
+of a plank floor, seats and lamps, a ball-room might be had, if not
+more splendid, at all events more grand and magnificent than any other
+on earth. The effect of music here would be truly inspiring; but the
+awful solemnity of the place may, in the opinion of many, prevent its
+being used as a temple of Terpsichore. Extremes, we are told, often
+meet. The same objection has been urged against the Cave's being used
+for religious services. &quot;No clergyman,&quot; remarked a distinguished
+divine, &quot;be he ever so eloquent could concentrate the attention of his
+congregation in such a place. The God of nature speaks too loud here
+for <i>man to be heard</i>.&quot;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Leaving these points to be settled as they may, we will proceed
+onwards; the road now is broad and fine, and in many places dusty.
+Next in order is Willie's Spring, a beautifully fluted niche in the
+left hand wall, caused by the continual attrition of water trickling
+down into a basin below. This spring derives its name from that of a
+young gentleman, the son of a highly respectable clergyman of
+Cincinnati, who, in the spirit of romance, assumed the name of
+Wandering Willie, and taking with him his violin, marched on foot to
+the Cave. Wishing no better place in which to pass the night, he
+selected this spot, requesting the guide to call for him in the
+morning. This he did and found him fast asleep upon his bed of earth,
+with his violin beside him&mdash;ever since it has been called Willie's
+Spring. Just beyond the spring and near the left wall, is the place
+where the oxen were fed during the time of the miners; and strewn
+around are a great many corn-cobs, to all appearance, and in fact,
+perfectly sound, although they have lain there for more than thirty
+years. In this neighborhood is a niche of great size in the wall on
+the left, and reaching from the roof to the bottom of a pit more than
+thirty feet deep, down the sides of which, water of the purest kind is
+continually dripping, and is afterwards conducted to a large trough,
+from which the invalids obtain their supply of water, during their
+sojourn in the Cave. Near the bottom, this pit or well expands into a
+large room, out of which, there is no opening. It is probable that
+Richardson's Spring in the Deserted Chambers is supplied from this
+well. Passing the Well Cave, Rocky Cave, etc., etc., we arrived at the
+Giant's Coffin, a huge rock on the right, thus named from its singular
+resemblance in shape to a coffin; its locality, apart from its great
+size, renders it particularly conspicuous, as all must pass around it,
+in leaving the Main Cave, to visit the rivers and the thousand wonders
+beyond. At this point commence those incrustations, which, portraying
+every imaginable figure on the ceiling, afford full scope to the
+fanciful to picture what they will, whether of &quot;birds, or beasts, or
+creeping things.&quot; About a hundred yards beyond the Coffin, the Cave
+makes a majestic curve, and sweeping round the Great Bend or
+Acute-Angle, resumes its general course. Here the guide ignited a
+Bengal light. This vast amphitheatre became illuminated, and a scene
+of enchantment was exposed to our view. Poets may conceive, but no
+language can describe, the splendor and sublimity of the scene. The
+rapturous exclamations of our party might have been heard from afar,
+both up and down this place of wonders. Opposite to the Great Bend, is
+the entrance of the Sick Room Cave, so called from the fact of the
+sudden sickness of a visiter a few years ago, supposed to have been
+caused by his smoking, with others, cigars in one of its most remote
+and confined nooks. Immediately beyond the Great Bend, a row of
+cabins, built for consumptive patients, commences. All of these are
+framed buildings, with the exception of two, which are of stone. They
+stand in line, from thirty to one hundred feet apart, exhibiting a
+picturesque, yet at the same time, a gloomy and mournful appearance.
+<a name="46">
+They are well furnished, and without question, would with good and
+comfortable accommodations, pure air and uniform temperature, cure the
+pulmonary consumption. The invalids in the Cave ought to be cured</a>; but
+I doubt whether the Cave air or any thing else can cure confirmed
+Phthisis. A knowledge of the curative properties of the Cave air, is
+not, as is generally supposed, of recent date. It has been long known.
+A physician of great respectability, formerly a member of Congress
+from the district adjoining the Cave, was so firmly convinced of the
+medical properties of its air, as to express more than twenty years
+ago, as his opinion, that the State of Kentucky ought to purchase it,
+with a view to establish a hospital in one of its avenues. Again the
+author of &quot;Calavar,&quot; himself a distinguished professor of medicine,
+makes the following remarks in relation to the Cave air, as far back
+as 1832, the date of his visit:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&quot;It is always temperate. Its purity, judging from its effects on the
+lungs, and from other circumstances, is remarkable, though in what its
+purity consists, I know not. But, be its composition what it may, it
+is certain its effects upon the spirits and bodily powers of visiters,
+are extremely exhilarating; and that it is not less salubrious than
+enlivening. The nitre diggers were a famously healthy set of men; it
+was a common and humane practice to employ laborers of enfeebled
+constitutions, who were soon restored to health and strength, though
+kept at constant labour; and more joyous, merry fellows were never
+seen. The oxen, of which several were kept day and night in the Cave,
+hauling the nitrous earth, were after a month or two of toil, in as
+fine condition for the shambles, as if fattened in the stall. The
+ordinary visiter, though rambling a dozen hours or more, over paths of
+the roughest and most difficult kind, is seldom conscious of fatigue,
+until he returns to the upper air; and then it seems to him, at least
+in the summer season, that he has exchanged the atmosphere of paradise
+for that of a charnel warmed by steam&mdash;all without is so heavy, so
+dank, so dead, so mephitic. Awe and even apprehension, if that has
+been felt, soon yield to the influence of the delicious air of the
+Cave; and after a time a certain jocund feeling is found mingled with
+the deepest impressions of sublimity, which there are so many objects
+to awaken. I recommend all broken hearted lovers and dyspeptic dandies
+to carry their complaints to the Mammoth Cave, where they will
+undoubtedly find themselves &quot;translated&quot; into very buxom and happy
+persons before they are aware of it.&quot;
+</p>
+
+<p class="chapter">
+<a name="v">CHAPTER V.</a>
+</p>
+
+<p class="subjects">
+Star Chamber&mdash; Salts Room&mdash; Indian Houses&mdash; Cross Rooms
+Black Chambers&mdash; A Dinner Party&mdash; Humble Chute&mdash;
+Solitary Care&mdash; Fairy Grotto&mdash; Chief City or Temple&mdash;
+Lee's Description&mdash; Return to the Hotel.
+</p>
+
+
+<p>
+The Star Chamber next attracted our attention. It presents the most
+perfect optical illusion imaginable; in looking up to the ceiling,
+which is here very high, you seem to see the very firmament itself,
+studded with stars; and afar off, a comet with its long, bright tail.
+Not far from this Star Chamber, may be seen, in a cavity in the wall
+on the right, and about twenty feet above the floor, an oak pole about
+ten feet long and six inches in diameter, with two round sticks of
+half the thickness and three feet long, tied on to it transversely, at
+about four feet apart. By means of a ladder we ascended to the cavity,
+and found the pole to be firmly fixed&mdash;one end resting on the bottom
+of the cavity, and the other reaching across and forced into a crevice
+about three feet above. We supposed that this was a ladder once used
+by the former inhabitants of the Cave, in getting the salts which are
+incrusted on the walls in many places. Doct. Locke, of the Medical
+College of Ohio, is, however, of the opinion, that on it was placed a
+dead body,&mdash;similar contrivances being used by some Indian tribes on
+which to place their dead. Although thousands have passed the spot,
+still this was never seen until the fall of 1841. Ages have doubtless
+rolled by since this was placed here, and yet it is perfectly sound;
+even the bark which confines the transverse pieces shows no marks of
+decay.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+We passed through some Side Cuts, as they are called. These are caves
+opening on the sides of the avenues; and after running for some
+distance, entering them again. Some of them exceed half a mile in
+length; but most generally they are short. In many of them, &quot;quartz,
+calcedony, red ochre, gypsum, and salts are found.&quot; The walking, in
+this part of the avenue, being rough, we progressed but slowly, until
+we reached the Salts Room; here we found the walls and ceiling covered
+with salts hanging in crystals. The least agitation of the air causing
+flakes of the crystals to fall like snow. In the Salts Room are the
+Indian houses, under the rocks&mdash;small spaces or rooms completely
+covered&mdash;some of which contain ashes and cane partly burnt. The
+<i>Cross Rooms</i>, which we next come to, is a grand section of this
+avenue; the ceiling has an unbroken span of one hundred and seventy
+feet, without a column to support it! The mouths of two caves are seen
+from this point, neither of which we visited, and much to our loss, as
+will appear from the following extract from the &quot;Notes on the Mammoth
+Cave, by E.F. Lee, Esq., Civil Engineer,&quot; in relation to one of
+them&mdash;the Black Chambers:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&quot;At the ruins in the Black Chambers, there are a great many large
+blocks composed of different strata of rocks, cemented together,
+resembling the walls, pedestals, cornices, etc., of some old castle,
+scattered over the bottom of the Cave. The avenue here is so wide, as
+to make it quite a task to walk from one side to the other. On the
+right hand, beyond the ruins, you enter the right branch, on the same
+level&mdash;the ceiling of which is regularly arched. Through the Big
+Chimneys you ascend into an upper room, about the size of the Main
+Cave, the bottom of which is higher than the ceiling of the one below.
+Proceeding on we soon heard the low murmurings of a water-fall,&mdash;the
+sound of which becomes louder and louder as we advanced, until we
+reached the Cataract. In the roof are perforations as large as a
+hogshead, on the right hand side, from which water is ever falling, on
+ordinary occasions in not very large quantities; but after heavy
+rains&mdash;in torrents; and with a horrible roar that shakes the walls and
+resounds afar through the Cave. It is at such times that these
+cascades are worthy the name of cataracts, which they bear. The water
+falling into a great funnel-shaped pit, immediately vanishes.&quot;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Here we concluded to dine, and at quite a fashionable hour&mdash;4, P.M.
+The guide arranged the plates, knives and forks, wine-glasses, etc.,
+on a huge table of rock, and announced,&mdash;&quot;Dinner is ready!&quot; We filled
+our plates with the excellent viands prepared at the Cave House, and
+seating ourselves on the rocks or nitre earth, partook of our repast
+with the gusto of gourmands, and quaffing, ever and anon, wines which
+would have done credit to the Astor or Tremont House. &quot;There may be,&quot;
+remarked our corpulent friend B., &quot;a great deal of romance in this way
+of eating&mdash;with your plate on your lap, and seated on a rock or a lump
+of nitre earth&mdash;but for my part I would rather dispense with the
+poetry of the thing and eat a good dinner, whether above or below
+ground, from off a bona-fide table, and seated in a good substantial
+chair. The proprietor ought to have at all the watering places, (and
+they are numerous,) tables, chairs, and the necessary table furniture,
+that visitors might partake of their collations in some degree of
+comfort.&quot; The guide who, by the way, is a very intelligent and
+facetious fellow, was much amused at the suggestion of our friend, and
+remarked that &quot;the owner of the Cave, Doct. Croghan, lived near
+Louisville, and that the only way to get such '<i>fixings</i>' at the
+watering places, was to write to him on the subject.&quot; &quot;Then,&quot; said B.,
+&quot;for the sake of those who may follow after us, I will take it upon
+myself to write.&quot;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+From this point you have a view of the Main Avenue on our left,
+pursuing its general course, and exhibiting the same solemn grandeur
+as from the commencement,&mdash;and directly before us the way to the
+Humble Chute and the Cataract. The Humble Chute is the entrance to the
+Solitary Chambers; before entering which, we must crawl on our hands
+and knees some fifteen or twenty feet under a low arch. It is
+appropriately named; as is the Solitary Chambers which we have now
+entered. You feel here,&mdash;to use an expression of one of our
+party,&mdash;&quot;out of the world.&quot; Without dwelling on the intervening
+objects&mdash;although they are numerous and not without interest,&mdash;we will
+enter at once the Fairy Grotto of the Solitary Cave. It is in truth a
+fairy grotto; a countless number of Stalactites are seen extending, at
+irregular distances, from the roof to the floor, of various sizes and
+of the most fantastic shapes&mdash;some quite straight, some crooked, some
+large and hollow&mdash;forming irregularly fluted columns; and some solid
+near the ceiling, and divided lower down, into a great number of small
+branches like the roots of trees; exhibiting the appearance of a coral
+grove. Hanging our lamps to the incrustations on the columns, the
+grove of Stalactites became faintly lighted up, disclosing a scene of
+extraordinary wildness and beauty. &quot;This is nothing to what you'll see
+on the other side of the rivers,&quot; cries our guide, smiling at our
+enthusiastic admiration. With all its present beauty, this grotto is
+far from being what it was, before it was despoiled and robbed some
+eight or nine years ago, by a set of vandals, who, through sheer
+wantonness, broke many of the stalactites, leaving them strewn on the
+floor&mdash;a disgustful memorial of their vulgar propensities and
+barbarian-like conduct.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Returning from the Fairy Grotto, we entered the Main Cave at the
+Cataract, and continued our walk to the Chief City or Temple, which is
+thus described by Lee, in his &quot;Notes on the Mammoth Cave:&quot;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&quot;The Temple is an immense vault covering an area of two acres, and
+covered by a single dome of solid rock, one hundred and twenty feet
+high. It excels in size the Cave of Staffa; and rivals the celebrated
+vault in the Grotto of Antiparos, which is said to be the largest in
+the world. In passing through from one end to the other, the dome
+appears to follow like the sky in passing from place to place on the
+earth. In the middle of the dome there is a large mound of rocks
+rising on one side nearly to the top, very steep and forming what is
+called the <i>Mountain</i>. When first I ascended this mound from the cave
+below, I was struck with a feeling of awe more deep and intense, than
+any thing that I had ever before experienced. I could only observe the
+narrow circle which was illuminated immediately around me; above and
+beyond was apparently an unlimited space, in which the ear could catch
+not the slightest sound, nor the eye find an object to rest upon. It
+was filled with silence and darkness; and yet I knew that I was
+beneath the earth, and that this space, however large it might be, was
+actually bounded by solid walls. My curiosity was rather excited than
+gratified. In order that I might see the whole in one connected view,
+I built fires in many places with the pieces of cane which I found
+scattered among the rocks. Then taking my stand on the Mountain, a
+scene was presented of surprising magnificence. On the opposite side
+the strata of gray limestone, breaking up by steps from the bottom,
+could scarcely be discerned in the distance by the glimmering light.
+Above was the lofty dome, closed at the top by a smooth oval slab,
+beautifully defined in the outline, from which the walls sloped away
+on the right and left into thick darkness. Every one has heard of the
+dome of the Mosque of St. Sophia, of St. Peter's and St. Paul's; they
+are never spoken of but in terms of admiration, as the chief works of
+architecture, and among the noblest and most stupendous examples of
+what man can do when aided by science; and yet when compared with the
+dome of this Temple, they sink into comparative insignificance. Such
+is the surpassing grandeur of Nature's works.&quot;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+To us, the Temple seemed to merit the glowing description above given,
+but what would Lee think, on being told, that since the discovery of
+the rivers and the world of beauties beyond them, not one person in
+fifty visits the Temple or the Fairy Grotto; they are now looked upon
+as tame and uninteresting. The hour being now late, we concluded to
+proceed no further, but to return to the hotel, where we arrived at
+11, P.M.
+</p>
+
+
+
+
+<p class="chapter">
+<a name="vi">CHAPTER VI.</a>
+</p>
+
+<p class="subjects">
+Arrival of a large Party&mdash; Second Visit&mdash; Lamps
+Extinguished&mdash; Laughable Confusion&mdash; Wooden Bowl Deserted
+Chambers Richardson's Side-Saddle Pit&mdash; The Labyrinth&mdash;
+Louisa's Dome&mdash; Gorin's Dome&mdash; Bottomless Pit&mdash;
+Separation of our Party.
+</p>
+
+
+<p>
+On being summoned to breakfast the next morning, we ascertained that a
+large party of ladies and gentlemen had arrived during our absence,
+who, like ourselves, were prepared to enter the Cave. They, however,
+were for hurrying over the rivers, to the distant points beyond&mdash;we,
+for examining leisurely the avenues on this side. At 8 o'clock, both
+parties accompanied by their respective guides and making a very
+formidable array, set out from the hotel, happy in the anticipation of
+the &quot;sights to be seen.&quot; It was amusing to hear the remarks, and to
+witness the horror of some of the party on first beholding the mouth
+of the Cave. Oh! it is so frightful!&mdash;It is so cold!&mdash;I <i>cannot</i> go
+in! Notwithstanding all this, curiosity prevailed, and down we
+went&mdash;arranged our lamps, which being extinguished in passing through
+the doorway by the strong current of air rushing outwards, there arose
+such a clamor, such laughter, such screaming, such crying out for the
+guides, as though all Bedlam had broke loose,&mdash;the guides exerting
+themselves to quiet apprehensions, and the visiters of yesterday
+knowing that there was neither danger nor just cause of alarm, doing
+their utmost to counteract their efforts, by well feigned exclamations
+of terror. At length the lamps were re-lighted and order being
+restored, onward we went. The Vestibule and Church were each in turn
+illuminated, to the enthusiastic delight of all&mdash;even those of the
+party, who were but now so terrified, were loud in their expressions
+of admiration and wonder. Arrived at the Giant's Coffin, we leave the
+Main Cave to enter regions very dissimilar to those we have seen. A
+narrow passage behind the Coffin leads to a circular room, one hundred
+feet in diameter, with a low roof, called the Wooden Bowl, in allusion
+to its figure, or as some say, from a wooden bowl having been found
+here by some old miner. This Bowl is the vestibule of the Deserted
+Chambers. On the right, are the Steeps of Time, (why so called we are
+left to conjecture,) down which, descending about twenty feet, and
+almost perpendicularly for the first ten, we enter the Deserted
+Chambers, which in their course present features extremely wild,
+terrific and multiform. For two hundred yards the ceiling as you
+advance is rough and broken, but further on, it is waving, white and
+smooth as if worn by water. At Richardson's Spring, the imprint of
+moccasins and of children's feet, of some by-gone age, were recently
+seen. There are more pits in the Deserted Chambers than in any other
+portion of the Cave; and among the most noted are the Covered Pit, the
+Side-Saddle Pit and the Bottomless Pit. Indeed the whole range of
+these chambers, is so interrupted by pits, and throughout is so
+irregular and serpentine and so bewildering from the number of its
+branches, that the visiter, doubtful of his footing, and uncertain as
+to his course, is soon made sensible of the prudence of the
+regulation, which enjoins him, &quot;not to leave the guide.&quot; &quot;The Covered
+Pit is in a little branch to the left; this pit is twelve or fifteen
+feet in diameter, covered with a thin rock, around which a narrow
+crevice extends, leaving only a small support on one side. There is a
+large rock resting on the centre of the cover. The sound of a
+waterfall may be heard from the pit but cannot be seen.&quot; The
+Side-Saddle Pit is about twenty feet long and eight feet wide, with a
+margin about three feet high, and extending lengthwise ten feet,
+against which one may safely lean, and view the interior of the pit
+and dome. After a short walk from this place, we came to a ladder on
+our right, which conducted us down about fifteen feet into a narrow
+pass, not more than five feet wide; this pass is the Labyrinth, one
+end of which leads to the Bottomless Pit, entering it about fifty feet
+down, and the other after various windings, now up, now down, over a
+bridge, and up and down ladders, conducts you to one of the chief
+glories of the Cave,&mdash;Gorin's Dome; which, strange to tell, was not
+discovered until a few years ago. Immediately behind the ladder, there
+is a narrow opening in the rock, extending up very nearly to the cave
+above, which leads about twenty feet back to Louisa's Dome, a pretty
+little place of not more than twelve feet in diameter, but of twice
+that height. This dome is directly under the centre of the cave we had
+just been traversing, and when lighted up, persons within it can be
+plainly seen from above, through a crevice in the rock. Arrived at
+Gorin's Dome, we were forcibly struck by the seeming appearance of
+<i>design</i>, in the arrangement of the several parts, for the special
+accommodation of visiters&mdash;even with reference to their number. The
+Labyrinth, which we followed up, brought us at its termination, to a
+window or hole, about four feet square, three feet above the floor,
+opening into the interior of the dome, about midway between the bottom
+and top; the wall of rock being at this spot, not more than eighteen
+inches thick; and continuing around, and on the outside of the dome,
+along a gallery of a few feet in width, for twenty or more paces, we
+arrived at another opening of much larger size, eligibly disposed, and
+commanding, like the first, a view of very nearly the whole interior
+space. Whilst we are arranging ourselves, the guide steals away,
+passes down, down, one knows not how, and is presently seen by the dim
+light of his lamp, fifty feet below, standing near the wall on the
+inside of the dome. The dome is of solid rock, with sides apparently
+fluted and polished, and perhaps two hundred feet high. Immediately in
+front and about thirty feet from the window, a huge rock seems
+suspended from above and arranged in folds like a curtain. Here we are
+then, the guide fifty feet below us. Some of the party thrusting their
+heads and, in their anxiety to see, their bodies through the window
+into the vast and gloomy dome of two hundred feet in height. The
+window is not large enough to afford a view to all at once, they crowd
+one on the top of the other; the more cautious, and those who do not
+like to be squeezed, stand back; but still holding fast to the
+garments of their friends for fear they might in the ecstasy of their
+feelings, leap into the frightful abyss into which they are looking.
+Suddenly the guide ignites a <i>Bengal light</i>. The vast dome is radiant
+with light. Above, as far as the eye can reach, are seen the shining
+sides of the fluted walls; below, the yawning gulf is rendered the
+more terrific, by the pallid light exposing to view its vast depth,
+the whole displaying a scene of sublimity and splendor, such as words
+have not power to describe. Returning, we ascended the ladder near
+Louisa's Dome, and continued on, having the Labyrinth on our right
+side until it terminates in the Bottomless Pit. This pit terminates
+also the range of the Deserted Chambers, and was considered the Ultima
+Thule of all explorers, until within the last few years, when Mr.
+Stephenson of Georgetown, Ky. and the intrepid guide, Stephen,
+conceived the idea of reaching the opposite side by throwing a ladder
+across the frightful chasm. This they accomplished, and on this
+ladder, extending across a chasm of twenty feet wide and near two
+hundred deep, did these daring explorers cross to the opposite side,
+and thus open the way to all those splendid discoveries, which have
+added so much to the value and renown of the Mammoth Cave. The
+Bottomless Pit is somewhat in the shape of a horse-shoe, having a
+tongue of land twenty seven feet long, running out into the middle of
+it. From the end of this point of land, a substantial bridge has been
+thrown across to the cave on the opposite side.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+While standing on the bridge, the guide lets down a lighted paper into
+the deep abyss; it descends twisting and turning, lower and lower, and
+is soon lost in total darkness, leaving us to conjecture, as to what
+may be below. Crossing the bridge to the opposite cave, we find
+ourselves in the midst of rocks of the most gigantic size lying along
+the edge of the pit and on our left hand. Above the pit is a dome of
+great size, but which, from its position, few have seen. Proceeding
+along a narrow passage for some distance, we arrived at the point from
+which diverge two noted routes&mdash;the Winding Way and Pensico Avenue.
+Here we called a short halt; then wishing our newly formed
+acquintances [Transcriber's note: sic] a safe voyage over the &quot;deep waters,&quot; we parted; they
+taking the left hand to the Winding Way and the rivers, and we the
+right to Pensico Avenue.
+</p>
+
+
+
+
+<p class="chapter">
+<a name="vii">CHAPTER VII.</a>
+</p>
+
+<p class="subjects">
+Pensico Avenue&mdash; Great Crossings&mdash; Pine Apple Bush&mdash;
+Angelica's Grotto&mdash; Winding Way&mdash; Fat Friend in
+Trouble&mdash; Relief Hall&mdash; Bacon Chamber&mdash; Bandit's Hall.
+</p>
+
+
+<p>
+Pensico Avenue averages about fifty feet in width, with a height of
+about thirty feet; and is said to be two miles long. It unites in an
+eminent degree the truly beautiful with the sublime, and is highly
+interesting throughout its entire extent. For a quarter of a mile from
+the entrance, the roof is beautifully arched, about twelve feet high
+and sixty wide, and formerly was encrusted with rosettes and other
+formations, nearly all of which have been taken away or demolished,
+leaving this section of the Cave quite denuded. The walking here is
+excellent; a dozen persons might run abreast for a quarter of a mile
+to Bunyan's Way, a branch of the avenue, leading on to the river. At
+this point the avenue changes its features of beauty and regularity,
+for those of wild grandeur and sublimity, which it preserves to the
+end. The way, no longer smooth and level, is frequently interrupted
+and turned aside by huge rocks, which lie tumbled around, in all
+imaginable disorder. The roof now becomes very lofty and imposingly
+magnificent; its long, pointed or lancet arches, forcibly reminding
+you of the rich and gorgeous ceilings of the old Gothic Cathedrals, at
+the same time solemnly impressing you with the conviction that this is
+a &quot;building not made with hands.&quot; No one, not dead to all the more
+refined sensibilities of our nature, but must exclaim, in beholding
+the sublime scenes which here present themselves, this is not the work
+of man! No one can be here without being reminded of the all pervading
+presence of the great &quot;Father of all.&quot;
+</p>
+
+<p class="quote">
+    &quot;What, but God, pervades, adjusts and agitates the whole!&quot;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Not far from the point at which the avenue assumes the rugged
+features, which now characterize it, we separated from our guide, he
+continuing his straight-forward course, and we descending gradually a
+few feet and entering a tunnel of fifteen feet wide on our left, the
+ceiling twelve or fourteen feet high, perfectly arched and beautifully
+covered with white incrustations, very soon reached the Great
+Crossings. Here the guide jumped down some six or eight feet from the
+avenue which we had left, into the tunnel where we were standing, and
+crossing it, climbed up into the avenue, which he pursued for a short
+distance or until it united with the tunnel, where he again joined us.
+In separating from, then crossing, and again uniting with the avenue,
+it describes with it something like the figure 8. The name, Great
+Crossings, is not unapt. It was however, not given, as our intelligent
+guide veritably assured us, in honor of the Great Crossings where the
+man lives who killed Tecumseh, but because two great caves cross here;
+and moreover said he, &quot;the valiant Colonel ought to change the name of
+his place, as no two places in a State should bear the same name, and
+this being the <i>great</i> place ought to have the preference.&quot;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Not very far from this point, we ascended a hill on our left, and
+walking a short distance over our shoe-tops in dry nitrous earth, in a
+direction somewhat at a right angle with the avenue below, we arrived
+at the Pine Apple Bush, a large column, composed of a white, soft,
+crumbling material, with bifurcations extending from the floor to the
+ceiling. At a short distance, either to the right or left, you have a
+fine view of the avenue some twenty feet below, both up and down. Why
+this crumbling stalactite is called the Pine Apple Bush, I cannot
+divine. It stands however in a charming, secluded spot, inviting to
+repose; and we luxuriated in inhaling the all-inspiring air, while
+reclining on the clean, soft and dry salt petre earth.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+All lovers of romantic scenery ought to visit this avenue, and all
+dyspeptic hypochondriacs and love-sick despondents should do likewise,
+for there is something wonderfully exhilarating in the air of Pensico.
+Our friend B. remarked while rolling on the salt petre earth at the
+Pine Apple Bush, that he felt &quot;especially happy,&quot; and whether from
+sympathy, air or what not, we all partook of the same feeling. The
+guide seeing the position of our fat friend, and hearing his remark,
+said, laughing most immoderately, &quot;these sort of feelings would come
+over one, now and then in the Cave, but wait till you get in the
+Winding Way and see how you feel then.&quot;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Having descended into the avenue we had left, we passed a number of
+stalactites and stalagmites, bearing a remarkable resemblance to
+coral, and a hundred or more paces beyond, arrived at a recess on the
+left, lined with innumerable crystals of dog-tooth spar, shining most
+brilliantly, called Angelica's Grotto. One would think it almost
+sacrilege to deface a spot like this; yet, did a Clergyman (the back
+of the guide being turned,) deliberately demolish a number of
+beautiful crystals to inscribe the initials of his name.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Returning to the head of Pensico Avenue, we turned to our right, and
+entered the narrow pass which leads to the river, pursuing which, for
+a few hundred yards, descending all the while, at one or two places
+down a ladder or stone steps, we came to a path cut through a high and
+broad embankment of sand, which very soon conducted us to the much
+talked of and anxiously looked for Winding Way. The Winding Way, has,
+in the opinion of many, been channeled in the rock by the gradual
+attrition of water. If this be so, and appearances seem to support
+such belief, at what early age of the world did the work commence? Was
+it not when &quot;the earth was without form and void,&quot; thousands of years
+perhaps, before the date of the Mosaic account of the Creation? The
+Winding Way is one hundred and five feet long, eighteen inches wide,
+and from three to seven feet deep, widening out above, sufficiently to
+admit the free use of one's arms. It is throughout tortuous, a perfect
+<i>zig-zag</i>, the terror of the Falstaffs and the ladies of &quot;fat, fair
+and forty,&quot; who have an instinctive dread of the trials to come, and
+are well aware of the merriment that their efforts to <i>force a
+passage</i> will excite among their companions of less length of girdle.
+Into this winding way, we entered in Indian file, and turning our
+right side, then our left, twisting this way, then that, had nearly
+made good the passage, when our <i>fat friend</i>, who was puffing and
+blowing behind us like a high pressure engine, cried out, &quot;Halt, ahead
+there! I am stuck as tight as a wedge in a log!&quot; Halt we did, when the
+guide, looking at our friend, who was in truth &quot;wedg'd in the rocky
+way and sticking fast,&quot; cried out, &quot;I told you, when you said at the
+Pine Apple Bush, that you felt <i>especially happy</i>, to wait till you
+got to the Winding Way, to see how you would feel then!&quot; The
+imprisoned gentleman soon burst his bonds, not, however, without
+damage to his indispensables; and at length forcing his way into
+Relief Hall, he cried out, in the joy of his heart, while stretching
+himself and wiping the perspiration from his jolly, rubicund face,
+&quot;never was a name more appropriate given to any place&mdash;Relief. I feel
+already the <i>expansive faculty</i> of the atmosphere, I can now breathe
+again.&quot;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Relief Hall, which you enter from the Winding Way, at a right-angle,
+is very wide and lofty but not long; turning to the right, we reached
+its termination at River Hall, a distance of perhaps, one hundred
+yards. Here two routes present themselves; the one to the left
+conducts to the Dead Sea and the Rivers, and that to the right, to the
+Bacon Chamber, the Bandit's Hall, the Mammoth Dome and an infinity of
+other caves, domes, etc. We will speak of the Bacon Chamber; but
+before doing so, let us take our lunch. The air or exercise, or
+probably both, acted as powerful appetizers, and we soon gave proof
+that we needed not Stoughton's bitters to provoke an appetite. Having
+discussed a few glasses of excellent Hock, we left the Bacon Chamber,
+which is a pretty fair representation of a low ceiling, thickly hung
+with canvassed hams and shoulders; and proceeded to the Bandit's Hall,
+up a steep ascent of twenty or thirty feet, rendered very difficult,
+by the huge rocks which obstructed the way and over which we were
+forced to clamber. The name is indicative of the spot. It is a vast
+and lofty chamber, the floor covered with a mountainous heap of rocks
+rising amphitheatrically almost to the ceiling, and so disposed as to
+furnish at different elevations, galleries or platforms, reaching
+immediately around the chamber itself or leading off into some of its
+hidden recesses. The guide is presently seen standing at a fearful
+height above, and suddenly a Bengal light, blazes up, &quot;when the rugged
+roof, the frowning cliffs and the whole chaos of rocks are refulgent
+in the brilliant glare.&quot; The sublimity of the scene is beyond the
+powers of the imagination.
+</p>
+
+
+
+
+<p class="chapter">
+<a name="viii">CHAPTER VIII.</a>
+</p>
+
+<p class="subjects">
+Mammoth Dome&mdash; First Discoverers&mdash; Little Dome&mdash; Tale
+of a Lamp&mdash; Return.
+</p>
+
+
+<p>
+From the Bandit's Hall, diverge two caves; one of which, the left,
+leads you to a multitude of domes; and the right, to one which, <i>par
+excellence</i>, is called the Mammoth Dome. Taking the right, we arrived,
+after a rugged walk of nearly a mile, to a platform, which commands an
+indistinct view of this dome of domes. It was discovered by a German
+gentleman and the guide Stephen about two years ago, but was not
+explored until some months after, when it was visited by a party of
+four or five, accompanied by two guides, and well prepared with ropes,
+&amp;c. From the platform, the guides were let down about twenty feet, by
+means of a rope, and upon reaching the ground below, they found
+themselves on the side of a hill, which, descending about fifty feet,
+brought them immediately under the Great Dome, from the summit of
+which, there is a water-fall. This dome is near four hundred feet
+high, and is justly considered one of the most sublime and wonderful
+spectacles of this most wonderful of caverns. From the bottom of the
+dome they ascended the hill to the place to which they had been
+lowered from the platform, and continuing thence up a very steep hill,
+more than one hundred feet, they reached its summit. Arrived at the
+summit, a scene of awful grandeur and magnificence is presented to the
+view. Looking down the declivity, you see far below to the left, the
+visiters whom you have left behind, standing on the platform or
+termination of the avenue along which they had come; and lower down
+still, the bottom of the Great Dome itself. Above, two hundred and
+eighty feet, is the ceiling, lost in the obscurity of space and
+distance. The height of the ceiling was determined by E.F. Lee, civil
+engineer. This fact in regard to the elevation of the ceiling and the
+locality of the Great Hall, was subsequently ascertained, by finding
+on the summit of the hill, (a spot never before trodden by man,) an
+iron lamp!! The astonishment of the guides, as well as of the whole
+party, on beholding the lamp, can be easily imagined; and to this day
+they would have been ignorant of its history, but for the accidental
+circumstance of an old man being at the Cave Hotel, who, thirty years
+ago, was engaged as a miner in the saltpetre establishment of Wilkins
+&amp; Gratz. He, on being shown the lamp, said at once, that it had been
+found under the crevice pit (a fact that surprised all,); that during
+the time Wilkins &amp; Gratz were engaged in the manufacture of saltpetre,
+a Mr. Gatewood informed Wilkins, that in all probability, the richest
+nitre earth was under the crevice pit. The depth of this pit being
+then unknown, Wilkins, to ascertain it, got a rope of 45 feet long,
+and fastening this identical lamp to the end of it, lowered it into
+the pit, in the doing of which, the string caught on fire, and down
+fell the lamp. Wilkins made an offer of two dollars to any one of the
+miners who would descend the pit and bring up the lamp. His offer was
+accepted by a man, who, in consequence of his diminutive stature, was
+nicknamed Little Dave; and the rope being made fast about his waist,
+he, torch in hand, was lowered to the full extent of the forty-five
+feet. Being then drawn up, the poor fellow was found to be so
+excessively alarmed, that he could scarcely articulate; but having
+recovered from his fright, and again with the full power of utterance,
+he declared that no money could tempt him to try again for the lamp;
+and in excuse for such a determination, he related the most marvellous
+story of what he had seen&mdash;far exceeding the wonderful things which
+the unexampled Don Quixote de la Mancha declared he had seen in the
+deep cave of Montesinos. Dave was, in fact, suspended at the height of
+two hundred and forty feet above the level below. Such is the history
+of the <i>lamp</i>, as told by the old miner, Holton, the correctness of
+which was very soon verified; for guides having been sent to the place
+where the lamp was found, and persons at the same time stationed at
+the mouth of the crevice pit, their proximity was at once made
+manifest by the very audible sound of each other's voices, and by the
+fact that sticks thrown into the pit fell at the feet of the guides
+below, and were brought out by them. The distance from the mouth of
+the Cave to this pit, falls short of half a mile; yet to reach the
+grand apartment immediately under it, requires a circuit to be made of
+at least three miles. The illumination of that portion of the Great
+Dome on the left, and of the hall on the top of the hill to the right,
+as seen from the platform, was unquestionably one of the most
+impressive spectacles we had witnessed; but to be seen to advantage,
+another position ought to be taken by the spectator, and the dome with
+its towering height, and the hall on the summit of the hill, with its
+gigantic stalagmite columns, and ceiling two hundred feet high,
+illuminated by the simultaneous ignition of a number of Bengal lights,
+judiciously arranged. Such was the enthusiastic admiration of some
+foreigners on witnessing an illumination of the Great Dome and Hall,
+that they declared, it alone would compensate for a voyage across the
+Atlantic. With the partial illumination of the Great Dome, we closed
+our explorations on this side of the rivers, and retracing our steps,
+reached the hotel about sun-set. At mid-night, the party which
+separated from us at the entrance of Pensico Avenue, returned from the
+points beyond the Echo river.
+</p>
+
+
+
+
+<p class="chapter">
+<a name="ix">CHAPTER IX.</a>
+</p>
+
+<p class="subjects">
+Third Visit&mdash; River Hall&mdash; Dead Sea&mdash; River Styx&mdash;
+Lethe&mdash; Echo River&mdash; Purgatory&mdash; Eyeless Fish&mdash;
+Supposed Boil of the Rivers&mdash; Sources and Outlet Unknown.
+</p>
+
+
+<p>
+Early the next morning, having made all the necessary preparations for
+the grand tour, which we were the more anxious to take from the
+glowing accounts of the party recently returned, we entered the cave
+immediately after an early breakfast, and proceeded rapidly on to
+River Hall. It was evident from the appearance of the flood here, that
+it had been recently overflown.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&quot;The cave, or the River Hall,&quot; remarks a fair and distinguished
+authoress, whose description of the river scenery is so graphic, that
+I cannot do better than transcribe it throughout: &quot;The River Hall
+descends like the slope of a mountain; the ceiling stretches
+away&mdash;away before you, vast and grand as the firmament at midnight.&quot;
+Going on, and gradually ascending and keeping close to the right hand
+wall, you observe on your left &quot;a steep precipice, over which you can
+look down by the aid of blazing missiles, upon a broad black sheet of
+water, eighty feet below, called the Dead Sea. This is an awfully
+impressive place; the sights and sounds of which, do not easily pass
+from memory. He who has seen it, will have it vividly brought before
+him, by Alfieri's description of Filippo, 'only a transient word or
+act gives us a short and dubious glimmer, that reveals to us the
+abysses of his being&mdash;dark, lurid and terrific, as the throat of the
+infernal pool.' Descending from the eminence, by a ladder of about
+twenty feet, we find ourselves among piles of gigantic rocks, and one
+of the most picturesque sights in the world, is to see a file of men
+and women passing along those wild and scraggy paths, moving
+slowly&mdash;slowly, that their lamps may have time to illuminate their
+sky-like ceiling and gigantic walls&mdash;disappearing behind high
+cliffs&mdash;sinking into ravines&mdash;their lights shining upwards through
+fissures in the rocks&mdash;then suddenly emerging from some abrupt angle,
+standing in the bright gleam of their lamps, relieved by the towering
+black masses around them. He, who could paint the infinite variety of
+creation, can alone give an adequate idea of this marvellous region.
+As you pass along, you hear the roar of invisible waterfalls; and at
+the foot of the slope, the river Styx lies before you, deep and black,
+overarched with rock. The first glimpse of it brings to mind, the
+descent of Ulysses into hell,
+</p>
+
+<div class="poem">
+<div class="stanza">
+<p>&quot;Where the dark rock o'erhangs the infernal lake,</p>
+<p>And mingling streams eternal murmurs make.&quot;</p></div></div>
+
+<p>
+Across (or rather down) these unearthly waters, the guide can convey
+but four passengers at once. The lamps are fastened to the prow; the
+images of which, are reflected in the dismal pool. If you are
+impatient of delay, or eager for new adventures, you can leave your
+companions lingering about the shore, and cross the Styx by a
+dangerous bridge of precipices overhead. In order to do this, you must
+ascend a steep cliff, and enter a cave above, 300 yards long, from an
+egress of which, you find yourself on the bank of the river, eighty
+feet above its surface, commanding a view of those in the boat, and
+those waiting on the shore. Seen from this height, the lamps in the
+canoe glare like fiery eye-balls; and the passengers, sitting there so
+hushed and motionless, look like shadows. The scene is so strangely
+funereal and spectral, that it seems as if the Greeks must have
+witnessed it, before they imagined Charon conveying ghosts to the dim
+regions of Pluto. Your companions thus seen, do indeed&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<div class="poem">
+<div class="stanza">
+<p>&quot;Skim along the dusky glades,</p>
+<p>Thin airy souls, and visionary shades.&quot;</p></div></div>
+
+<p>
+If you turn your eyes from the canoe to the parties of men and women
+whom you left waiting on the shore, you will see them by the gleam of
+their lamps, scattered in picturesque groups, looming out in bold
+relief from the dense darkness around them.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Having passed the Styx, (much the smallest of the rivers,) you walk
+over a pile of large rocks, and are on the banks of Lethe; and looking
+back, you will see a line of men and women descending the high hill
+from the cave, which runs <i>over</i> the river Styx. Here are two boats,
+and the parties, which have come by the two routes, <i>down</i> the Styx or
+<i>over</i> it, uniting, descend the Lethe about a quarter of a mile, the
+ceiling for the entire distance being very high&mdash;certainly not less
+than fifty feet. On landing, you enter a level and lofty hall, called
+the Great Walk, which stretches to the banks of the Echo, a distance
+of three or four hundred yards. The Echo is truly a river: it is wide
+and deep enough, at all times, to float the largest steamer. At the
+point of embarkation, the arch is very low, not more than three feet,
+in an ordinary stage of water, being left for a boat to pass through.
+Passengers, of course, are obliged to double up, and lie upon each
+others shoulders, in a most uncomfortable way, but their suffering is
+of short duration; in two boat lengths, they emerge to where the vault
+of the cave is lofty and wide. The boat in which we embarked was
+sufficiently large to carry twelve persons, and our voyage down the
+river was one of deep, indeed of most intense interest. The novelty,
+the grandeur, the magnificence of every thing around elicited
+unbounded admiration and wonder. All sense of danger, (had any been
+experienced before,) was lost in the solemn, quiet sublimity of the
+scene. The rippling of the water caused by the motion of our boat is
+heard afar off, beating under the low arches and in the cavities of
+the rocks. The report of a pistol is as that of the heaviest
+artillery, and long and afar does the echo resound, like the muttering
+of distant thunder. The voice of song was raised on this dark, deep
+water, and the sound was as that of the most powerful choir. A fall
+band of music on this river of echoes would indeed be overpowering.
+The aquatic excursion was more to our taste than any thing we had
+seen, and never can the impression it made be obliterated from our
+memories.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Echo is three quarters of a mile long. A rise of the water of
+merely a few feet connects the three rivers. After long and heavy
+rains, these rivers sometimes rise to a perpendicular height of more
+than fifty feet; and then they, as well as the cataracts, exhibit a
+most terrific appearance. The low arch at the entrance of the Echo,
+can not be passed when there is a rise of water of even two feet. Once
+or twice parties have been caught on the further side by a sudden
+rise, and for a time their alarm was great, not knowing that there was
+an upper cave through which they could pass, that would lead them
+around the arch to the Great Walk. This upper cave, or passage, is
+called Purgatory, and is, for a distance of forty feet, so low, that
+persons have to crawl on their faces, or, as the guides say, <i>snake
+it</i>. We were pleased to learn that this passage would soon be
+sufficiently enlarged to enable persons to walk through erect. This
+accomplished, an excursion to Cleveland's Avenue may be made almost
+entirely by land, at the same time that all apprehensions of being
+caught beyond Echo will be removed. It is in these rivers, that the
+extraordinary white eyeless fish are caught&mdash;we secured two of them.
+There is not the slightest indication of an organ similar to an eye,
+to be discovered. They have been dissected by skillful anatomists, who
+declare that they are not only without eyes, but also develope other
+anomalies in their organization, singularly interesting to the
+naturalist. &quot;The rivers of Mammoth Cave were never crossed till 1840.
+Great efforts have been made to discover whence they come and whither
+they go, yet they still remain as much a mystery as ever&mdash;without
+beginning or end; like eternity.&quot;
+</p>
+
+<div class="poem">
+<div class="stanza">
+<p>&quot;Darkly thou glidest onward,</p>
+<p class="i2">Thou deep and hidden wave!</p>
+<p>The laughing sunshine hath not look'd</p>
+<p class="i2">Into thy secret cave.</p></div>
+
+<div class="stanza">
+<p>Thy current makes no music&mdash;</p>
+<p class="i2">A hollow sound we hear;</p>
+<p>A muffled voice of mystery,</p>
+<p class="i2">And know that thou art near.</p></div>
+
+<div class="stanza">
+<p>No brighter line of verdure</p>
+<p class="i2">Follows thy lonely way</p>
+<p>No fairy moss, or lily's cup,</p>
+<p class="i2">Is freshened by thy play.&quot;</p></div></div>
+
+<p>
+According to the barometrical measurement of Professor Locke, the
+rivers of the Cave are nearly on a level with Green River; but the
+report of Mr. Lee, civil engineer, is widely different. He says, &quot;The
+bottom of the Little Bat Room Pit is one hundred and twenty feet
+<i>below</i> the bed of Green River. The Bottomless Pit is also deeper than
+the bed of Green River, and so far as a surveyor's level can be relied
+on, the same may be said of the Cavern Pit and some others.&quot; The
+rivers of the Cave were unknown at the time of Mr. Lee's visit in
+1835, but they are unquestionably <i>lower</i> than the bottom of the pits,
+and receive the water which flows from them. According to the
+statement of Lee, the bed of these rivers is lower than the bed of
+Green River at its junction with the Ohio, taking for granted that the
+report of the State engineers as to the extent of fall between a point
+above the Cave and the Ohio, be correct, of which there is no doubt.
+&quot;It becomes, then,&quot; continues Mr. Lee, in reference to the waters of
+the Cave, &quot;an object of interesting inquiry to determine in what way
+it is disposed of. If it empties into Green River, the Ohio, or the
+ocean, it must run a great distance under ground, with a very small
+descent.&quot;
+</p>
+
+
+
+
+<p class="chapter">
+<a name="x">CHAPTER X.</a>
+</p>
+
+<p class="subjects">
+Pass of El Ghor&mdash; Silliman's Avenue&mdash; Wellington's
+Gallery&mdash; Sulphur Spring&mdash; Mary's Vineyard&mdash; Holy
+Sepulchre&mdash; Commencement of Cleveland Avenue&mdash; By whom
+Discovered&mdash; Beautiful Formations&mdash; Snow-ball Room&mdash;
+Rocky Mountains&mdash; Croghan's Hall&mdash; Serena's Arbor&mdash;
+Dining Table&mdash; Dinner Party and Toast&mdash; Hoax of the
+Guide&mdash; Homeward Bound Passage&mdash; Conclusion.
+</p>
+
+
+<p>
+Having now left the Echo, we have a walk of four miles to Cleveland's
+Avenue. The intervening points are of great interest; but it would
+occupy too much time to describe them. We will therefore hurry on
+through the pass of El Ghor, Silliman's Avenue, and Wellington's
+Gallery, to the foot of the ladder which leads up to the Elysium of
+Mammoth cave. And here, for the benefit of the weary and thirsty, and
+of all others whom it may interest, coming after us, be it known, that
+Carneal's Spring is close at hand, and equally near, a sulphur spring,
+the water of which, equals in quality and quantity that of the
+far-famed White Sulphur Spring, of Virginia. At the head of the
+ladder, you find yourself surrounded by overhanging stalactites, in
+the form of rich clusters of grapes, hard as flint, and round and
+polished, as if done by a sculptor's hand. This is called Mary's
+Vineyard&mdash;the commencement of Cleveland's Avenue, the crowning wonder
+and glory of this subterranean world. Proceeding to the right about, a
+hundred feet from this spot, over a rough and rather difficult way,
+you reach the base of the height or hill, on which, stands the Holy
+Sepulchre. This interesting spot is reached at some hazard, as the
+ascent, which is very steep, and more than twenty feet high, affords
+no secure footing, owing to the loose and shingly character of the
+surface, until the height is gained. Having achieved this, you stand
+immediately at the beautiful door-way of the Chapel, or anteroom of
+the Sepulchre. This Chapel, which is, perhaps, twelve feet square,
+with a low ceiling, and decorated in the most gorgeous manner, with
+well-arranged draperies of stalactite of every imaginable shape, leads
+you to the room of the Holy Sepulchre adjoining, which is without
+ornament or decoration of any kind; exhibiting nothing but dark and
+bare walls&mdash;like a charnel house. In the centre of this room, which
+stands a few feet below the Chapel, is, to all appearance, a grave,
+hewn out of the living rock. This is the Holy Sepulchre. A Roman
+Catholic priest discovered it about three years ago, and with fervent
+enthusiasm exclaimed, &quot;The Holy Sepulchre!&quot; a name which it has since
+borne. Returning from the Holy Sepulchre, we commence our wanderings
+through Cleveland's Avenue&mdash;an avenue three miles long, seventy feet
+wide, and twelve or fifteen feet high&mdash;an avenue more rich and
+gorgeous than any ever revealed to man&mdash;an avenue abounding in
+formations such as are no where else to be seen, and which the most
+stupid observer could not behold without feelings of wonder and
+admiration. Some of the formations in the avenue, have been
+denominated by Professor Locke, oulophilites, or curled leafed stone;
+and in remarking upon them, he says, &quot;They are unlike any thing yet
+discovered; equally beautiful for the cabinet of the amateur, and
+interesting to the geological philosopher.&quot; And I, although a wanderer
+myself in various climes, and somewhat of a mineralogist withal, have
+never seen or heard of such. Apprehensive that I might, in attempting
+to describe much that I have seen, color too highly, I will, in lieu
+thereof, offer the remarks of an intelligent clergyman, extracted from
+the New York Christian Observer, of a recent date: &quot;The most
+imaginative poet never conceived or painted a palace of such exquisite
+beauty and loveliness, as Cleveland's Cabinet, into which you now
+pass. Were the wealth of princes bestowed on the most skilful
+lapidaries, with the view of rivaling the splendors of this single
+chamber, the attempt would be vain. How then can I hope to give you a
+conception of it? You must see it; and you will then feel that all
+attempt at description, is futile.&quot; The Cabinet was discovered by Mr.
+Patten, of Louisville, and Mr. Craig, of Philadelphia, accompanied by
+the guide Stephen, and extends in nearly a direct line about one and a
+half miles, (the guides say two miles.) It is a perfect arch, of fifty
+feet span, and of an average height of ten feet in the centre&mdash;just
+high enough to be viewed with ease in all its parts. It is incrusted
+from end to end with the most beautiful formations, in every variety
+of form. The base of the whole, is carbonate (sulphate) of lime, in
+part of dazzling whiteness, and perfectly smooth, and in other places
+crystallized so as to glitter like diamonds in the light. Growing from
+this, in endlessly diversified forms, is a substance resembling
+selenite, translucent and imperfectly laminated. It is most probably
+sulphate of lime, (a gypsum,) combined with sulphate of magnesia. Some
+of the crystals bear a striking resemblance to branches of celery, and
+all about the same length; while others, a foot or more in length,
+have the color and appearance of <i>vanilla cream candy</i>; others are set
+in sulphate of lime, in the form of a rose; and others still roll out
+from the base, in forms resembling the ornaments on the capitol of a
+Corinthian column. (You see how I am driven for analogies.) Some of
+the incrustations are massive and splendid; others are as delicate as
+the lily, or as fancy-work of shell or wax. Think of traversing an
+arched way like this for a mile and a half, and all the wonders of the
+tales of youth&mdash;&quot;Arabian Nights,&quot; and all&mdash;seem tame, compared with
+the living, growing reality. Yes, <i>growing</i> reality; for the process
+is going on before your eyes. Successive coats of these incrustations,
+have been perfected and crowded off by others; so that hundreds of
+tons of these gems lie at your feet, and are crushed as you pass,
+while the work of restoring the ornaments for nature's <i>boudoir</i>, is
+proceeding around you. Here and there, through the whole extent, you
+will find openings in the sides, into which you may thrust the person,
+and often stand erect in little grottoes, perfectly incrusted with a
+delicate white substance, reflecting the light from a thousand
+glittering points. All the way you might have heard us exclaiming,
+&quot;Wonderful, wonderful! O, Lord, how manifold are thy works!&quot; With
+general unity of form and appearance, there is considerable variety in
+&quot;the Cabinet.&quot; The &quot;<i>Snow-ball Room</i>,&quot; for example, is a section of
+the cave described above, some 200 feet in length, entirely different
+from the adjacent parts; its appearance being aptly indicated by its
+name. If a hundred rude school boys had but an hour before completed
+their day's sport, by throwing a thousand snow-balls against the roof,
+while an equal number were scattered about the floor, and all
+petrified, it would have presented precisely such a scene as you
+witness in this room of nature's frolics. So far as I know, these
+&quot;snow-balls&quot; are a perfect anomaly among all the strange forms of
+crystalization. It is the result, I presume, of an unusual combination
+of the sulphates of lime and magnesia, with a carbonate of the former.
+We found here and elsewhere in the Cabinet, fine specimens of the
+sulphate of Magnesia, (or Epsom salts,) a foot or two long, and three
+inches in thickness.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Leaving the quiet and beautiful &quot;Cabinet,&quot; you come suddenly upon the
+&quot;Rocky Mountains,&quot; furnishing a contrast so bold and striking, as
+almost to startle you. Clambering up the rough side some thirty feet,
+you pass close under the roof of the cavern you have left, and find
+before you an immense transverse cave, 100 feet or more from the
+ceiling to the floor, with a huge pile of rocks half filling the
+hither side&mdash;they were probably dashed from the roof in the great
+earthquake of 1811. Taking the left hand branch, you are soon brought
+to &quot;Croghan's Hall,&quot; which is nine miles from the mouth, and is the
+farthest point explored in that direction. The &quot;Hall&quot; is 50 or 60 feet
+in diameter, and perhaps, thirty-five feet high, of a semi-circular
+form. Fronting you as you enter, are massive stalactites, ten or
+fifteen feet in length, attached to the rock, like sheets of ice, and
+of a brilliant color. The rock projects near the floor, and then
+recedes with a regular and graceful curve, or swell, leaving a cavity
+of several feet in width between it and the floor. At intervals,
+around this swell, stalactites of various forms are suspended, and
+behind the sheet of stalactites first described, are numerous
+stalagmites, in fanciful forms. I brought one away that resembles the
+horns of the deer, being nearly translucent. In the centre of this
+hall, a very large stalactite hangs from the roof; and a corresponding
+stalagmite rises from the floor, about three feet in height and a foot
+in diameter, of an amber color, perfectly smooth and translucent, like
+the other formations. On the right, is a deep pit, down which the
+water dashes from a cascade that pours from the roof. Other avenues
+could most likely be found by sounding the sides of the pit, if any
+one had the courage to attempt the descent. We are far enough from
+<i>terra supra</i>, and our dinner which we had left at the &quot;Vineyard.&quot; We
+hastened back to the Rocky Mountains, and took the branch which we
+left at our right on emerging from the Cabinet. Pursuing the uneven
+path for some distance, we reached &quot;Serena's Arbor,&quot; which was
+discovered but three months since, by our guide &quot;Mat.&quot; The descent to
+the Arbor seemed so perilous, from the position of the loose rocks
+around, that several of the party would not venture. Those of us who
+scrambled down regarded this as the crowning object of interest. The
+&quot;Arbor&quot; is not more than twelve feet in diameter, and of about the
+same height, of a circular form; but is, of itself, floor, sides,
+roof, and ornaments, one perfect, seamless stalactite, of a beautiful
+hue, and exquisite workmanship. Folds or blades of stalactitic matter
+hang like drapery around the sides, reaching half way to the floor;
+and opposite the door, a canopy of stone projects, elegantly
+ornamented, as if it were the resting-place of a fairy bride. Every
+thing seemed fresh and new; indeed, the invisible architect has not
+quite finished this master-piece; for you can see the pure water,
+trickling down its tiny channels and perfecting the delicate points of
+some of the stalactites. Victoria, with all her splendor, has not in
+Windsor Castle, so beautiful an apartment as &quot;Serena's Arbor.&quot;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Such is the description of Cleveland's Avenue, as given by this
+clerical gentleman. It is perfectly graphic, and corresponds with all
+the glowing accounts I have read of this famous place. Exquisitely
+beautiful and rare as are the formations in this avenue, it will soon
+be, I fear, like the Grotto of Pensico&mdash;shorn of its beauties. Many a
+little Miss, to decorate her centre table or boudoir, and many a
+thoughtless dandy to present a specimen to his lady fair, have broken
+from the walls (regardless of the published rules prohibiting it,)
+those lovely productions of the Almighty, which required ages to
+perfect; thus destroying in a moment the work of centuries. These
+beautiful and gorgeous formations were encrusted on the walls by the
+hands of our Maker, and who so impious as to desecrate them&mdash;to tear
+them from their place? there they are, all lovely and beautiful, and
+there they ought to remain, <i>untouched</i> by the hands of man, for the
+admiration and wonder of all future ages. If the comparatively small
+cave of Adelburg which belongs to the Emperor of Austria, be placed
+for the preservation of its formations under the protecting care of
+the government [Transcriber's note: sic] (as is the case,) what ought not to be done to preserve
+the mineralogical treasures, in this great Cave of America, and
+especially in Cleveland's Cabinet, which are worth more than all the
+caves in Europe, indeed of the world, so far as our knowledge of
+caverns extends.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Returning from Serena's Arbor, we passed on our left the mouth of an
+avenue more than three miles long, lofty and wide, and at its
+termination there is a hall, which in the opinion of the guide is
+larger than any other in the Cave. It is as yet without a name.
+Equidistant from the commencement and the termination of Cleveland's
+Avenue, is a huge rock, nearly circular, flat on the top and three
+feet high. This is the &quot;<i>dining table</i>.&quot; More than one hundred persons
+could be seated around this table; on it the guide arranged our
+dinner, and we luxuriated on &quot;flesh and fowl&quot; and &quot;choice old sherry.&quot;
+Never did a set of fellows enjoy dinner more than we did ours. Our
+friend B. was perfectly at his ease and happy; and, in the exuberance
+of his spirits, proposed the following toast:
+</p>
+
+<p class="quote">
+    &quot;Prosperity to the subterranean territory of Cimmeria; large
+    enough, if not populous enough, for admission into the Union as
+    an independent State.&quot;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+We emptied our glasses and gave nine hearty cheers in honor of the
+sentiment. A proposition was made to adjourn, but B. was not inclined
+to locomotion, and opposed it with great warmth, insisting that it was
+too soon to move after such a dinner, and that a state of rest was
+absolutely essential to healthy digestion. We had much argument on the
+motion to adjourn; when our sagacious guide Stephen, with a meaning
+look interposed, saying &quot;we had as well be going, for the river might
+take a rise and shut us up here.&quot; &quot;What!&quot; exclaimed B. in utter
+consternation, and with a start, literally bouncing from his seat,
+cried aloud &quot;Let's be off!&quot; at the same time suiting the action to the
+word. In a second we were all in motion, and hurrying past beautiful
+incrustations, through galleries long and tortuous, down one hill and
+up another, (poor B. puffing and blowing, and all the while exclaiming
+against the <i>terrible</i> length and ruggedness of the way,) we at last
+reached the Echo, which we found to our great relief had <i>not risen</i>.
+It seems, the guide had used this stratagem for our own advantage, to
+break off our banquet, lest it trenched too far upon the night. We
+were too happy in having our fears relieved, to fall out with him. On
+our homeward bound passage over the rivers, our admiration was rather
+increased than diminished. The death-like stillness! the awful
+silence! the wild grandeur and sublimity of the scene, tranquilizing
+the feeling and disposing to pensive musings and quiet contemplation;
+on a sudden a pistol is fired&mdash;a tremendous report ensues&mdash;its echoes
+are heard reverberating from wall to wall, in caves far away, like the
+low murmuring sound of distant thunder&mdash;the spell of silence and deep
+reverie is broken&mdash;we become roused and animated, and the mighty
+cavern resounds with our song. We believe every one will, under
+similar circumstances, experience this sudden transition from pensive
+musings to joyous hilarity. Leaving the rivers, we hastened onward to
+the outlet to the upper world. Far ahead we perceive the first
+<i>dawnings of day</i>, shining with a silvery pallid hue on the walls, and
+increasing in brightness as we advance, until it bursts forth in all
+the golden rays and glorious effulgence of the setting sun. This
+<i>parting</i> scene is lovely and interesting. We bid adieu to the &quot;Great
+Monarch of Caves.&quot; We here terminate our subterranean tour. Standing
+on the grassy terrace above, we inhale the cool, pure air, and take a
+last look at the &quot;great Wonder of Wonders!&quot; To all we would say &quot;go
+and see&mdash;explore the greatest of the Almighty's subterranean works.&quot;
+No description can give you an idea of it&mdash;neither can inspection of
+other caves; it is &quot;the Monarch of Caves!&quot; none that have ever been
+measured can at all compare with it, in extent, in grandeur, in wild,
+solemn, serene, unadorned majesty; it stands entirely alone.&mdash;&quot;<a name="101">
+It has
+no brother; it has no brother.&quot;</a>
+</p>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<pre>
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Rambles in the Mammoth Cave, during
+the Year 1844, by Alexander Clark Bullitt
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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Rambles in the Mammoth Cave, during the
+Year 1844, by Alexander Clark Bullitt
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Rambles in the Mammoth Cave, during the Year 1844
+       By a Visiter
+
+Author: Alexander Clark Bullitt
+
+Release Date: July 6, 2005 [EBook #16220]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK RAMBLES IN THE MAMMOTH CAVE ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Aaron Reed and the Online Distributed
+Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+RAMBLES IN THE MAMMOTH CAVE,
+
+DURING THE YEAR 1844,
+
+BY A VISITER.
+
+
+
+By
+
+Alexander Clark Bullitt
+
+
+
+LOUISVILLE, KY.:
+MORTON & GRISWOLD.
+1845.
+
+Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1845, by
+MORTON & GRISWOLD,
+in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of Kentucky.
+
+Printed by MORTON & GRISWOLD.
+
+
+
+
+ERRATA.
+
+Page 11th, fifth line from the bottom; for _faltering_, read pattering.
+
+Page 46th, eighth line from the top--"They are well furnished, and,
+without question, _would with_ good and comfortable accommodations,
+pure air, and uniform temperature, cure the pulmonary consumption.
+_The_ invalids in the Cave ought to be cured, &c.,"
+
+    _read_,
+
+They are well furnished, and, without question, _if_ good and
+comfortable accommodations, pure air, and uniform temperature, _could_
+cure the pulmonary consumption, _the_ invalids in the Cave ought to be
+cured.
+
+Page 101, last line: read, "It has no brother: it _is like_ no brother."
+
+
+
+
+PUBLISHER'S ADVERTISEMENT.
+
+
+To meet the calls so frequently made upon as by intelligent visitors
+to our City, for some work descriptive of the Mammoth Cave, we are, at
+length, enabled to present the public a succinct, but instructive
+narrative of a visit to this "Wonder of Wonders," from the pen of a
+gentleman, who, without professing to have explored ALL that is
+curious or beautiful or sublime in its vast recesses, has yet seen
+every thing that has been seen by others, and has described enough to
+quicken and enlighten the curiosity of those who have never visited
+it.
+
+Aware of the embarrassment which most persons experience who design
+visiting the Cave, owing to the absence of any printed itinerary of
+the various routes leading to it, we have supplied, in the present
+volume, this desideratum, from information received from reliable
+persons residing on the different roads here enumerated. The road from
+Louisville to the Cave, and thence to Nashville, is graded the entire
+distance, and the greater part of it M'Adamized. From Louisville to
+the mouth of Salt river, twenty miles, the country is level, with a
+rich alluvial soil, probably at some former period the bed of a lake.
+A few miles below the former place and extending to the latter, a
+chain of elevated hills is seen to the South-East, affording beautiful
+and picturesque situations for country seats, and strangely overlooked
+by the rich and tasteful. The river is crossed by a ferry, and the
+traveler is put down at a comfortable inn in the village of West
+Point. Two miles from the mouth of Salt river, begins the ascent of
+Muldrow's Hill. The road is excellent, and having elevated hills on
+either side, is highly romantic to its summit, five miles. From the
+top of this hill to Elizabethtown, the country is well settled, though
+the improvements are generally indifferent--the soil thin, but well
+adapted to small-grain, and oak the prevailing growth. Elizabethtown,
+twenty-five miles from the mouth of Salt river, is quite a pretty and
+flourishing village, built chiefly of brick, with several churches and
+three large inns. From this place to Nolin creek, the distance is ten
+miles. Here there is a small town, containing some ten or twelve log
+houses, a large saw and grist mill, and a comfortable and very neat
+inn, kept by Mr. Mosher. Immediately after crossing this creek, the
+traveler enters "Yankee Street," as the inhabitants style this section
+of the road. For a distance of ten or twelve miles from Nolin toward
+Bacon creek, the land belongs, or did belong to the former Postmaster
+General, Gideon Granger, and on either side of the road, to the extent
+of Mr. G.'s possessions, are settlements made by emigrants from New
+York and the New England States. From Bacon creek to Munfordsville,
+eight miles, the country is pleasantly undulating, and here, indeed
+the whole route from Elizabethtown to the Cave, passes through what
+was until recently a Prairie, or, in the language of the country,
+"Barrens," and renders it highly interesting, especially to the
+botanist, from the multitude and variety of flowers with which it
+abounds during the Spring and Autumn months. Munfordsville, and
+Woodsonville directly opposite, are situated on Green river, on high
+and broken ground. They are small places, in each of which, however,
+are comfortable inns. Boats laden with tobacco and other produce,
+descend from this point and from a considerable distance above, to New
+Orleans. About two and a half miles beyond Munfordsville, the new
+State road to the Cave, (virtually made by Dr. Croghan, at a great
+expense,) leaves the Turnpike, and joins it again at the Dripping
+Springs, eight miles below, on the route to Nashville. This road, in
+going from Louisville to Nashville, is not only the shortest by three
+and a half miles, but to the Cave it is from ten to twelve miles
+shorter than the one taken by visiters previous to its construction.
+It therefore lessens the inconvenience, delay and consequent expense
+to which travelers were formerly subjected. The road itself is an
+excellent one, the country through which it passes highly picturesque,
+and Dr. Croghan has entitled himself to the gratitude of the traveling
+community by his liberality and enterprise in constructing it.
+
+Persons visiting the Cave by Steamer, (a boat leaves Louisville for
+Bowling-Green every week) will find much to interest them in the
+admirable locks and dams, rendering the navigation of Green river safe
+and good at all seasons for boats of a large class. Passengers can
+obtain conveyances at all times and at moderate rates, from
+Bowling-Green, by the Dripping Spring, to the Cave, distant twenty-two
+miles. Fifteen miles of this road is M'Adamized, the remainder is
+graded and not inferior to the finished portion. The last eight miles
+from the Dripping Spring to the Cave, cannot fail to excite the
+admiration of every one who delights in beholding wild and beautiful
+scenery. A visit to the Cedar Springs on this route, is alone worth a
+journey of many miles. Passengers on the upper turnpike, from
+Bardstown to Nashville, can, on reaching Glasgow, at all times procure
+conveyances to the Cave, either by Bell's or by Prewett's Knob.
+
+Arrived at the Cave, the visitor alights at a spacious hotel, the
+general arrangements, attendance and _cuisine_ of which, are adapted
+to the most fastidious taste. He feels that as far as the "creature
+comforts" are necessary to enjoyment, the prospect is full of promise;
+nor will he be disappointed. And now, this first and most important
+preliminary to a traveler settled to his perfect content, he may
+remain for weeks and experience daily gratification, "_Stephen_ his
+guide," in wandering through some of its two hundred and twenty-six
+avenues--in gazing, until he is oppressed with the feeling of their
+magnificence, at some of its forty-seven domes,--in listening,
+until their drowsy murmurs pain the sense, to some of its many
+water-falls,--or haply intent upon discovery, he hails some new vista,
+or fretted roof, or secret river, or unsounded lake, or crystal
+fountain, with as much rapture as Balboa, from "that peak in Darien,"
+gazed on the Pacific; he is assured that he "has a poet," and an
+historian too. Stephen has linked his name to dome, or avenue, or
+river, and it is already immortal--in the Cave.
+
+Independent of the attractions to be found in the Cave, there is much
+above ground to gratify the different tastes of visiters. There is a
+capacious ball-room, ninety feet by thirty, with a fine band of
+music,--a ten-pin alley,--romantic walks and carriage-drives in all
+directions, rendered easy of access by the fine road recently
+finished. The many rare and beautiful flowers in the immediate
+vicinity of the Cave, invite to exercise, and bouquets as exquisite as
+were ever culled in garden or green-house, may be obtained even as
+late as August. The fine sport the neighborhood affords to the hunter
+and the angler--Green river, just at hand, offers such "store of
+fish," as father Walton or his son and disciple Cotton, were they
+alive again, would love to meditate and angle in!--and the woods!
+Capt. Scott or Christopher North himself, might grow weary of the
+sight of game, winged or quadruped.
+
+
+
+
+INTERESTING FACTS.
+
+
+ 1. Accidents of no kind have ever occurred in the Mammoth Cave.
+
+ 2. Visiters, going in or coming out of the Cave, are not liable to
+contract colds; on the contrary, colds are commonly relieved by a
+visit in the Cave.
+
+ 3. No impure air exists in any part of the Cave.
+
+ 4. Reptiles, of no description, have ever been seen in the Cave; on
+the contrary, they, as well as quadrupeds, avoid it.
+
+ 5. Combustion is perfect in all parts of the Cave.
+
+ 6. Decomposition and consequent putrefaction are unobservable in all
+parts of the Cave.
+
+ 7. The water of the Cave is of the purest kind; and, besides fresh
+water, there are one or two sulphur springs.
+
+ 8. There are two hundred and twenty-six Avenues in the Cave;
+forty-seven Domes; eight Cataracts, and twenty-three Pits.
+
+ 9. The temperature of the Cave is 59 deg. Fahrenheit, and remains so,
+uniformly, winter and Summer.
+
+10. No sound, not even the loudest peal of thunder, is heard one
+quarter of a mile in the Cave.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The author of "Rambles in the Mammoth Cave," has written a scientific
+account of the Cave, embracing its Geology, Mineralogy, etc., which we
+could not, in time, insert in this publication.
+
+
+
+
+TABLE OF DISTANCES.
+
+
+FROM LOUISVILLE TO MAMMOTH CAVE.
+
+Medley's                 10 miles.
+Mouth Salt River         10
+Trueman's                 8
+Haycraft's                7
+Elizabethtown             9
+Nolin                     9
+Lucas                    11
+Munfordsville            10
+Mammoth Cave             14-1/2
+                         ------
+                         88-1/2 miles.
+
+
+FROM LEXINGTON TO MAMMOTH CAVE.
+
+Harrodsburgh             20 miles.
+Perryville               10
+Frosts                   12
+Young                     4
+Lebanon                   7
+New Market               12
+Barbee                    6
+Somerville                3
+Carters                   5
+Moss                      5
+Mitchell                 12
+Curls                     7
+Greens                   10
+Dickeys                   8
+Mammoth Cave              9
+                        ---
+                        130 miles.
+
+
+FROM GLASGOW TO MAMMOTH CAVE, via
+
+Dickeys                  18 miles.
+
+
+FROM NASHVILLE TO MAMMOTH CAVE.
+
+Gees                      9 miles.
+Tyree Springs            13
+Buntons                  12
+Franklin                 10
+Bowling Green            20
+Pattersons               12
+Dripping Springs          3
+Mammoth Cave              8
+                         --
+                         87 miles.
+
+
+FROM BARDSTOWN TO MAMMOTH CAVE.
+
+New Haven                15 miles.
+McDougals                10
+McAchran (Cobb's stand)  12
+Bear Wallow              20
+Dickeys (Prewett's Knob)  7
+Mammoth Cave              9
+                         --
+                         73 miles.
+
+
+FROM BARDSTOWN TO MAMMOTH CAVE,
+via. MUNFORDSVILLE.
+
+McAchran (Cobb's stand)  37 miles.
+Munfordsville            12
+Mammoth Cave             14-1/2
+                         ------
+                         63-1/2 miles.
+
+
+FROM GLASGOW TO MAMMOTH CAVE, via.
+
+Bells                    18 miles.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS.
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+Mammoth Cave--Where Situated--Green River--Improved Navigation--Range
+of Highlands--Beautiful Woodlands--Hotel--Romantic Dell--Mouth of the
+Cave--Coldness of the Air--Lamps Lighted--Bones of a Giant--Violence
+of the Wind--Lamps Extinguished--Temperature of the Cave--Lamps
+Relighted--First Hopper--Grand Vestibule--Glowing Description--Audubon
+Avenue--Little Bat Room--Pit two hundred and eighty feet deep--Main
+Cave--Kentucky Cliffs--The Church Second Hopper--Extent of the
+Saltpetre Manufacture in 1814.
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+Gothic Gallery--Gothic Avenue--Good Road--Mummies--Interesting
+Account of Them--Gothic Avenue, once called Haunted Chamber--Why so
+named--Adventure of a Miner in former days.
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+Stalagmite Pillars--The Bell--Vulcan's Furnace--Register Rooms--
+Stalagmite Hall or Gothic Chapel--Devil's Arm-Chair--Elephant's
+Head--Lover's Leap--Napoleon's Dome--Salts Cave--Annetti's Dome.
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+The Ball-Room--Willie's Spring--Wandering Willie--Ox-Stalls--Giant's
+Coffin--Acute-Angle or Great Bend--Range of Cabins--Curative Properties
+of the Cave Air long known.
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+Star Chamber--Salts Room--Indian Houses--Cross Rooms--Black Chambers--A
+Dinner Party--Humble Chute--Solitary Cave--Fairy Grotto--Chief City or
+Temple--Lee's Description--Return to the Hotel.
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+Arrival of a large Party--Second Visit--Lamps Extinguished--Laughable
+Confusion--Wooden Bowl--Deserted Chambers--Richardson's
+Spring--Side-Saddle Fit--The Labyrinth--Louisa's Dome--Gorin's
+Dome--Bottomless Fit--Separation of our Party.
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+Pensico Avenue--Cheat Crossings--Pine Apple Bush--Angelica's Grotto
+Winding Way--Fat Friend in Trouble--Relief Hall--Bacon Chamber
+Bandits Hall.
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+Mammoth Dome--First Discoverers--Little Dave--Tale of a Lamp--Return.
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+Third Visit--River Hall--Dead Sea--River Styx--Lethe--Echo
+River--Purgatory--Eyeless Fish--Supposed Level of the Rivers--Sources
+and Outlet Unknown.
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+Pass of El Ghor--Silliman's Avenue--Wellington's Gallery--Sulphur
+Spring--Mary's Vineyard--Holy Sepulchre--Commencement of Cleveland
+Avenue--By whom Discovered--Beautiful Formations--Snow-ball
+Room--Rocky Mountains--Croghan's Hall--Serena's Arbor--Dining
+Table--Dinner Party and Toast--Hoax of the Guide--Homeward
+Bound Passage--Conclusion.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+Mammoth Cave--Where Situated--Green River--Improved Navigation--Range of
+Highlands--Beautiful Woodlands--Hotel--Romantic Dell--Mouth of the
+Cave--Coldness of the Air--Lamps Lighted--Bones of a Giant--Violence
+of the Wind--Lamps Extinguished--Temperature of the Cave--Lamps
+Lighted--First Hoppers--Grand Vestibule--Glowing Description--Audubon
+Avenue--Little Bat Room--Pit Two-Hundred and Eighty Feet Deep--Main
+Cave--Kentucky Cliffs--The Church--Second Hoppers--Extent of the
+Saltpetre Manufacture in 1814.
+
+
+The Mammoth Cave is situated in the County of Edmondson and State of
+Kentucky, equidistant from the cities of Louisville and Nashville,
+(about ninety miles from each,) and immediately upon the nearest road
+between those two places. Green River is within half a mile of the
+Cave, and since the improvements in its navigation, by the
+construction of locks and dams, steam-boats can, at all seasons,
+ascend to Bowling Green, distant but twenty-two miles, and, for the
+greater part of the year, to the Cave itself.
+
+In going to the Cave from Munfordsville, you will observe a lofty
+range of barren highlands to the North, which approaches nearer and
+nearer the Cave as you advance, until it reaches to within a mile of
+it. This range of highlands or cliffs, composed of calcareous rock,
+pursuing its rectilinear course, is seen the greater part of the way
+as you proceed on towards Bowling Green; and, at last, looses itself
+in the counties below. Under this extensive range of cliffs it is
+conjectured that the great subterranean territory mainly extends
+itself.
+
+For a distance of two miles from the Cave, as you approach it from the
+South-East, the country is level. It was, until recently, a prairie,
+on which, however, the oak, chestnut and hickory are now growing; and
+having no underbrush, its smooth, verdant openings present, here and
+there, no unapt resemblance to the parks of the English nobility.
+
+Emerging from these beautiful woodlands, you suddenly have a view of
+the hotel and adjacent grounds, which is truly lovely and picturesque.
+The hotel is a large edifice, two hundred feet long by forty-five
+wide, with piazzas, sixteen feet wide, extending the whole length of
+the building, both above and below, well furnished, and kept in a
+style, by Mr. Miller, that cannot fail to please the most fastidious
+epicure.
+
+The Cave is about two-hundred yards from the hotel, and you proceed to
+it down a lovely and romantic dell, rendered umbrageous by a forest of
+trees and grape vines; and passing by the ruins of saltpetre furnaces
+and large mounds of ashes, you turn abruptly to the right and behold
+the mouth of the great cavern and as suddenly feel the coldness of its
+air.
+
+It is an appalling spectacle,--how dark, how dismal, how dreary.
+Descending some thirty feet down rather rude steps of stone, you are
+fairly under the arch of this "nether world"--before you, in looking
+outwards, is seen a small stream of water falling from the face of the
+crowning rock, with a wild faltering sound, upon the ruins below, and
+disappearing in a deep pit,--behind you, all is gloom and darkness!
+
+Let us now follow the guide--who, placing on his back a canteen of
+oil, lights the lamps, and giving one to each person, we commence our
+subterranean journey; having determined to confine ourselves, for this
+day, to an examination of _some_ of the avenues on this side of the
+rivers, and to resume, on a future occasion, our visit to the fairy
+scenes beyond. I emphasize the word _some_ of the avenues, because no
+visitor has ever yet seen one in twenty; and, although I shall attempt
+to describe only a few of them, and in so doing will endeavor to
+represent things as I saw them, and as they impressed me, I am not the
+less apprehensive that my descriptions will appear as unbounded
+exaggerations, so wonderfully vast is the Cave, so singular its
+formations, and so unique its characteristics.
+
+At the place where our lamps were lighted, are to be seen the wooden
+pipes which conducted the water, as it fell from the ceiling, to the
+vats or saltpetre hoppers; and near this spot too, are interred the
+bones of a _giant_, of such vast size is the skeleton, at least of
+such portions of it as remain. With regard to this giant, or more
+properly skeleton, it may be well to state, that it was found by the
+saltpetre workers far within the Cave years ago, and was buried by
+their employer where it now lies, to quiet their superstitious fears,
+not however before it was bereft of its head by some fearless
+antiquary.
+
+Proceeding onward about one-hundred feet, we reached a door, set in a
+rough stone wall, stretched across and completely blocking up the
+Cave; which was no sooner opened, than our lamps were extinguished by
+the violence of the wind rushing outwards. An accurate estimate of the
+external temperature, may at any time, be made, by noting the force of
+the wind as it blows inward or outward. When it is very warm without,
+the wind blows outwards with violence; but when cold, it blows inwards
+with proportionate force. The temperature of the Cave, (winter and
+summer,) is invariably the same--59 deg. Fahrenheit; and its atmosphere is
+perfectly uniform, dry, and of most extraordinary salubrity.
+
+Our lamps being relighted, we soon reached a narrow passage faced on
+the left side by a wall, built by the miners to confine the loose
+stone thrown up in the course of their operations, when gradually
+descending a short distance, we entered the great vestibule or
+ante-chamber of the Cave. What do we now see? Midnight!--the
+blackness of darkness!--Nothing! Where is the wall we were lately
+elbowing out of the way? It has vanished!--It is lost! We are walled
+in by darkness, and darkness canopies us above. Look again;--Swing
+your torches aloft! Aye, now you can see it; far up, a hundred feet
+above your head, a grey ceiling rolling dimly away like a cloud, and
+heavy buttresses, bending under the weight, curling and toppling over
+their base, begin to project their enormous masses from the shadowy
+wall. How vast! How solemn! How awful! The little bells of the brain
+are ringing in your ears; you hear nothing else--not even a sigh of
+air--not even the echo of a drop of water falling from the roof. The
+guide triumphs in your look of amazement and awe; he falls to work on
+certain old wooden ruins, to you, yet invisible, and builds a brace or
+two of fires, by the aid of which you begin to have a better
+conception of the scene around you. You are in the vestibule or
+ante-chamber, to which the spacious entrance of the Cave, and the
+narrow passage that succeeds it, should be considered the mere
+gate-way and covered approach. It is a basilica of an oval
+figure--two-hundred feet in length by one-hundred and fifty wide, with
+a roof which is as flat and level as if finished by the trowel of the
+plasterer, of fifty or sixty or even more feet in height. Two
+passages, each a hundred feet in width, open into it at its opposite
+extremities, but at right angles to each other; and as they preserve a
+straight course for five or six-hundred feet, with the same flat roof
+common to each, the appearance to the eye, is that of a vast hall in
+the shape of the letter L expanded at the angle, both branches being
+five-hundred feet long by one-hundred wide. The passage to the right
+hand is the "Great Bat Room;" (Audubon Avenue.) That in the front, the
+beginning of the Grand Gallery, or the Main Cavern itself. The whole
+of this prodigious space is covered by a single rock, in which the eye
+can detect no break or interruption, save at its borders, where is a
+broad, sweeping cornice, traced in horizontal panel-work, exceedingly
+noble and regular; and not a single pier or pillar of any kind
+contributes to support it. It needs no support. It is like the arched
+and ponderous roof of the poet's mausoleum:
+
+    "By its own weight made stedfast and immoveable."
+
+The floor is very irregularly broken, consisting of vast heaps of the
+nitrous earth, and of the ruins of the hoppers or vats, composed of
+heavy planking, in which the miners were accustomed to leach it. The
+hall was, in fact, one of their chief factory rooms. Before their day,
+it was a cemetery; and here they disinterred many a mouldering
+skeleton, belonging it seems, to that gigantic eight or nine feet race
+of men of past days, whose jaw-bones so many vivacious persons have
+clapped over their own, like horse-collars, without laying by a single
+one to convince the soul of scepticism.
+
+Such is the vestibule of the Mammoth Cave,--a hall which hundreds of
+visitors have passed through without being conscious of its existence.
+The path, leading into the Grand Gallery, hugs the wall on the left
+hand; and is, besides, in a hollow, flanked on the right hand by lofty
+mounds of earth, which the visitor, if he looks at them at all, which
+he will scarcely do, at so early a period after entering, will readily
+suppose to be the opposite walls. Those who enter the Great Bat Room,
+(Audubon Avenue,) into which flying visitors are seldom conducted,
+will indeed have some faint suspicion, for a moment, that they are
+passing through infinite space; but the walls of the Cave being so
+dark as to reflect not one single ray of light from the dim torches,
+and a greater number of them being necessary to disperse the gloom
+than are usually employed, they will still remain in ignorance of the
+grandeur around them.
+
+Such is the vestibule of the Mammoth Cave, as described by the
+ingenious author of "Calavar," "Peter Pilgrim," &c.
+
+From the vestibule we entered Audubon Avenue, which is more than a
+mile long, fifty or sixty feet wide and as many high. The roof or
+ceiling exhibits, as you walk along, the appearance of floating
+clouds--and such is observable in many other parts of the Cave. Near
+the termination of this avenue, a natural well, twenty-five feet deep,
+and containing the purest water, has been recently discovered; it is
+surrounded by stalagmite columns, extending from the floor to the
+roof, upon the incrustations of which, when lights are suspended, the
+reflection from the water below and the various objects above and
+around, gives to the whole scene an appearance equally rare and
+picturesque. This spot, however, being difficult of access, is but
+seldom visited.
+
+The Little Bat Room Cave--a branch of Audubon Avenue,--is on the left
+as you advance, and not more than three-hundred yards from the great
+vestibule. It is but little more than a quarter of a mile in length,
+and is remarkable for its pit of two-hundred and eighty feet in depth;
+and as being the hibernal resort of bats. Tens of thousands of them
+are seen hanging from the walls, in apparently a torpid state, during
+the winter, but no sooner does the spring open, than they disappear.
+
+Returning from the Little Bat Room and Audubon Avenue, we pass again
+through the vestibule, and enter the Main Cave or Grand Gallery. This
+is a vast tunnel extending for miles, averaging throughout, fifty feet
+in width by as many in height It is truly a noble subterranean avenue;
+the largest of which man has any knowledge, and replete with interest,
+from its varied characteristics and majestic grandeur.
+
+Proceeding down the main Cave about a quarter of a mile, we came to
+the Kentucky Cliffs, so called from the fancied resemblance to the
+cliffs on the Kentucky River, and descending gradually about twenty
+feet entered the church, when our guide was discovered in the _pulpit_
+fifteen feet above us, having reached there by a gallery which leads
+from the cliffs. The ceiling here is sixty three feet high, and the
+church itself, including the recess, cannot be less than one hundred
+feet in diameter. Eight or ten feet above and immediately behind the
+pulpit, is the organ loft, which is sufficiently capacious for an.
+organ and choir of the largest size. There would appear to be
+something like design in all this;--here is a church large enough to
+accomodate thousands, a solid projection of the wall of the Cave to
+serve as a pulpit, and a few feet back a place for an organ and choir.
+In this great temple of nature, religious service has been frequently
+held, and it requires but a slight effort on the part of a speaker, to
+make himself distinctly heard by the largest congregation.
+
+Sometimes the guides climb up the high and ragged sides, and suspend
+lamps in the crevices and on the projections of the rock, thus
+lighting up a scene of wild grandeur and sublimity.
+
+Concerts too have been held here, and the melody of song has been
+heard, such as would delight the ear of a Catalini or a Malibran.
+
+Leaving the church you will observe, on ascending, a large embankment
+of lixiviated earth thrown out by the miners more than thirty years
+ago, the print of wagon wheels and the tracks of oxen, as distinctly
+defined as though they were made but yesterday; and continuing on for
+a short distance, you arrive at the Second Hoppers. Here are seen the
+ruins of the old nitre works, leaching vats, pump frames and two lines
+of wooden pipes; one to lead fresh water from the dripping spring to
+the vats filled with the nitrous earth, and the other to convey the
+lye drawn from the large reservoir, back to the furnace at the mouth
+of the Cave.
+
+The quantity of nitrous earth contained in the Cave is "sufficient to
+supply the whole population of the globe with saltpetre."
+
+"The dirt gives from three to five pounds of nitrate of lime to the
+bushel, requiring a large proportion of fixed alkali to produce the
+required crystalization, and when left in the Cave become
+re-impregnated in three years. When saltpetre bore a high price,
+immense quantities were manufactured at the Mammoth Cave, but the
+return of peace brought the saltpetre from the East Indies in
+competition with the American, and drove that of the produce of our
+country entirely from the market. An idea may be formed of the extent
+of the manufacture of saltpetre at this Cave, from the fact that the
+contract for the supply of the fixed alkali alone for the Cave, for
+the year 1814, was twenty thousand dollars."
+
+"The price of the article was so high, and the profits of the
+manufacturer so great, as to set half the western world gadding after
+nitre caves--the gold mines of the day. Cave hunting in fact became a
+kind of mania, beginning with speculators, and ending with hair
+brained young men, who dared for the love of adventure the risk which
+others ran for profit." Every hole, remarked an old miner, the size of
+a man's body, has been penetrated for miles around the Mammoth Cave,
+but although we found "_petre earth_," we never could find a cave
+worth having.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+Gothic Gallery--Gothic Avenue--Good Road--Mummies--Interesting Account
+of Them--Gothic Avenue once called Haunted Chamber--Why so Named--
+Adventure of a Miner in Former Days.
+
+
+In looking from the ruins of the nitre works, to the left and some
+thirty feet above, you will see a large cave, connected with which is
+a narrow gallery sweeping across the Main Cave and losing itself in a
+cave, which is seen above to your right This latter cave is the Gothic
+Avenue, which no doubt was at one time connected with the cave
+opposite and on the same level, forming a complete bridge over the
+main avenue, but afterwards broken down and separated by some great
+convulsion.
+
+The cave on the left, which is filled with sand, has been penetrated
+but a short distance; still from its great size at its entrance, it is
+more than probable, that, were all obstructions removed, it might be
+found to extend for miles.
+
+[Illustration: ENTRANCE TO THE GOTHIC AVENUE.
+On Stone by T. Campbell
+Bauer & Teschemacher's Lith.]
+
+While examining the old saltpetre works, the guide left us without our
+being aware of it, but casting our eyes around we perceived him
+standing some forty feet above, on the projection of a huge rock, or
+tower, which commands a view of the grand gallery to a great extent
+both up and down.
+
+Leaving the Main Cave and ascending a flight of stairs twenty or
+thirty feet, we entered the Gothic Avenue, so named from the Gothic
+appearance of some of its compartments. This avenue is about forty
+feet wide, fifteen feet high and two miles long. The ceiling looks in
+many places as smooth and white as though it had been under the trowel
+of the most skilful plasterer. A good road has been made throughout
+this cave, and such is the temperature and purity of its atmosphere,
+that every visitor must experience their salutary influences.
+
+In a recess on the left hand elevated a few feet above the floor and
+about fifty feet from the head of the stairs leading up from the Main
+Avenue, two mummies long since taken away, were to be seen in 1813.
+They were in good preservation; one was a female with her extensive
+wardrobe placed before her. The removal of those mummies from the
+place in which they were found can be viewed as little less than
+sacrilege. There they had been, perhaps for centuries, and there they
+ought to have been left. What has become of them I know not. One of
+them, it is said, was lost in the burning of the Cincinnati museum.
+The wardrobe of the female was given to a Mr. Ward, of Massachusetts,
+who I believe presented it to the British Museum.
+
+Two of the miners found a mummy in Audubon Avenue, in 1814. With a
+view to conceal it for a time, they placed large stones over it, and
+marked the walls about the spot so that they might find it at some
+future period; this however, they were never able to effect. In 1840,
+the present hotel keeper Mr. Miller, learning the above facts, went in
+search of the place designated, taking with him very many lights, and
+found the marks on the walls, and near to them the mummy. It was,
+however, so much injured and broken to pieces by the heavy weights
+which had been placed upon it, as to be of little interest or value. I
+have no doubt, that if proper efforts were made, mummies and other
+objects of curiosity might be found, which would tend to throw light
+on the early history of the first inhabitants of this continent.
+
+Believing, that whatever may relate to these mummies cannot fail to
+interest, I will extract from the recently published narrative of a
+highly scientific gentleman of New York, himself one of the early
+visitors to the Cave.
+
+"On my first visit to the Mammoth Cave in 1813, I saw a relic of
+ancient times, which requires a minute description. This description
+is from a memorandum made in the Cave at the time.
+
+"In the digging of saltpetre earth, in the short cave, a flat rock was
+met with by the workmen, a little below the surface of the earth in
+the Cave; this stone was raised, and was about four feet wide and as
+many long; beneath it was a square excavation about three feet deep
+and as many in length and width. In this small nether subterranean
+chamber, sat in solemn silence one of the human species, a female with
+her wardrobe and ornaments placed at her side. The body was in a state
+of perfect preservation, and sitting erect The arms were folded up and
+the hands were laid across the bosom; around the two wrists was wound
+a small cord, designed probably, to keep them in the posture in which
+they were first placed; around the body and next thereto, was wrapped
+two deer-skins. These skins appear to have been dressed in some mode
+different from what is now practised by any people, of whom I have any
+knowledge. The hair of the skins was cut off very near the surface.
+The skins were ornamented with the imprints of vines and leaves, which
+were sketched with a substance perfectly white. Outside of these two
+skins was a large square sheet, which was either wove or knit. This
+fabric was the inner bark of a tree, which I judge from appearances to
+be that of the linn tree. In its texture and appearance, it resembled
+the South Sea Island cloth or matting; this sheet enveloped the whole
+body and the head. The hair on the head was cut off within an eighth
+of an inch of the skin, except near the neck, where it was an inch
+long. The color of the hair was a dark red; the teeth were white and
+perfect. I discovered no blemish upon the body, except a wound between
+two ribs near the back-bone; one of the eyes had also been injured.
+The finger and toe nails were perfect and quite long. The features
+were regular. I measured the length of one of the bones of the arm
+with a string, from the elbow to the wrist joint, and they equalled my
+own in length, viz: ten and a half inches. From the examination of the
+whole frame, I judged the figure to be that of a very tall female, say
+five feet ten inches in height. The body, at the time it was first
+discovered, weighed but fourteen pounds, and was perfectly dry; on
+exposure to the atmosphere, it gained in weight by absorbing dampness
+four pounds. Many persons have expressed surprise that a human body of
+great size should weigh so little, as many human skeletons of nothing
+but bone, exceed this weight. Recently some experiments have been made
+in Paris, which have demonstrated the fact of the human body being
+reduced to ten pounds, by being exposed to a heated atmosphere for a
+long period of time. The color of the skin was dark, not black; the
+flesh was hard and dry upon the bones. At the side of the body lay a
+pair of moccasins, a knapsack and an indispensable or reticule. I will
+describe these in the order in which I have named them. The moccasins
+were made of wove or knit bark, like the wrapper I have described.
+Around the top there was a border to add strength and perhaps as an
+ornament. These were of middling size, denoting feet of small size.
+The shape of the moccasins differs but little from the deer-skin
+moccasins worn by the Northern Indians. The knapsack was of wove or
+knit bark, with a deep, strong border around the top, and was about
+the size of knapsacks used by soldiers. The workmanship of it was
+neat, and such as would do credit as a fabric, to a manufacturer of
+the present day. The reticule was also made of knit or wove bark. The
+shape was much like a horseman's valise, opening its whole length on
+the top. On the side of the opening and a few inches from it, were two
+rows of hoops, one row on each side. Two cords were fastened to one
+end of the reticule at the top, which passed through the loop on one
+side and then on the other side, the whole length, by which it was
+laced up and secured. The edges of the top of the reticule were
+strengthened with deep fancy borders. The articles contained in the
+knapsack and reticule were quite numerous, and are as follows: one
+head cap, made of wove or knit bark, without any border, and of the
+shape of the plainest night cap; seven head-dresses made of the quills
+of large birds, and put together somewhat in the same way that feather
+fans are made, except that the pipes of the quills are not drawn to a
+point, but are spread out in straight lines with the top. This was
+done by perforating the pipe of the quill in two places and running
+two cords through these holes, and then winding around the quills and
+the cord, fine thread, to fasten each quill in the place designed for
+it. These cords extended some length beyond the quills on each side,
+so that on placing the feathers erect on the head, the cords could be
+tied together at the back of the head. This would enable the wearer to
+present a beautiful display of feathers standing erect and extending a
+distance above the head, and entirely surrounding it. These were most
+splendid head dresses, and would be a magnificent ornament to the head
+of a female at the present day,--several hundred strings of beads;
+these consisted of very hard brown seed smaller than hemp seed, in
+each of which a small hole had been made, and through this hole a
+small three corded thread, similar in appearance and texture to seine
+twine; these were tied up in bunches, as a merchant ties up coral
+beads when he exposes them for sale. The red hoofs of fawns, on a
+string supposed to be worn around the neck as a necklace. These hoofs
+were about twenty in number, and may have been emblematic of
+Innocence; the claw of an eagle, with a hole made in it, through which
+a cord was passed, so that it could be worn pendent from the neck; the
+jaw of a bear designed to be worn in the same manner as the eagle's
+claw, and supplied with a cord to suspend it around the neck; two
+rattlesnake-skins, one of these had fourteen rattles upon it, these
+were neatly folded up; some vegetable colors done up in leaves; a
+small bunch of deer sinews, resembling cat-gut in appearance; several
+bunches of thread and twine, two and three threaded, some of which
+were nearly white; seven needles, some of these were of horn and some
+of bone, they were smooth and appeared to have been much used. These
+needles had each a knob or whirl on the top, and at the other end were
+brought to a point like a large sail needle. They had no eyelets to
+receive a thread. The top of one of these needles was handsomely
+scalloped; a hand-piece made of deer-skin, with a hole through it for
+the thumb, and designed probably to protect the hand in the use of the
+needle, the same as thimbles are now used; two whistles about eight
+inches long made of cane, with a joint about one third the length;
+over the joint is an opening extending to each side of the tube of the
+whistle, these openings were about three-fourths of an inch long and a
+quarter of an inch wide, and had each a flat reed placed in the
+opening. These whistles were tied together with a cord wound around
+them.
+
+"I have been thus minute in describing the mute witness from the days
+of other times, and the articles which were deposited within her
+earthen house. Of the race of people to whom she belonged when living,
+we know nothing; and as to conjecture, the reader who gathers from
+these pages this account, can judge of the matter as well as those who
+saw the remnant of mortality in the subterranean chambers in which she
+was entombed. The cause of the preservation of her body, dress and
+ornaments is no mystery. The dry atmosphere of the Cave, with the
+nitrate of lime, with which the earth that covers the bottom of these
+nether palaces is so highly impregnated, preserves animal flesh, and
+it will neither putrify nor decompose when confined to its unchanging
+action. Heat and moisture are both absent from the Cave, and it is
+these two agents, acting together, which produce both animal and
+vegetable decomposition and putrefaction.
+
+"In the ornaments, etc., of this mute witness of ages gone, we have a
+record of olden time, from which, in the absence of a written record,
+we may draw some conclusions. In the various articles which
+constituted her ornaments, there were no metallic substances. In the
+make of her dress, there is no evidence of the use of any other
+machinery than the bone and horn needles. The beads are of a
+substance, of the use of which for such purposes, we have no account
+among people of whom we have any written record. She had no warlike
+arms. By what process the hair upon her head was cut short, or by what
+process the deer-skins were shorn, we have no means of conjecture.
+These articles afford us the same means of judging of the nation to
+which she belonged, and of their advances in the arts, that future
+generations will have in the exhumation of a tenant of one of our
+modern tombs, with the funeral shroud, etc. in a state of like
+preservation; with this difference, that with the present inhabitants
+of this section of the globe, but few articles of ornament are
+deposited with the body. The features of this ancient member of the
+human family much resembled those of a tall, handsome American woman.
+The forehead was high, and the head well formed.
+
+  "Ye mouldering relics of a race departed,
+  Your names have perished; not a trace remains."
+
+The Gothic Avenue was once called the Haunted Chamber, and owed its
+name to an adventure that befell one of the miners in former days,
+which is thus related by the author of "Calavar."
+
+In the Lower Branch is a room called the Salts Room, which produces
+considerable quantities of the sulphate of magnesia, or of soda, we
+forget which--a mineral that the proprietor of the Cave did not fail
+to turn to account. The miner in question was a new and raw hand--of
+course neither very well acquainted with the Cave itself, nor with the
+approved modes of averting or repairing accidents, to which, from the
+nature of their occupation, the miners were greatly exposed. Having
+been sent, one day, in charge of an older workman, to the Salts Room
+to dig a few sacks of the salt, and finding that the path to this
+sequestered nook was perfectly plain; and that, from the Haunted
+Chambers being a single, continuous passage without branches, it was
+impossible to wander from it, our hero disdained on his second visit,
+to seek or accept assistance, and trudged off to his work alone. The
+circumstance being common enough he was speedily forgotten by his
+brother miners; and it was not until several hours after, when they
+all left off their toil for the more agreeable duty of eating their
+dinner, that his absence was remarked, and his heroical resolution to
+make his way alone to the Salts Room remembered. As it was apparent,
+from the time he had been gone, that some accident must have happened
+to him, half a dozen men, most of them negroes, stripped half naked,
+their usual working costume, were sent to hunt him up, a task supposed
+to be of no great difficulty, unless he had fallen into a pit. In the
+meanwhile, the poor miner, it seems, had succeeded in reaching the
+Salts Room, filling his sack, and retracing his steps half way back to
+the Grand Gallery; when finding the distance greater than he thought
+it ought to be, the conceit entered his unlucky brain that he _might_
+perhaps be going wrong. No sooner had the suspicion struck him, than
+he fell into a violent terror, dropped his sack, ran backwards, then
+returned, then ran back again--each time more frightened and
+bewildered than before; until at last he ended his adventure by
+tumbling over a stone and extinguishing his lamp. Thus left in the
+dark, not knowing where to turn, frightened out of his wits besides,
+he fell to remembering his sins--always remembered by those who are
+lost in the Cave--and praying with all his might for succor. But hours
+passed away, and assistance came not; the poor fellow's frenzy
+increased; he felt himself a doomed man; he thought his terrible
+situation was a judgment imposed on him for his wickedness; nay, he
+even believed, at last, that he was no longer an inhabitant of the
+earth--that he had been translated, even in the body, to the place of
+torment--in other words, that he was in hell itself, the prey of the
+devils, who would presently be let loose upon him. It was at this
+moment the miners in search of him made their appearance; they lighted
+upon his sack, lying where he had thrown it, and set up a great shout,
+which was the first intimation he had of their approach. He started
+up, and seeing them in the distance, the half naked negroes in
+advance, all swinging their torches aloft, he, not doubting they were
+those identical devils whose appearance he had been expecting, took to
+his heels, yelling lustily for mercy; nor did he stop, notwithstanding
+the calls of his amazed friends, until he had fallen a second time
+over the rocks, where he lay on his face, roaring for pity, until, by
+dint of much pulling and shaking, he was convinced that he was still
+in the world and the Mammoth Cave. Such is the story of the Haunted
+Chambers, the name having been given to commemorate the incident.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+Stalagmite Pillars--The Bell--Vulcan's Furnace--Register Rooms--
+Stalagmite Hall or Gothic Chapel--Devil's Arm-Chair--Elephant's
+Head--Lover's Leap--Napoleon's Dome--Salts Cave--Annetti's Dome.
+
+
+Resuming our explorations in this most interesting avenue, we soon
+came in sight of stalagmite pillars, reaching from the floor to the
+ceiling, once perhaps white and translucent, but now black and
+begrimed with smoke. At this point we were startled by the hollow
+tread of our feet, caused by the proximity of another large avenue
+underneath, which the guide assured us he had often visited. In this
+neighborhood too, there are a number of Stalactites, one of which was
+called the Bell, which on being struck, sounded like the deep bell of
+a cathedral; but it now no longer tolls, having been broken in twain
+by a visiter from Philadelphia some years ago. Further on our way, we
+passed Louisa's Bower and Vulcan's Furnace, where there is a heap, not
+unlike cinders in appearance, and some dark colored water, in which I
+suppose the great forger used to slake his iron and perhaps his bolts.
+Next in order and not very distant are the new and old Register Rooms.
+Here on the ceiling which is as smooth and white as if it had been
+finished off by the plasterer, thousands of names have been traced by
+the smoke of a candle--names which can create no pleasing associations
+or recollections; names unknown to fame, and which might excite
+disgust, when read for the first time on the ceiling which they have
+disfigured.
+
+[Illustration: STALAGMITE HALL OR GOTHIC CHAPEL.
+On Stone by T. Campbell
+Bauer & Teschemacher's Lith.]
+
+
+Soon after leaving the old Register Room, we were halted by our guide,
+who took from us all the lamps excepting one. Having made certain
+arrangements, he cried aloud, "Come on!" which we did, and in a few
+moments entered an apartment of surprising grandeur and magnificence.
+This apartment or hall is elliptical in shape and eighty feet long by
+fifty wide. Stalagmite columns, of vast size nearly block up the two
+ends; and two rows of pillars of smaller dimensions, reaching from
+floor to ceiling and equidistant from the wall on either side, extend
+its entire length. Against the pillars, and in many places from the
+ceiling, our lamps were hanging, and, lighting up the whole space,
+exhibited to our enraptured sight a scene surpassingly grand, and well
+calculated to inspire feelings of solemnity and awe. This is the
+Stalagmite Hall, or as some call it, the Gothic Chapel, which no one
+can see under such circumstances as did our party, without being
+forcibly reminded of the old, very old cathedrals of Europe.
+Continuing our walk we came to the Devil's Arm-Chair. This is a large
+Stalagmite column, in the centre of which is formed a capacious seat.
+Like most other visiters we seated ourselves in the chair of his
+Satanic Majesty, and drank sulphur water dipped up from a small basin
+of rock, near the foot of the chair. Further on we passed a number of
+Stalactites and Stalagmites, Napoleon's Breast-Work, (behind which we
+found ashes and burnt cane,) the Elephant's Head, the Curtain, and
+arrived at last at the Lover's Leap. The Lover's Leap is a large
+pointed rock projecting over a dark and gloomy hollow, thirty or more
+feet deep. Our guide told us that the young ladies often asked their
+beaux to take the Lover's Leap, but that he never knew any to "love
+hard enough" to attempt it. We descended into the hollow, immediately
+below the Lover's Leap, and entered to the left and at right-angle
+with our previous course, a passage or chasm in the rock, three feet
+wide and fifty feet high, which conducted us to the lower branch of
+the Gothic Avenue. At the entrance of this lower branch is an
+immensely large flat rock called Gatewood's Dining Table, to the right
+of which is a cave, which we penetrated, as far as the Cooling Tub--a
+beautiful basin of water six feet wide and three deep--into which a
+small stream of the purest water pours itself from the ceiling and
+afterwards finds its way into the Flint Pit at no great distance.
+Returning, we wound around Gatewood's Dining Table, which nearly
+blocks up the way, and continued our walk along the lower branch more
+than half a mile, passing Napoleon's Dome, the Cinder Banks, the
+Crystal Pool, the Salts Cave, etc., etc. Descending a few feet and
+leaving the cave which continues onwards, we entered, on our right, a
+place of great seclusion and grandeur, called Annetti's Dome. Through
+a crevice in the right wall of the dome is a waterfall. The water
+issues in a stream a foot in diameter, from a high cave in the side of
+the dome--falls upon the solid bottom, and passes off by a small
+channel into the Cistern, which is directly on the pathway of the
+cave. The Cistern is a large pit, which is usually kept nearly full of
+water.
+
+Near the end of this branch, (the lower branch) there is a crevice in
+the ceiling over the last spring, through which the sound of water may
+be heard falling in a cave or open space above.
+
+Highly gratified with what we had now seen in the Gothic Avenue, we
+concluded to pursue it no further, but to retrace our steps to the
+Main Cave, regretting however, that we had not visited the Salts Cave,
+(a branch of the Gothic Avenue,) on being told, when too late, that it
+would have amply compensated us for our trouble, being rich in fine
+specimens of Epsom or Glauber salts.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+The Ball-Room--Willie's Spring--Wandering Willie--Ox-Stalls--Giant's
+Coffin--Acute-Angle or Great Bend--Range of Cabins--Curative Properties
+of the Cave Air long known.
+
+
+We are now again in the Main Cave or Grand Gallery, which continues to
+increase in interest as we advance, eliciting from our party frequent
+and loud exclamations of admiration and wonder. Not many steps from
+the stairs leading down from the Gothic Avenue into the Main Cave, is
+the Ball-Room, so called from its singular adaptedness to such a
+purpose; for there is an orchestra, fifteen or eighteen feet high,
+large enough to accommodate a hundred or more musicians, with a
+gallery extending back to the level of the high embankment near the
+Gothic Avenue; besides which, the avenue here is lofty, wide, straight
+and perfectly level for several hundred feet. At the trifling expense
+of a plank floor, seats and lamps, a ball-room might be had, if not
+more splendid, at all events more grand and magnificent than any other
+on earth. The effect of music here would be truly inspiring; but the
+awful solemnity of the place may, in the opinion of many, prevent its
+being used as a temple of Terpsichore. Extremes, we are told, often
+meet. The same objection has been urged against the Cave's being used
+for religious services. "No clergyman," remarked a distinguished
+divine, "be he ever so eloquent could concentrate the attention of his
+congregation in such a place. The God of nature speaks too loud here
+for _man to be heard_."
+
+Leaving these points to be settled as they may, we will proceed
+onwards; the road now is broad and fine, and in many places dusty.
+Next in order is Willie's Spring, a beautifully fluted niche in the
+left hand wall, caused by the continual attrition of water trickling
+down into a basin below. This spring derives its name from that of a
+young gentleman, the son of a highly respectable clergyman of
+Cincinnati, who, in the spirit of romance, assumed the name of
+Wandering Willie, and taking with him his violin, marched on foot to
+the Cave. Wishing no better place in which to pass the night, he
+selected this spot, requesting the guide to call for him in the
+morning. This he did and found him fast asleep upon his bed of earth,
+with his violin beside him--ever since it has been called Willie's
+Spring. Just beyond the spring and near the left wall, is the place
+where the oxen were fed during the time of the miners; and strewn
+around are a great many corn-cobs, to all appearance, and in fact,
+perfectly sound, although they have lain there for more than thirty
+years. In this neighborhood is a niche of great size in the wall on
+the left, and reaching from the roof to the bottom of a pit more than
+thirty feet deep, down the sides of which, water of the purest kind is
+continually dripping, and is afterwards conducted to a large trough,
+from which the invalids obtain their supply of water, during their
+sojourn in the Cave. Near the bottom, this pit or well expands into a
+large room, out of which, there is no opening. It is probable that
+Richardson's Spring in the Deserted Chambers is supplied from this
+well. Passing the Well Cave, Rocky Cave, etc., etc., we arrived at the
+Giant's Coffin, a huge rock on the right, thus named from its singular
+resemblance in shape to a coffin; its locality, apart from its great
+size, renders it particularly conspicuous, as all must pass around it,
+in leaving the Main Cave, to visit the rivers and the thousand wonders
+beyond. At this point commence those incrustations, which, portraying
+every imaginable figure on the ceiling, afford full scope to the
+fanciful to picture what they will, whether of "birds, or beasts, or
+creeping things." About a hundred yards beyond the Coffin, the Cave
+makes a majestic curve, and sweeping round the Great Bend or
+Acute-Angle, resumes its general course. Here the guide ignited a
+Bengal light. This vast amphitheatre became illuminated, and a scene
+of enchantment was exposed to our view. Poets may conceive, but no
+language can describe, the splendor and sublimity of the scene. The
+rapturous exclamations of our party might have been heard from afar,
+both up and down this place of wonders. Opposite to the Great Bend, is
+the entrance of the Sick Room Cave, so called from the fact of the
+sudden sickness of a visiter a few years ago, supposed to have been
+caused by his smoking, with others, cigars in one of its most remote
+and confined nooks. Immediately beyond the Great Bend, a row of
+cabins, built for consumptive patients, commences. All of these are
+framed buildings, with the exception of two, which are of stone. They
+stand in line, from thirty to one hundred feet apart, exhibiting a
+picturesque, yet at the same time, a gloomy and mournful appearance.
+They are well furnished, and without question, would with good and
+comfortable accommodations, pure air and uniform temperature, cure the
+pulmonary consumption. The invalids in the Cave ought to be cured; but
+I doubt whether the Cave air or any thing else can cure confirmed
+Phthisis. A knowledge of the curative properties of the Cave air, is
+not, as is generally supposed, of recent date. It has been long known.
+A physician of great respectability, formerly a member of Congress
+from the district adjoining the Cave, was so firmly convinced of the
+medical properties of its air, as to express more than twenty years
+ago, as his opinion, that the State of Kentucky ought to purchase it,
+with a view to establish a hospital in one of its avenues. Again the
+author of "Calavar," himself a distinguished professor of medicine,
+makes the following remarks in relation to the Cave air, as far back
+as 1832, the date of his visit:
+
+"It is always temperate. Its purity, judging from its effects on the
+lungs, and from other circumstances, is remarkable, though in what its
+purity consists, I know not. But, be its composition what it may, it
+is certain its effects upon the spirits and bodily powers of visiters,
+are extremely exhilarating; and that it is not less salubrious than
+enlivening. The nitre diggers were a famously healthy set of men; it
+was a common and humane practice to employ laborers of enfeebled
+constitutions, who were soon restored to health and strength, though
+kept at constant labour; and more joyous, merry fellows were never
+seen. The oxen, of which several were kept day and night in the Cave,
+hauling the nitrous earth, were after a month or two of toil, in as
+fine condition for the shambles, as if fattened in the stall. The
+ordinary visiter, though rambling a dozen hours or more, over paths of
+the roughest and most difficult kind, is seldom conscious of fatigue,
+until he returns to the upper air; and then it seems to him, at least
+in the summer season, that he has exchanged the atmosphere of paradise
+for that of a charnel warmed by steam--all without is so heavy, so
+dank, so dead, so mephitic. Awe and even apprehension, if that has
+been felt, soon yield to the influence of the delicious air of the
+Cave; and after a time a certain jocund feeling is found mingled with
+the deepest impressions of sublimity, which there are so many objects
+to awaken. I recommend all broken hearted lovers and dyspeptic dandies
+to carry their complaints to the Mammoth Cave, where they will
+undoubtedly find themselves "translated" into very buxom and happy
+persons before they are aware of it."
+
+[Illustration: STAR CHAMBER.
+On Stone by T. Campbell
+Bauer & Teschemacher's Lith.]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+Star Chamber--Salts Room--Indian Houses--Cross Rooms--Black Chambers--
+A Dinner Party--Humble Chute--Solitary Care--Fairy Grotto--Chief City
+or Temple--Lee's Description--Return to the Hotel.
+
+
+The Star Chamber next attracted our attention. It presents the most
+perfect optical illusion imaginable; in looking up to the ceiling,
+which is here very high, you seem to see the very firmament itself,
+studded with stars; and afar off, a comet with its long, bright tail.
+Not far from this Star Chamber, may be seen, in a cavity in the wall
+on the right, and about twenty feet above the floor, an oak pole about
+ten feet long and six inches in diameter, with two round sticks of
+half the thickness and three feet long, tied on to it transversely, at
+about four feet apart. By means of a ladder we ascended to the cavity,
+and found the pole to be firmly fixed--one end resting on the bottom
+of the cavity, and the other reaching across and forced into a crevice
+about three feet above. We supposed that this was a ladder once used
+by the former inhabitants of the Cave, in getting the salts which are
+incrusted on the walls in many places. Doct. Locke, of the Medical
+College of Ohio, is, however, of the opinion, that on it was placed a
+dead body,--similar contrivances being used by some Indian tribes on
+which to place their dead. Although thousands have passed the spot,
+still this was never seen until the fall of 1841. Ages have doubtless
+rolled by since this was placed here, and yet it is perfectly sound;
+even the bark which confines the transverse pieces shows no marks of
+decay.
+
+We passed through some Side Cuts, as they are called. These are caves
+opening on the sides of the avenues; and after running for some
+distance, entering them again. Some of them exceed half a mile in
+length; but most generally they are short. In many of them, "quartz,
+calcedony, red ochre, gypsum, and salts are found." The walking, in
+this part of the avenue, being rough, we progressed but slowly, until
+we reached the Salts Room; here we found the walls and ceiling covered
+with salts hanging in crystals. The least agitation of the air causing
+flakes of the crystals to fall like snow. In the Salts Room are the
+Indian houses, under the rocks--small spaces or rooms completely
+covered--some of which contain ashes and cane partly burnt. The
+_Cross Rooms_, which we next come to, is a grand section of this
+avenue; the ceiling has an unbroken span of one hundred and seventy
+feet, without a column to support it! The mouths of two caves are seen
+from this point, neither of which we visited, and much to our loss, as
+will appear from the following extract from the "Notes on the Mammoth
+Cave, by E.F. Lee, Esq., Civil Engineer," in relation to one of
+them--the Black Chambers:
+
+"At the ruins in the Black Chambers, there are a great many large
+blocks composed of different strata of rocks, cemented together,
+resembling the walls, pedestals, cornices, etc., of some old castle,
+scattered over the bottom of the Cave. The avenue here is so wide, as
+to make it quite a task to walk from one side to the other. On the
+right hand, beyond the ruins, you enter the right branch, on the same
+level--the ceiling of which is regularly arched. Through the Big
+Chimneys you ascend into an upper room, about the size of the Main
+Cave, the bottom of which is higher than the ceiling of the one below.
+Proceeding on we soon heard the low murmurings of a water-fall,--the
+sound of which becomes louder and louder as we advanced, until we
+reached the Cataract. In the roof are perforations as large as a
+hogshead, on the right hand side, from which water is ever falling, on
+ordinary occasions in not very large quantities; but after heavy
+rains--in torrents; and with a horrible roar that shakes the walls and
+resounds afar through the Cave. It is at such times that these
+cascades are worthy the name of cataracts, which they bear. The water
+falling into a great funnel-shaped pit, immediately vanishes."
+
+Here we concluded to dine, and at quite a fashionable hour--4, P.M.
+The guide arranged the plates, knives and forks, wine-glasses, etc.,
+on a huge table of rock, and announced,--"Dinner is ready!" We filled
+our plates with the excellent viands prepared at the Cave House, and
+seating ourselves on the rocks or nitre earth, partook of our repast
+with the gusto of gourmands, and quaffing, ever and anon, wines which
+would have done credit to the Astor or Tremont House. "There may be,"
+remarked our corpulent friend B., "a great deal of romance in this way
+of eating--with your plate on your lap, and seated on a rock or a lump
+of nitre earth--but for my part I would rather dispense with the
+poetry of the thing and eat a good dinner, whether above or below
+ground, from off a bona-fide table, and seated in a good substantial
+chair. The proprietor ought to have at all the watering places, (and
+they are numerous,) tables, chairs, and the necessary table furniture,
+that visitors might partake of their collations in some degree of
+comfort." The guide who, by the way, is a very intelligent and
+facetious fellow, was much amused at the suggestion of our friend, and
+remarked that "the owner of the Cave, Doct. Croghan, lived near
+Louisville, and that the only way to get such '_fixings_' at the
+watering places, was to write to him on the subject." "Then," said B.,
+"for the sake of those who may follow after us, I will take it upon
+myself to write."
+
+From this point you have a view of the Main Avenue on our left,
+pursuing its general course, and exhibiting the same solemn grandeur
+as from the commencement,--and directly before us the way to the
+Humble Chute and the Cataract. The Humble Chute is the entrance to the
+Solitary Chambers; before entering which, we must crawl on our hands
+and knees some fifteen or twenty feet under a low arch. It is
+appropriately named; as is the Solitary Chambers which we have now
+entered. You feel here,--to use an expression of one of our
+party,--"out of the world." Without dwelling on the intervening
+objects--although they are numerous and not without interest,--we will
+enter at once the Fairy Grotto of the Solitary Cave. It is in truth a
+fairy grotto; a countless number of Stalactites are seen extending, at
+irregular distances, from the roof to the floor, of various sizes and
+of the most fantastic shapes--some quite straight, some crooked, some
+large and hollow--forming irregularly fluted columns; and some solid
+near the ceiling, and divided lower down, into a great number of small
+branches like the roots of trees; exhibiting the appearance of a coral
+grove. Hanging our lamps to the incrustations on the columns, the
+grove of Stalactites became faintly lighted up, disclosing a scene of
+extraordinary wildness and beauty. "This is nothing to what you'll see
+on the other side of the rivers," cries our guide, smiling at our
+enthusiastic admiration. With all its present beauty, this grotto is
+far from being what it was, before it was despoiled and robbed some
+eight or nine years ago, by a set of vandals, who, through sheer
+wantonness, broke many of the stalactites, leaving them strewn on the
+floor--a disgustful memorial of their vulgar propensities and
+barbarian-like conduct.
+
+Returning from the Fairy Grotto, we entered the Main Cave at the
+Cataract, and continued our walk to the Chief City or Temple, which is
+thus described by Lee, in his "Notes on the Mammoth Cave:"
+
+"The Temple is an immense vault covering an area of two acres, and
+covered by a single dome of solid rock, one hundred and twenty feet
+high. It excels in size the Cave of Staffa; and rivals the celebrated
+vault in the Grotto of Antiparos, which is said to be the largest in
+the world. In passing through from one end to the other, the dome
+appears to follow like the sky in passing from place to place on the
+earth. In the middle of the dome there is a large mound of rocks
+rising on one side nearly to the top, very steep and forming what is
+called the _Mountain_. When first I ascended this mound from the cave
+below, I was struck with a feeling of awe more deep and intense, than
+any thing that I had ever before experienced. I could only observe the
+narrow circle which was illuminated immediately around me; above and
+beyond was apparently an unlimited space, in which the ear could catch
+not the slightest sound, nor the eye find an object to rest upon. It
+was filled with silence and darkness; and yet I knew that I was
+beneath the earth, and that this space, however large it might be, was
+actually bounded by solid walls. My curiosity was rather excited than
+gratified. In order that I might see the whole in one connected view,
+I built fires in many places with the pieces of cane which I found
+scattered among the rocks. Then taking my stand on the Mountain, a
+scene was presented of surprising magnificence. On the opposite side
+the strata of gray limestone, breaking up by steps from the bottom,
+could scarcely be discerned in the distance by the glimmering light.
+Above was the lofty dome, closed at the top by a smooth oval slab,
+beautifully defined in the outline, from which the walls sloped away
+on the right and left into thick darkness. Every one has heard of the
+dome of the Mosque of St. Sophia, of St. Peter's and St. Paul's; they
+are never spoken of but in terms of admiration, as the chief works of
+architecture, and among the noblest and most stupendous examples of
+what man can do when aided by science; and yet when compared with the
+dome of this Temple, they sink into comparative insignificance. Such
+is the surpassing grandeur of Nature's works."
+
+[Illustration: CHIEF CITY OR TEMPLE.
+On Stone by T. Campbell
+Bauer & Teschemacher's Lith.]
+
+To us, the Temple seemed to merit the glowing description above given,
+but what would Lee think, on being told, that since the discovery of
+the rivers and the world of beauties beyond them, not one person in
+fifty visits the Temple or the Fairy Grotto; they are now looked upon
+as tame and uninteresting. The hour being now late, we concluded to
+proceed no further, but to return to the hotel, where we arrived at
+11, P.M.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+Arrival of a large Party--Second Visit--Lamps Extinguished--Laughable
+Confusion--Wooden Bowl--Deserted Chambers--Richardson's Side-Saddle
+Pit--The Labyrinth--Louisa's Dome--Gorin's Dome--Bottomless Pit--
+Separation of our Party.
+
+
+On being summoned to breakfast the next morning, we ascertained that a
+large party of ladies and gentlemen had arrived during our absence,
+who, like ourselves, were prepared to enter the Cave. They, however,
+were for hurrying over the rivers, to the distant points beyond--we,
+for examining leisurely the avenues on this side. At 8 o'clock, both
+parties accompanied by their respective guides and making a very
+formidable array, set out from the hotel, happy in the anticipation of
+the "sights to be seen." It was amusing to hear the remarks, and to
+witness the horror of some of the party on first beholding the mouth
+of the Cave. Oh! it is so frightful!--It is so cold!--I _cannot_ go
+in! Notwithstanding all this, curiosity prevailed, and down we
+went--arranged our lamps, which being extinguished in passing through
+the doorway by the strong current of air rushing outwards, there arose
+such a clamor, such laughter, such screaming, such crying out for the
+guides, as though all Bedlam had broke loose,--the guides exerting
+themselves to quiet apprehensions, and the visiters of yesterday
+knowing that there was neither danger nor just cause of alarm, doing
+their utmost to counteract their efforts, by well feigned exclamations
+of terror. At length the lamps were re-lighted and order being
+restored, onward we went. The Vestibule and Church were each in turn
+illuminated, to the enthusiastic delight of all--even those of the
+party, who were but now so terrified, were loud in their expressions
+of admiration and wonder. Arrived at the Giant's Coffin, we leave the
+Main Cave to enter regions very dissimilar to those we have seen. A
+narrow passage behind the Coffin leads to a circular room, one hundred
+feet in diameter, with a low roof, called the Wooden Bowl, in allusion
+to its figure, or as some say, from a wooden bowl having been found
+here by some old miner. This Bowl is the vestibule of the Deserted
+Chambers. On the right, are the Steeps of Time, (why so called we are
+left to conjecture,) down which, descending about twenty feet, and
+almost perpendicularly for the first ten, we enter the Deserted
+Chambers, which in their course present features extremely wild,
+terrific and multiform. For two hundred yards the ceiling as you
+advance is rough and broken, but further on, it is waving, white and
+smooth as if worn by water. At Richardson's Spring, the imprint of
+moccasins and of children's feet, of some by-gone age, were recently
+seen. There are more pits in the Deserted Chambers than in any other
+portion of the Cave; and among the most noted are the Covered Pit, the
+Side-Saddle Pit and the Bottomless Pit. Indeed the whole range of
+these chambers, is so interrupted by pits, and throughout is so
+irregular and serpentine and so bewildering from the number of its
+branches, that the visiter, doubtful of his footing, and uncertain as
+to his course, is soon made sensible of the prudence of the
+regulation, which enjoins him, "not to leave the guide." "The Covered
+Pit is in a little branch to the left; this pit is twelve or fifteen
+feet in diameter, covered with a thin rock, around which a narrow
+crevice extends, leaving only a small support on one side. There is a
+large rock resting on the centre of the cover. The sound of a
+waterfall may be heard from the pit but cannot be seen." The
+Side-Saddle Pit is about twenty feet long and eight feet wide, with a
+margin about three feet high, and extending lengthwise ten feet,
+against which one may safely lean, and view the interior of the pit
+and dome. After a short walk from this place, we came to a ladder on
+our right, which conducted us down about fifteen feet into a narrow
+pass, not more than five feet wide; this pass is the Labyrinth, one
+end of which leads to the Bottomless Pit, entering it about fifty feet
+down, and the other after various windings, now up, now down, over a
+bridge, and up and down ladders, conducts you to one of the chief
+glories of the Cave,--Gorin's Dome; which, strange to tell, was not
+discovered until a few years ago. Immediately behind the ladder, there
+is a narrow opening in the rock, extending up very nearly to the cave
+above, which leads about twenty feet back to Louisa's Dome, a pretty
+little place of not more than twelve feet in diameter, but of twice
+that height. This dome is directly under the centre of the cave we had
+just been traversing, and when lighted up, persons within it can be
+plainly seen from above, through a crevice in the rock. Arrived at
+Gorin's Dome, we were forcibly struck by the seeming appearance of
+_design_, in the arrangement of the several parts, for the special
+accommodation of visiters--even with reference to their number. The
+Labyrinth, which we followed up, brought us at its termination, to a
+window or hole, about four feet square, three feet above the floor,
+opening into the interior of the dome, about midway between the bottom
+and top; the wall of rock being at this spot, not more than eighteen
+inches thick; and continuing around, and on the outside of the dome,
+along a gallery of a few feet in width, for twenty or more paces, we
+arrived at another opening of much larger size, eligibly disposed, and
+commanding, like the first, a view of very nearly the whole interior
+space. Whilst we are arranging ourselves, the guide steals away,
+passes down, down, one knows not how, and is presently seen by the dim
+light of his lamp, fifty feet below, standing near the wall on the
+inside of the dome. The dome is of solid rock, with sides apparently
+fluted and polished, and perhaps two hundred feet high. Immediately in
+front and about thirty feet from the window, a huge rock seems
+suspended from above and arranged in folds like a curtain. Here we are
+then, the guide fifty feet below us. Some of the party thrusting their
+heads and, in their anxiety to see, their bodies through the window
+into the vast and gloomy dome of two hundred feet in height. The
+window is not large enough to afford a view to all at once, they crowd
+one on the top of the other; the more cautious, and those who do not
+like to be squeezed, stand back; but still holding fast to the
+garments of their friends for fear they might in the ecstasy of their
+feelings, leap into the frightful abyss into which they are looking.
+Suddenly the guide ignites a _Bengal light_. The vast dome is radiant
+with light. Above, as far as the eye can reach, are seen the shining
+sides of the fluted walls; below, the yawning gulf is rendered the
+more terrific, by the pallid light exposing to view its vast depth,
+the whole displaying a scene of sublimity and splendor, such as words
+have not power to describe. Returning, we ascended the ladder near
+Louisa's Dome, and continued on, having the Labyrinth on our right
+side until it terminates in the Bottomless Pit. This pit terminates
+also the range of the Deserted Chambers, and was considered the Ultima
+Thule of all explorers, until within the last few years, when Mr.
+Stephenson of Georgetown, Ky. and the intrepid guide, Stephen,
+conceived the idea of reaching the opposite side by throwing a ladder
+across the frightful chasm. This they accomplished, and on this
+ladder, extending across a chasm of twenty feet wide and near two
+hundred deep, did these daring explorers cross to the opposite side,
+and thus open the way to all those splendid discoveries, which have
+added so much to the value and renown of the Mammoth Cave. The
+Bottomless Pit is somewhat in the shape of a horse-shoe, having a
+tongue of land twenty seven feet long, running out into the middle of
+it. From the end of this point of land, a substantial bridge has been
+thrown across to the cave on the opposite side.
+
+[Illustration: BOTTOMLESS PIT.
+On Stone by T. Campbell
+Bauer & Teschemacher's Lith.]
+
+While standing on the bridge, the guide lets down a lighted paper into
+the deep abyss; it descends twisting and turning, lower and lower, and
+is soon lost in total darkness, leaving us to conjecture, as to what
+may be below. Crossing the bridge to the opposite cave, we find
+ourselves in the midst of rocks of the most gigantic size lying along
+the edge of the pit and on our left hand. Above the pit is a dome of
+great size, but which, from its position, few have seen. Proceeding
+along a narrow passage for some distance, we arrived at the point from
+which diverge two noted routes--the Winding Way and Pensico Avenue.
+Here we called a short halt; then wishing our newly formed
+acquintances [Transcriber's note: sic] a safe voyage over the "deep
+waters," we parted; they taking the left hand to the Winding Way and
+the rivers, and we the right to Pensico Avenue.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+Pensico Avenue--Great Crossings--Pine Apple Bush--Angelica's Grotto--
+Winding Way--Fat Friend in Trouble--Relief Hall--Bacon Chamber--
+Bandit's Hall.
+
+
+Pensico Avenue averages about fifty feet in width, with a height of
+about thirty feet; and is said to be two miles long. It unites in an
+eminent degree the truly beautiful with the sublime, and is highly
+interesting throughout its entire extent. For a quarter of a mile from
+the entrance, the roof is beautifully arched, about twelve feet high
+and sixty wide, and formerly was encrusted with rosettes and other
+formations, nearly all of which have been taken away or demolished,
+leaving this section of the Cave quite denuded. The walking here is
+excellent; a dozen persons might run abreast for a quarter of a mile
+to Bunyan's Way, a branch of the avenue, leading on to the river. At
+this point the avenue changes its features of beauty and regularity,
+for those of wild grandeur and sublimity, which it preserves to the
+end. The way, no longer smooth and level, is frequently interrupted
+and turned aside by huge rocks, which lie tumbled around, in all
+imaginable disorder. The roof now becomes very lofty and imposingly
+magnificent; its long, pointed or lancet arches, forcibly reminding
+you of the rich and gorgeous ceilings of the old Gothic Cathedrals, at
+the same time solemnly impressing you with the conviction that this is
+a "building not made with hands." No one, not dead to all the more
+refined sensibilities of our nature, but must exclaim, in beholding
+the sublime scenes which here present themselves, this is not the work
+of man! No one can be here without being reminded of the all pervading
+presence of the great "Father of all."
+
+    "What, but God, pervades, adjusts and agitates the whole!"
+
+Not far from the point at which the avenue assumes the rugged
+features, which now characterize it, we separated from our guide, he
+continuing his straight-forward course, and we descending gradually a
+few feet and entering a tunnel of fifteen feet wide on our left, the
+ceiling twelve or fourteen feet high, perfectly arched and beautifully
+covered with white incrustations, very soon reached the Great
+Crossings. Here the guide jumped down some six or eight feet from the
+avenue which we had left, into the tunnel where we were standing, and
+crossing it, climbed up into the avenue, which he pursued for a short
+distance or until it united with the tunnel, where he again joined us.
+In separating from, then crossing, and again uniting with the avenue,
+it describes with it something like the figure 8. The name, Great
+Crossings, is not unapt. It was however, not given, as our intelligent
+guide veritably assured us, in honor of the Great Crossings where the
+man lives who killed Tecumseh, but because two great caves cross here;
+and moreover said he, "the valiant Colonel ought to change the name of
+his place, as no two places in a State should bear the same name, and
+this being the _great_ place ought to have the preference."
+
+Not very far from this point, we ascended a hill on our left, and
+walking a short distance over our shoe-tops in dry nitrous earth, in a
+direction somewhat at a right angle with the avenue below, we arrived
+at the Pine Apple Bush, a large column, composed of a white, soft,
+crumbling material, with bifurcations extending from the floor to the
+ceiling. At a short distance, either to the right or left, you have a
+fine view of the avenue some twenty feet below, both up and down. Why
+this crumbling stalactite is called the Pine Apple Bush, I cannot
+divine. It stands however in a charming, secluded spot, inviting to
+repose; and we luxuriated in inhaling the all-inspiring air, while
+reclining on the clean, soft and dry salt petre earth.
+
+All lovers of romantic scenery ought to visit this avenue, and all
+dyspeptic hypochondriacs and love-sick despondents should do likewise,
+for there is something wonderfully exhilarating in the air of Pensico.
+Our friend B. remarked while rolling on the salt petre earth at the
+Pine Apple Bush, that he felt "especially happy," and whether from
+sympathy, air or what not, we all partook of the same feeling. The
+guide seeing the position of our fat friend, and hearing his remark,
+said, laughing most immoderately, "these sort of feelings would come
+over one, now and then in the Cave, but wait till you get in the
+Winding Way and see how you feel then."
+
+Having descended into the avenue we had left, we passed a number of
+stalactites and stalagmites, bearing a remarkable resemblance to
+coral, and a hundred or more paces beyond, arrived at a recess on the
+left, lined with innumerable crystals of dog-tooth spar, shining most
+brilliantly, called Angelica's Grotto. One would think it almost
+sacrilege to deface a spot like this; yet, did a Clergyman (the back
+of the guide being turned,) deliberately demolish a number of
+beautiful crystals to inscribe the initials of his name.
+
+Returning to the head of Pensico Avenue, we turned to our right, and
+entered the narrow pass which leads to the river, pursuing which, for
+a few hundred yards, descending all the while, at one or two places
+down a ladder or stone steps, we came to a path cut through a high and
+broad embankment of sand, which very soon conducted us to the much
+talked of and anxiously looked for Winding Way. The Winding Way, has,
+in the opinion of many, been channeled in the rock by the gradual
+attrition of water. If this be so, and appearances seem to support
+such belief, at what early age of the world did the work commence? Was
+it not when "the earth was without form and void," thousands of years
+perhaps, before the date of the Mosaic account of the Creation? The
+Winding Way is one hundred and five feet long, eighteen inches wide,
+and from three to seven feet deep, widening out above, sufficiently to
+admit the free use of one's arms. It is throughout tortuous, a perfect
+_zig-zag_, the terror of the Falstaffs and the ladies of "fat, fair
+and forty," who have an instinctive dread of the trials to come, and
+are well aware of the merriment that their efforts to _force a
+passage_ will excite among their companions of less length of girdle.
+Into this winding way, we entered in Indian file, and turning our
+right side, then our left, twisting this way, then that, had nearly
+made good the passage, when our _fat friend_, who was puffing and
+blowing behind us like a high pressure engine, cried out, "Halt, ahead
+there! I am stuck as tight as a wedge in a log!" Halt we did, when the
+guide, looking at our friend, who was in truth "wedg'd in the rocky
+way and sticking fast," cried out, "I told you, when you said at the
+Pine Apple Bush, that you felt _especially happy_, to wait till you
+got to the Winding Way, to see how you would feel then!" The
+imprisoned gentleman soon burst his bonds, not, however, without
+damage to his indispensables; and at length forcing his way into
+Relief Hall, he cried out, in the joy of his heart, while stretching
+himself and wiping the perspiration from his jolly, rubicund face,
+"never was a name more appropriate given to any place--Relief. I feel
+already the _expansive faculty_ of the atmosphere, I can now breathe
+again."
+
+Relief Hall, which you enter from the Winding Way, at a right-angle,
+is very wide and lofty but not long; turning to the right, we reached
+its termination at River Hall, a distance of perhaps, one hundred
+yards. Here two routes present themselves; the one to the left
+conducts to the Dead Sea and the Rivers, and that to the right, to the
+Bacon Chamber, the Bandit's Hall, the Mammoth Dome and an infinity of
+other caves, domes, etc. We will speak of the Bacon Chamber; but
+before doing so, let us take our lunch. The air or exercise, or
+probably both, acted as powerful appetizers, and we soon gave proof
+that we needed not Stoughton's bitters to provoke an appetite. Having
+discussed a few glasses of excellent Hock, we left the Bacon Chamber,
+which is a pretty fair representation of a low ceiling, thickly hung
+with canvassed hams and shoulders; and proceeded to the Bandit's Hall,
+up a steep ascent of twenty or thirty feet, rendered very difficult,
+by the huge rocks which obstructed the way and over which we were
+forced to clamber. The name is indicative of the spot. It is a vast
+and lofty chamber, the floor covered with a mountainous heap of rocks
+rising amphitheatrically almost to the ceiling, and so disposed as to
+furnish at different elevations, galleries or platforms, reaching
+immediately around the chamber itself or leading off into some of its
+hidden recesses. The guide is presently seen standing at a fearful
+height above, and suddenly a Bengal light, blazes up, "when the rugged
+roof, the frowning cliffs and the whole chaos of rocks are refulgent
+in the brilliant glare." The sublimity of the scene is beyond the
+powers of the imagination.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+Mammoth Dome--First Discoverers--Little Dome--Tale of a Lamp--Return.
+
+
+From the Bandit's Hall, diverge two caves; one of which, the left,
+leads you to a multitude of domes; and the right, to one which, _par
+excellence_, is called the Mammoth Dome. Taking the right, we arrived,
+after a rugged walk of nearly a mile, to a platform, which commands an
+indistinct view of this dome of domes. It was discovered by a German
+gentleman and the guide Stephen about two years ago, but was not
+explored until some months after, when it was visited by a party of
+four or five, accompanied by two guides, and well prepared with ropes,
+&c. From the platform, the guides were let down about twenty feet, by
+means of a rope, and upon reaching the ground below, they found
+themselves on the side of a hill, which, descending about fifty feet,
+brought them immediately under the Great Dome, from the summit of
+which, there is a water-fall. This dome is near four hundred feet
+high, and is justly considered one of the most sublime and wonderful
+spectacles of this most wonderful of caverns. From the bottom of the
+dome they ascended the hill to the place to which they had been
+lowered from the platform, and continuing thence up a very steep hill,
+more than one hundred feet, they reached its summit. Arrived at the
+summit, a scene of awful grandeur and magnificence is presented to the
+view. Looking down the declivity, you see far below to the left, the
+visiters whom you have left behind, standing on the platform or
+termination of the avenue along which they had come; and lower down
+still, the bottom of the Great Dome itself. Above, two hundred and
+eighty feet, is the ceiling, lost in the obscurity of space and
+distance. The height of the ceiling was determined by E.F. Lee, civil
+engineer. This fact in regard to the elevation of the ceiling and the
+locality of the Great Hall, was subsequently ascertained, by finding
+on the summit of the hill, (a spot never before trodden by man,) an
+iron lamp!! The astonishment of the guides, as well as of the whole
+party, on beholding the lamp, can be easily imagined; and to this day
+they would have been ignorant of its history, but for the accidental
+circumstance of an old man being at the Cave Hotel, who, thirty years
+ago, was engaged as a miner in the saltpetre establishment of Wilkins
+& Gratz. He, on being shown the lamp, said at once, that it had been
+found under the crevice pit (a fact that surprised all,); that during
+the time Wilkins & Gratz were engaged in the manufacture of saltpetre,
+a Mr. Gatewood informed Wilkins, that in all probability, the richest
+nitre earth was under the crevice pit. The depth of this pit being
+then unknown, Wilkins, to ascertain it, got a rope of 45 feet long,
+and fastening this identical lamp to the end of it, lowered it into
+the pit, in the doing of which, the string caught on fire, and down
+fell the lamp. Wilkins made an offer of two dollars to any one of the
+miners who would descend the pit and bring up the lamp. His offer was
+accepted by a man, who, in consequence of his diminutive stature, was
+nicknamed Little Dave; and the rope being made fast about his waist,
+he, torch in hand, was lowered to the full extent of the forty-five
+feet. Being then drawn up, the poor fellow was found to be so
+excessively alarmed, that he could scarcely articulate; but having
+recovered from his fright, and again with the full power of utterance,
+he declared that no money could tempt him to try again for the lamp;
+and in excuse for such a determination, he related the most marvellous
+story of what he had seen--far exceeding the wonderful things which
+the unexampled Don Quixote de la Mancha declared he had seen in the
+deep cave of Montesinos. Dave was, in fact, suspended at the height of
+two hundred and forty feet above the level below. Such is the history
+of the _lamp_, as told by the old miner, Holton, the correctness of
+which was very soon verified; for guides having been sent to the place
+where the lamp was found, and persons at the same time stationed at
+the mouth of the crevice pit, their proximity was at once made
+manifest by the very audible sound of each other's voices, and by the
+fact that sticks thrown into the pit fell at the feet of the guides
+below, and were brought out by them. The distance from the mouth of
+the Cave to this pit, falls short of half a mile; yet to reach the
+grand apartment immediately under it, requires a circuit to be made of
+at least three miles. The illumination of that portion of the Great
+Dome on the left, and of the hall on the top of the hill to the right,
+as seen from the platform, was unquestionably one of the most
+impressive spectacles we had witnessed; but to be seen to advantage,
+another position ought to be taken by the spectator, and the dome with
+its towering height, and the hall on the summit of the hill, with its
+gigantic stalagmite columns, and ceiling two hundred feet high,
+illuminated by the simultaneous ignition of a number of Bengal lights,
+judiciously arranged. Such was the enthusiastic admiration of some
+foreigners on witnessing an illumination of the Great Dome and Hall,
+that they declared, it alone would compensate for a voyage across the
+Atlantic. With the partial illumination of the Great Dome, we closed
+our explorations on this side of the rivers, and retracing our steps,
+reached the hotel about sun-set. At mid-night, the party which
+separated from us at the entrance of Pensico Avenue, returned from the
+points beyond the Echo river.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+Third Visit--River Hall--Dead Sea--River Styx--Lethe--Echo River--
+Purgatory--Eyeless Fish--Supposed Boil of the Rivers--Sources and
+Outlet Unknown.
+
+
+Early the next morning, having made all the necessary preparations for
+the grand tour, which we were the more anxious to take from the
+glowing accounts of the party recently returned, we entered the cave
+immediately after an early breakfast, and proceeded rapidly on to
+River Hall. It was evident from the appearance of the flood here, that
+it had been recently overflown.
+
+[Illustration: RIVER SCENE.
+On Stone by T. Campbell
+Bauer & Teschemacher's Lith.]
+
+"The cave, or the River Hall," remarks a fair and distinguished
+authoress, whose description of the river scenery is so graphic, that
+I cannot do better than transcribe it throughout: "The River Hall
+descends like the slope of a mountain; the ceiling stretches
+away--away before you, vast and grand as the firmament at midnight."
+Going on, and gradually ascending and keeping close to the right hand
+wall, you observe on your left "a steep precipice, over which you can
+look down by the aid of blazing missiles, upon a broad black sheet of
+water, eighty feet below, called the Dead Sea. This is an awfully
+impressive place; the sights and sounds of which, do not easily pass
+from memory. He who has seen it, will have it vividly brought before
+him, by Alfieri's description of Filippo, 'only a transient word or
+act gives us a short and dubious glimmer, that reveals to us the
+abysses of his being--dark, lurid and terrific, as the throat of the
+infernal pool.' Descending from the eminence, by a ladder of about
+twenty feet, we find ourselves among piles of gigantic rocks, and one
+of the most picturesque sights in the world, is to see a file of men
+and women passing along those wild and scraggy paths, moving
+slowly--slowly, that their lamps may have time to illuminate their
+sky-like ceiling and gigantic walls--disappearing behind high
+cliffs--sinking into ravines--their lights shining upwards through
+fissures in the rocks--then suddenly emerging from some abrupt angle,
+standing in the bright gleam of their lamps, relieved by the towering
+black masses around them. He, who could paint the infinite variety of
+creation, can alone give an adequate idea of this marvellous region.
+As you pass along, you hear the roar of invisible waterfalls; and at
+the foot of the slope, the river Styx lies before you, deep and black,
+overarched with rock. The first glimpse of it brings to mind, the
+descent of Ulysses into hell,
+
+  "Where the dark rock o'erhangs the infernal lake,
+  And mingling streams eternal murmurs make."
+
+Across (or rather down) these unearthly waters, the guide can convey
+but four passengers at once. The lamps are fastened to the prow; the
+images of which, are reflected in the dismal pool. If you are
+impatient of delay, or eager for new adventures, you can leave your
+companions lingering about the shore, and cross the Styx by a
+dangerous bridge of precipices overhead. In order to do this, you must
+ascend a steep cliff, and enter a cave above, 300 yards long, from an
+egress of which, you find yourself on the bank of the river, eighty
+feet above its surface, commanding a view of those in the boat, and
+those waiting on the shore. Seen from this height, the lamps in the
+canoe glare like fiery eye-balls; and the passengers, sitting there so
+hushed and motionless, look like shadows. The scene is so strangely
+funereal and spectral, that it seems as if the Greeks must have
+witnessed it, before they imagined Charon conveying ghosts to the dim
+regions of Pluto. Your companions thus seen, do indeed--
+
+  "Skim along the dusky glades,
+  Thin airy souls, and visionary shades."
+
+If you turn your eyes from the canoe to the parties of men and women
+whom you left waiting on the shore, you will see them by the gleam of
+their lamps, scattered in picturesque groups, looming out in bold
+relief from the dense darkness around them.
+
+Having passed the Styx, (much the smallest of the rivers,) you walk
+over a pile of large rocks, and are on the banks of Lethe; and looking
+back, you will see a line of men and women descending the high hill
+from the cave, which runs _over_ the river Styx. Here are two boats,
+and the parties, which have come by the two routes, _down_ the Styx or
+_over_ it, uniting, descend the Lethe about a quarter of a mile, the
+ceiling for the entire distance being very high--certainly not less
+than fifty feet. On landing, you enter a level and lofty hall, called
+the Great Walk, which stretches to the banks of the Echo, a distance
+of three or four hundred yards. The Echo is truly a river: it is wide
+and deep enough, at all times, to float the largest steamer. At the
+point of embarkation, the arch is very low, not more than three feet,
+in an ordinary stage of water, being left for a boat to pass through.
+Passengers, of course, are obliged to double up, and lie upon each
+others shoulders, in a most uncomfortable way, but their suffering is
+of short duration; in two boat lengths, they emerge to where the vault
+of the cave is lofty and wide. The boat in which we embarked was
+sufficiently large to carry twelve persons, and our voyage down the
+river was one of deep, indeed of most intense interest. The novelty,
+the grandeur, the magnificence of every thing around elicited
+unbounded admiration and wonder. All sense of danger, (had any been
+experienced before,) was lost in the solemn, quiet sublimity of the
+scene. The rippling of the water caused by the motion of our boat is
+heard afar off, beating under the low arches and in the cavities of
+the rocks. The report of a pistol is as that of the heaviest
+artillery, and long and afar does the echo resound, like the muttering
+of distant thunder. The voice of song was raised on this dark, deep
+water, and the sound was as that of the most powerful choir. A fall
+band of music on this river of echoes would indeed be overpowering.
+The aquatic excursion was more to our taste than any thing we had
+seen, and never can the impression it made be obliterated from our
+memories.
+
+The Echo is three quarters of a mile long. A rise of the water of
+merely a few feet connects the three rivers. After long and heavy
+rains, these rivers sometimes rise to a perpendicular height of more
+than fifty feet; and then they, as well as the cataracts, exhibit a
+most terrific appearance. The low arch at the entrance of the Echo,
+can not be passed when there is a rise of water of even two feet. Once
+or twice parties have been caught on the further side by a sudden
+rise, and for a time their alarm was great, not knowing that there was
+an upper cave through which they could pass, that would lead them
+around the arch to the Great Walk. This upper cave, or passage, is
+called Purgatory, and is, for a distance of forty feet, so low, that
+persons have to crawl on their faces, or, as the guides say, _snake
+it_. We were pleased to learn that this passage would soon be
+sufficiently enlarged to enable persons to walk through erect. This
+accomplished, an excursion to Cleveland's Avenue may be made almost
+entirely by land, at the same time that all apprehensions of being
+caught beyond Echo will be removed. It is in these rivers, that the
+extraordinary white eyeless fish are caught--we secured two of them.
+There is not the slightest indication of an organ similar to an eye,
+to be discovered. They have been dissected by skillful anatomists, who
+declare that they are not only without eyes, but also develope other
+anomalies in their organization, singularly interesting to the
+naturalist. "The rivers of Mammoth Cave were never crossed till 1840.
+Great efforts have been made to discover whence they come and whither
+they go, yet they still remain as much a mystery as ever--without
+beginning or end; like eternity."
+
+  "Darkly thou glidest onward,
+    Thou deep and hidden wave!
+  The laughing sunshine hath not look'd
+    Into thy secret cave.
+
+  Thy current makes no music--
+    A hollow sound we hear;
+  A muffled voice of mystery,
+    And know that thou art near.
+
+  No brighter line of verdure
+    Follows thy lonely way
+  No fairy moss, or lily's cup,
+    Is freshened by thy play."
+
+According to the barometrical measurement of Professor Locke, the
+rivers of the Cave are nearly on a level with Green River; but the
+report of Mr. Lee, civil engineer, is widely different. He says, "The
+bottom of the Little Bat Room Pit is one hundred and twenty feet
+_below_ the bed of Green River. The Bottomless Pit is also deeper than
+the bed of Green River, and so far as a surveyor's level can be relied
+on, the same may be said of the Cavern Pit and some others." The
+rivers of the Cave were unknown at the time of Mr. Lee's visit in
+1835, but they are unquestionably _lower_ than the bottom of the pits,
+and receive the water which flows from them. According to the
+statement of Lee, the bed of these rivers is lower than the bed of
+Green River at its junction with the Ohio, taking for granted that the
+report of the State engineers as to the extent of fall between a point
+above the Cave and the Ohio, be correct, of which there is no doubt.
+"It becomes, then," continues Mr. Lee, in reference to the waters of
+the Cave, "an object of interesting inquiry to determine in what way
+it is disposed of. If it empties into Green River, the Ohio, or the
+ocean, it must run a great distance under ground, with a very small
+descent."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+Pass of El Ghor--Silliman's Avenue--Wellington's Gallery--Sulphur
+Spring--Mary's Vineyard--Holy Sepulchre--Commencement of Cleveland
+Avenue--By whom Discovered--Beautiful Formations--Snow-ball Room--
+Rocky Mountains--Croghan's Hall--Serena's Arbor--Dining Table--
+Dinner Party and Toast--Hoax of the Guide--Homeward Bound Passage--
+Conclusion.
+
+
+Having now left the Echo, we have a walk of four miles to Cleveland's
+Avenue. The intervening points are of great interest; but it would
+occupy too much time to describe them. We will therefore hurry on
+through the pass of El Ghor, Silliman's Avenue, and Wellington's
+Gallery, to the foot of the ladder which leads up to the Elysium of
+Mammoth cave. And here, for the benefit of the weary and thirsty, and
+of all others whom it may interest, coming after us, be it known, that
+Carneal's Spring is close at hand, and equally near, a sulphur spring,
+the water of which, equals in quality and quantity that of the
+far-famed White Sulphur Spring, of Virginia. At the head of the
+ladder, you find yourself surrounded by overhanging stalactites, in
+the form of rich clusters of grapes, hard as flint, and round and
+polished, as if done by a sculptor's hand. This is called Mary's
+Vineyard--the commencement of Cleveland's Avenue, the crowning wonder
+and glory of this subterranean world. Proceeding to the right about, a
+hundred feet from this spot, over a rough and rather difficult way,
+you reach the base of the height or hill, on which, stands the Holy
+Sepulchre. This interesting spot is reached at some hazard, as the
+ascent, which is very steep, and more than twenty feet high, affords
+no secure footing, owing to the loose and shingly character of the
+surface, until the height is gained. Having achieved this, you stand
+immediately at the beautiful door-way of the Chapel, or anteroom of
+the Sepulchre. This Chapel, which is, perhaps, twelve feet square,
+with a low ceiling, and decorated in the most gorgeous manner, with
+well-arranged draperies of stalactite of every imaginable shape, leads
+you to the room of the Holy Sepulchre adjoining, which is without
+ornament or decoration of any kind; exhibiting nothing but dark and
+bare walls--like a charnel house. In the centre of this room, which
+stands a few feet below the Chapel, is, to all appearance, a grave,
+hewn out of the living rock. This is the Holy Sepulchre. A Roman
+Catholic priest discovered it about three years ago, and with fervent
+enthusiasm exclaimed, "The Holy Sepulchre!" a name which it has since
+borne. Returning from the Holy Sepulchre, we commence our wanderings
+through Cleveland's Avenue--an avenue three miles long, seventy feet
+wide, and twelve or fifteen feet high--an avenue more rich and
+gorgeous than any ever revealed to man--an avenue abounding in
+formations such as are no where else to be seen, and which the most
+stupid observer could not behold without feelings of wonder and
+admiration. Some of the formations in the avenue, have been
+denominated by Professor Locke, oulophilites, or curled leafed stone;
+and in remarking upon them, he says, "They are unlike any thing yet
+discovered; equally beautiful for the cabinet of the amateur, and
+interesting to the geological philosopher." And I, although a wanderer
+myself in various climes, and somewhat of a mineralogist withal, have
+never seen or heard of such. Apprehensive that I might, in attempting
+to describe much that I have seen, color too highly, I will, in lieu
+thereof, offer the remarks of an intelligent clergyman, extracted from
+the New York Christian Observer, of a recent date: "The most
+imaginative poet never conceived or painted a palace of such exquisite
+beauty and loveliness, as Cleveland's Cabinet, into which you now
+pass. Were the wealth of princes bestowed on the most skilful
+lapidaries, with the view of rivaling the splendors of this single
+chamber, the attempt would be vain. How then can I hope to give you a
+conception of it? You must see it; and you will then feel that all
+attempt at description, is futile." The Cabinet was discovered by Mr.
+Patten, of Louisville, and Mr. Craig, of Philadelphia, accompanied by
+the guide Stephen, and extends in nearly a direct line about one and a
+half miles, (the guides say two miles.) It is a perfect arch, of fifty
+feet span, and of an average height of ten feet in the centre--just
+high enough to be viewed with ease in all its parts. It is incrusted
+from end to end with the most beautiful formations, in every variety
+of form. The base of the whole, is carbonate (sulphate) of lime, in
+part of dazzling whiteness, and perfectly smooth, and in other places
+crystallized so as to glitter like diamonds in the light. Growing from
+this, in endlessly diversified forms, is a substance resembling
+selenite, translucent and imperfectly laminated. It is most probably
+sulphate of lime, (a gypsum,) combined with sulphate of magnesia. Some
+of the crystals bear a striking resemblance to branches of celery, and
+all about the same length; while others, a foot or more in length,
+have the color and appearance of _vanilla cream candy_; others are set
+in sulphate of lime, in the form of a rose; and others still roll out
+from the base, in forms resembling the ornaments on the capitol of a
+Corinthian column. (You see how I am driven for analogies.) Some of
+the incrustations are massive and splendid; others are as delicate as
+the lily, or as fancy-work of shell or wax. Think of traversing an
+arched way like this for a mile and a half, and all the wonders of the
+tales of youth--"Arabian Nights," and all--seem tame, compared with
+the living, growing reality. Yes, _growing_ reality; for the process
+is going on before your eyes. Successive coats of these incrustations,
+have been perfected and crowded off by others; so that hundreds of
+tons of these gems lie at your feet, and are crushed as you pass,
+while the work of restoring the ornaments for nature's _boudoir_, is
+proceeding around you. Here and there, through the whole extent, you
+will find openings in the sides, into which you may thrust the person,
+and often stand erect in little grottoes, perfectly incrusted with a
+delicate white substance, reflecting the light from a thousand
+glittering points. All the way you might have heard us exclaiming,
+"Wonderful, wonderful! O, Lord, how manifold are thy works!" With
+general unity of form and appearance, there is considerable variety in
+"the Cabinet." The "_Snow-ball Room_," for example, is a section of
+the cave described above, some 200 feet in length, entirely different
+from the adjacent parts; its appearance being aptly indicated by its
+name. If a hundred rude school boys had but an hour before completed
+their day's sport, by throwing a thousand snow-balls against the roof,
+while an equal number were scattered about the floor, and all
+petrified, it would have presented precisely such a scene as you
+witness in this room of nature's frolics. So far as I know, these
+"snow-balls" are a perfect anomaly among all the strange forms of
+crystalization. It is the result, I presume, of an unusual combination
+of the sulphates of lime and magnesia, with a carbonate of the former.
+We found here and elsewhere in the Cabinet, fine specimens of the
+sulphate of Magnesia, (or Epsom salts,) a foot or two long, and three
+inches in thickness.
+
+Leaving the quiet and beautiful "Cabinet," you come suddenly upon the
+"Rocky Mountains," furnishing a contrast so bold and striking, as
+almost to startle you. Clambering up the rough side some thirty feet,
+you pass close under the roof of the cavern you have left, and find
+before you an immense transverse cave, 100 feet or more from the
+ceiling to the floor, with a huge pile of rocks half filling the
+hither side--they were probably dashed from the roof in the great
+earthquake of 1811. Taking the left hand branch, you are soon brought
+to "Croghan's Hall," which is nine miles from the mouth, and is the
+farthest point explored in that direction. The "Hall" is 50 or 60 feet
+in diameter, and perhaps, thirty-five feet high, of a semi-circular
+form. Fronting you as you enter, are massive stalactites, ten or
+fifteen feet in length, attached to the rock, like sheets of ice, and
+of a brilliant color. The rock projects near the floor, and then
+recedes with a regular and graceful curve, or swell, leaving a cavity
+of several feet in width between it and the floor. At intervals,
+around this swell, stalactites of various forms are suspended, and
+behind the sheet of stalactites first described, are numerous
+stalagmites, in fanciful forms. I brought one away that resembles the
+horns of the deer, being nearly translucent. In the centre of this
+hall, a very large stalactite hangs from the roof; and a corresponding
+stalagmite rises from the floor, about three feet in height and a foot
+in diameter, of an amber color, perfectly smooth and translucent, like
+the other formations. On the right, is a deep pit, down which the
+water dashes from a cascade that pours from the roof. Other avenues
+could most likely be found by sounding the sides of the pit, if any
+one had the courage to attempt the descent. We are far enough from
+_terra supra_, and our dinner which we had left at the "Vineyard." We
+hastened back to the Rocky Mountains, and took the branch which we
+left at our right on emerging from the Cabinet. Pursuing the uneven
+path for some distance, we reached "Serena's Arbor," which was
+discovered but three months since, by our guide "Mat." The descent to
+the Arbor seemed so perilous, from the position of the loose rocks
+around, that several of the party would not venture. Those of us who
+scrambled down regarded this as the crowning object of interest. The
+"Arbor" is not more than twelve feet in diameter, and of about the
+same height, of a circular form; but is, of itself, floor, sides,
+roof, and ornaments, one perfect, seamless stalactite, of a beautiful
+hue, and exquisite workmanship. Folds or blades of stalactitic matter
+hang like drapery around the sides, reaching half way to the floor;
+and opposite the door, a canopy of stone projects, elegantly
+ornamented, as if it were the resting-place of a fairy bride. Every
+thing seemed fresh and new; indeed, the invisible architect has not
+quite finished this master-piece; for you can see the pure water,
+trickling down its tiny channels and perfecting the delicate points of
+some of the stalactites. Victoria, with all her splendor, has not in
+Windsor Castle, so beautiful an apartment as "Serena's Arbor."
+
+Such is the description of Cleveland's Avenue, as given by this
+clerical gentleman. It is perfectly graphic, and corresponds with all
+the glowing accounts I have read of this famous place. Exquisitely
+beautiful and rare as are the formations in this avenue, it will soon
+be, I fear, like the Grotto of Pensico--shorn of its beauties. Many a
+little Miss, to decorate her centre table or boudoir, and many a
+thoughtless dandy to present a specimen to his lady fair, have broken
+from the walls (regardless of the published rules prohibiting it,)
+those lovely productions of the Almighty, which required ages to
+perfect; thus destroying in a moment the work of centuries. These
+beautiful and gorgeous formations were encrusted on the walls by the
+hands of our Maker, and who so impious as to desecrate them--to tear
+them from their place? there they are, all lovely and beautiful, and
+there they ought to remain, _untouched_ by the hands of man, for the
+admiration and wonder of all future ages. If the comparatively small
+cave of Adelburg which belongs to the Emperor of Austria, be placed
+for the preservation of its formations under the protecting care of
+the government [Transcriber's note: sic] (as is the case,) what ought
+not to be done to preserve the mineralogical treasures, in this great
+Cave of America, and especially in Cleveland's Cabinet, which are
+worth more than all the caves in Europe, indeed of the world, so far
+as our knowledge of caverns extends.
+
+Returning from Serena's Arbor, we passed on our left the mouth of an
+avenue more than three miles long, lofty and wide, and at its
+termination there is a hall, which in the opinion of the guide is
+larger than any other in the Cave. It is as yet without a name.
+Equidistant from the commencement and the termination of Cleveland's
+Avenue, is a huge rock, nearly circular, flat on the top and three
+feet high. This is the "_dining table_." More than one hundred persons
+could be seated around this table; on it the guide arranged our
+dinner, and we luxuriated on "flesh and fowl" and "choice old sherry."
+Never did a set of fellows enjoy dinner more than we did ours. Our
+friend B. was perfectly at his ease and happy; and, in the exuberance
+of his spirits, proposed the following toast:
+
+    "Prosperity to the subterranean territory of Cimmeria; large
+    enough, if not populous enough, for admission into the Union as
+    an independent State."
+
+We emptied our glasses and gave nine hearty cheers in honor of the
+sentiment. A proposition was made to adjourn, but B. was not inclined
+to locomotion, and opposed it with great warmth, insisting that it was
+too soon to move after such a dinner, and that a state of rest was
+absolutely essential to healthy digestion. We had much argument on the
+motion to adjourn; when our sagacious guide Stephen, with a meaning
+look interposed, saying "we had as well be going, for the river might
+take a rise and shut us up here." "What!" exclaimed B. in utter
+consternation, and with a start, literally bouncing from his seat,
+cried aloud "Let's be off!" at the same time suiting the action to the
+word. In a second we were all in motion, and hurrying past beautiful
+incrustations, through galleries long and tortuous, down one hill and
+up another, (poor B. puffing and blowing, and all the while exclaiming
+against the _terrible_ length and ruggedness of the way,) we at last
+reached the Echo, which we found to our great relief had _not risen_.
+It seems, the guide had used this stratagem for our own advantage, to
+break off our banquet, lest it trenched too far upon the night. We
+were too happy in having our fears relieved, to fall out with him. On
+our homeward bound passage over the rivers, our admiration was rather
+increased than diminished. The death-like stillness! the awful
+silence! the wild grandeur and sublimity of the scene, tranquilizing
+the feeling and disposing to pensive musings and quiet contemplation;
+on a sudden a pistol is fired--a tremendous report ensues--its echoes
+are heard reverberating from wall to wall, in caves far away, like the
+low murmuring sound of distant thunder--the spell of silence and deep
+reverie is broken--we become roused and animated, and the mighty
+cavern resounds with our song. We believe every one will, under
+similar circumstances, experience this sudden transition from pensive
+musings to joyous hilarity. Leaving the rivers, we hastened onward to
+the outlet to the upper world. Far ahead we perceive the first
+_dawnings of day_, shining with a silvery pallid hue on the walls, and
+increasing in brightness as we advance, until it bursts forth in all
+the golden rays and glorious effulgence of the setting sun. This
+_parting_ scene is lovely and interesting. We bid adieu to the "Great
+Monarch of Caves." We here terminate our subterranean tour. Standing
+on the grassy terrace above, we inhale the cool, pure air, and take a
+last look at the "great Wonder of Wonders!" To all we would say "go
+and see--explore the greatest of the Almighty's subterranean works."
+No description can give you an idea of it--neither can inspection of
+other caves; it is "the Monarch of Caves!" none that have ever been
+measured can at all compare with it, in extent, in grandeur, in wild,
+solemn, serene, unadorned majesty; it stands entirely alone.--"It has
+no brother; it has no brother."
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Rambles in the Mammoth Cave, during
+the Year 1844, by Alexander Clark Bullitt
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