Show groping nine illes miles liles under nd ground ld lil in ill the tha month of september the writer write accompanied by a young friend gratified a along long jong cheri cheTi cherished shed I 1 desire by a visit to the celebrated mammoth C cave ave ate of kentucky miles south from louisville tah wonderful cave it will be bes recollected IMS has been traversed for sixteen miles without deac reaching hing the end some of its apartments are eight ac acres resin in extent and oue cue hundred r ri i A stagecoach stage stege cl coach dach journey of eighteen elighte e ii hours brought us to bells hotel a comfortable road side inn where the coach deposits passengers passenger for thep the tive cuve nin mr bell the host is wel wei known nowa aown on the roaland roa road dand and is famed for not hot baving caving seen the tha mammoth cave although a yearb years resident I 1 seven miles of it A gentleman and hia hla I 1 wice wife from lexington kentucky were our sol sole and iid rid agreeable gree able alle companions to the cave AA after r two hours 0 jolting in ili a buggy over a most lost U uncomfortable oad road through beautiful rolling oak oah clad barrens s we were housed jn in a good hotel erected for the accommodation of the caye cave visitors to rs having fortified ourselves with a good dinner as pil pit well ell as coarse woolen jackets and caps we set out for our first days excursion under g ground mat diat our negro slave guide with nothing slavish slavi sl in lu learning dress or language provided a lamp for each of us and led us down a steep path lutt a deep dark ruvine ravine at the bottom appears LU th mammoths Mam Alam moths mou alou b a wide orifice of very fop for bidding aspect to which we descended steps con constructed strutted ted of the lapose rocks and aarti on n entering ut ring we were met by a flight of bah bats bat numbers of which inhabit the outer parts of 6 cave f the part lish immediately within the ent entrance rante ranco comparatively comparative lv contracted att alt hough although i agouti tuii i size of a railway tun tunnel riel and is known bya byh name of the narrows this expands into a mo spacious becu on called tiie ilia first saltpetre Salt SnIt petre vaas vas here was an extensive manufactory of silt bilt peli for gunpowder during the war of 1812 1872 was obtained by or leat leae leaching bino bing the 09 alluvial earth with which the floor of or the caa cah can is deeply covered the wagon tracks and loot oot prints of oxen employed in the work are still idis iiii visible lides lines of wooden pipes by whick which the thel ley was ryas conveyed to the tha nu numer menous pus wooden vats and other erections shoy show the great extent of tha the th work carried on pandemonium truly a fit place for the prepra tiou of the death dealing ina lna marial ferial the irao trao vat aliouse bouso is a lofty dome called culled the ro tun lun ilal 1 the most hite interesting resting parts of the cavo eave have fanciful designations derived froni the name of to which they tiley have it 1 l rude lesem matice malice or from some incident in their hi citory tory thu thus It laving irving ving passed pissed the first vats we w meet tife cliffs of kentusky river which tile the kentuckian inform us this lamp lit landscape really lesem bles bless next alper appear the church and P pulpit I 1 it where v he re M there was wasa at one tim time e regular pr preaching ling and cherel sermon is still delivered at times when wilen visitors are many manx it is an art irregular vault sixty feet ui ti height we then pas pars through the second saltpetre SaIt Salt petre vats where the cave is wide and nd lofty cambered cumbered cumb ered with hills of stones stoner antl anil saline earth thrown up in lit the tile process of and enter the gothic gallery across this division runs a ledge 11 of or the linne lime stone rock projecting from the wall and from this gallery fo to which we ascend wild wilh some difficulty we have a peculiar view faintly revealed by the scattered lamps beneath us leaving the piaia tiaia iiii ril iii i in caie cave here we turned to the right the gothic avenue in which tile llie rocks assume a rude ruda resemblance to gothic arch archie tec lecture ture here alere lit ily in a niche wasl wasi found the mummy of a woman As no known tribe of american in indan d ani preserve their dead in this man manner manlier iier iler she is believed to have belon belonged zed to an extinct race I 1 perhaps io to those who raise the numberless mysterious mounds which are scattered over the western states a numerous people who have left jeff ho no other history rousing himself from the reverie into which the mummy story will probably pro bably bibly throw hims himy him tha tourist soon reaches the gothic chapel which is I 1 we well ll 11 entitled to its irime from the tha massive ribbed I 1 pillars and arches formed by the junction of the stalactites from the roof and ard the tile stalagmites mites from the bloor floor descending into a deep cavity called the tha Lovers leap and scrambling through elbow crevice we contemplate the tha beauties of the star chambe Cham oham berof cof which some one has truly ald aid said that the roof seems to be split opeti open revealing the vault of tile the night heaven haaven spangled with stars this most beautiful U phenomenon is 19 caused by I 1 the roof fiat gifty fifty feet above us being coated with a I 1 black crust studded with small crystals which twinkle in lit the lamplight lamp light the deserted chamber is memorable as the scene of a carious curious experiment in fit the treatment of consumption iu the ilia air of the cave being mild and unaffected by the changes of the season consumptive patients were to lo 10 cured cuned by being buried alive houses which are still standing were built in lit the now nov deserted chamber and the voluntary vol voluntary y immigration ration to a species of classical hades duly took place through their love of me llie light 1 they tiley consented to remain in darkness as those who who had been long dead lile life is swept sweet but the result was as might have been anticipated they enjoyed indeed a mild and equable though damp climate but then the gloom with the wakeful sensitiveness these must have produced and the constant society of or their fellow consumptives ives exerted a baneful effect it was soon found that their situation was waa too unnatural for healthy influences and the well meant scheme was gradually abandoned the thio tho trio last man mah having persevered for a year without benefit traversing the winding labyrinth we are abruptly stopped by a wall of rock roch in which we perceive an opening like a gothic window within this window is gorans dome our oun gaide garde ignites some soma oiled paper and throws it into the abyss while thus illuminated we lean tean over the window sill and perceive this grand and beautiful cavity rising one hundred feet above and sinking a ai far beneath be us such puces paces possess an art indescribable attraction and I 1 could not resist the tha desir desire to descend to the bottom if at all practicable ti turning 1 back a few steps I 1 followed mat through ua narrow arow rugged and tortuous crevices gradually descending to the top of a water I 1 worn p pass 9 only large enough to admit a mans mails i body ilis llis tilis tills 1119 pass maybe may mas be compared to I 1 a chimney i stuck round internally with wilh spikes of rock mud I 1 being substituted for soot it was some som thirty fee feet in depth and opens into the bottom of or the tile dome scrambling down bear fashion we soon reached readied file he bottom and gorans majestic lome dome illuminated by the tha lights of our party at the window in lit mid distance towered lowered above us to the I 1 height of two hundred feet a sharp cone ribbed I 1 like a groined vault and polished by that persevering I 1 architect water picking up a few pebbles as memorials we returned by the same rat holes thoroughly be smeared but delighted Might ed our first days excursion n terminated at the bottomless pit this fearful place for a time lime set I 1 i bounds to discovery in the cave completely complete jy bari ring I 1 furt fart further ler ier lir ogress progress to look into it and listen to tile the booming thunder that rose from an art unknown depth when a stone was hurled into t I 1 long deprived the most stouthearted stout hearted of their determination to explore at length lenth I 1 a subterranean columbus columbu crossed it at the second attempt only escaping destruction bya by a hairbreadth ills his ladder slipped but a death grip of a projecting rock saved him and lie found himself on the farther further side A gangway was soon after thrown across the narrow part of it it is found to be b about one hund hundred red and sixty feet in depth several deeper pass passages iges ages have been found opening into it in dif dlf different derent directions indeed the limestone formation in the tile vicinity of the bottomless pit to repeat that awful appellation so suggestive ofa ora of a more terrible reality and gorans dome is Js quite honeycombed honey combed with caves eaves above below i and around one part of it is worn into the forin form of ofa a very deep circular drav draw well apparently as perfect as plummet and compass can make it it here however as we have said ended our I 1 first days excursion and in miner langu language langpap ap we I 1 went to grass again we set out anew next morning to penetrate to the extremity of the cave and explore its various anches branches tr mat mgt carried a can of oil albert an other slav slave ofru of much ch intelligence g e ne a bil b T il sipyo provisions and d our su suite was v as completed complete ballis wile helena brown abrown I 1 I 1 domant woman cheerful neat and rather good loo looking kirg we proceeded by the main maln cave over the ground gromm already described tilt we reach the giants glants coffin a fallen rock lying near the wall the coffin hid bid for thirty years after the di discovery covery jovery of the gave cave cave dave the entrance to the parts reserved for this day days I 1 excursion visitors p passed pissed and re passed close cloe by bv wit without hout dreaming th tt at behind 1 it t lly liy la y a p ishige leading to avenues more extensive and remarkable than any yet discovered turning sharp behind the giants coen coffin we descend hy tv a fidder udder through the steps of lime ilme me into the viler valley of humility thence th through roligh the winding way or fat mans miery a long iong serpentine water worn passage just wide wida enough for ordinary humans 11 but in which one of ilie the falstaff species world be miserable indeed and would doubtless wipe his brow and heart heartily ily lIV congratulate himself when lie he had wriggled himself through the ole pass into great relief we next reach in succession river hall flail bacon chamber its roof strangely worn into j lance lauce of or scores of or bacon baron hams from it the tile dead sea ahorrio a horrid gulf with a black pool at the bottom that one shudders to look at the I 1 river which is heard rushing along in 14 a chasm below us to join lake lethe we cros cross tile tiie river riven by a bridge which lead us to ha ilia shores of the like ilke a pond of limpid water never once ruffled by a breez breeze we ne are paddled over ever it in it flat botto bottomed arned boat boit and a no land upon a smooth sandy beach rt the entrance of the great walk chii is a lofty and wide corriden cor rider 1 three hundred yards long iong through which the tho river flows when its waters bire tire high malt but we now norwalk walk without obstruction over its sandy bed A apparently ap pp ar it has ha baen altogether excavated by run running I 1 ling water of which every part of its shelves and e cavi avi ties bears the impre impress it leads to echo river ver upon its quiet and pellucid waters we wt embark the lamps limps are ranged in the bow of the boat and mat seats himself with his paddle in the stern silently y she sha glides through an arch so low that we I 1 must crouch in passing but which immediately expands again into a wide irregular pass so transparent is the water that although sometimes twenty feet in fit depth we can cin distinctly survey its bed its every stone and crag crage even veu to the bottom while sitting silling in breathless admiration the guide by a blow upon the boat from his paddle awake awakes the slumbering echo it rolls around us rever berates along the vaults and dies away in lit the gloom like a peal of music musio uttered in thunder sinking by soft cadence into primeval silence then the paddle is timed by a negro with an abrupt pause at th the close verse hark the echo expires with such a perfect resemblance to a bass biss note from a strong piano that we may exclaim surely there is some other instrument than thui rock and w water iter here A voice bails balls us frell the lh darkness of ahead it was only an echo no it was certainly a voice 11 reaching the termination of our voyage where the river disappears through a low conduit we find that the voice was from a solitary fisherman who had bad been pursuing his sport since early morning for the waters of or the cave are tan ten tenanted anted by two species of fish as peculiar as act their habitation fish wilh out ayes eyes divine skill economical in all its workings having denied them organs which would here have hive been useless setting forward fonward alun agun ag ain un with increasing curiosity we proceed pro ceeil for a mile and a half hair through a wide avenue called c Sil limans which has in general the appearance of or A a dry river channel here lie what are termed after the lle ile lie nomenclature of classical mythology the infernal regions traversed 1 by a shelving slipper slippery pa path th w where h er a a sa s1 single ng to alse false also step would plunge ns us into a dark chasia which is close alongside escaped from this place of 1 eion eoon evil 11 name the wild and rugged pasq pass of el gau gan s soon boon receives us it may be e tw two miles long and taftt thirty to sixty feet in lit height but so narrow that our bamps tamps a amps gan pan cm scarcely light the eye to the roof a most strange dry river channel wholly jornov with galleries of projecting ledges on either side und and an d at various heights heists the limestone at the partings of the strata is is worn into all kinds of fantastic shapes and cavit cavities leit iest wide low caverns and sharp shelves their serrated outlines and deep shadows giving tile tiie pass an air of g gloomy grandeur which wa we frequently linger to contemplate the pass of et galt gait ani aal seemingly also our pilgrimages pilgrimage terminates at liebes spring of sulphurous pharous us water bug bat b no look up A long ladder leads to an ugly black hole which opens its jaws in the tile roof through it lies the way to Clev elands cabinet another spacious ious lous avenue two miles long its walls and roof are almost wholly In crusted with white gypsum in every variety of form the masterpieces master pieces of the tha cabinet are marys bower and charlottes Char lottes grotto where the gypsum on the roof has lias effloresced into the most beautiful variety of vines leaves and flowers of formal likeness the most striking but all ull of spotless white the roof of charlottes Char lottes grotto might be compared to a parterre of flowers blea bleached cheif cheil petrified and inverted the beauteous work of a subtle artist the whole avenue is quite dry but cumbered cambered cumb ered with fallen rocks which make walking low slow and difficult but while forward is the word the weakest eels feels no weakness here the locky hocky bocky mountains are a hill of huge fallen rocks which we climb on hands and feet and from the summit look down into dismal hollow |