462 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



stone rocks we ascertained by the aneroid barometer to be 3,400 feet 

 above the level of the sea, or 2,600 above the McOloud River. 



In these limestone mountains we found two caves. One was an almost 

 circular cavity in the side of the mountain, about 30 feet in diameter and 

 109 feet in length, with a floor nearly level, forming a magnificent cham- 

 ber, with .fresh green maiden's hair growing in large clusters downward 

 from the roof. This cave is at an altitude of about 2,000 feet and is 

 very difficult of access. 



The other cave is similar and more easily reached, but has in addition 

 a dark narrow passage-way leading fhrough the interior of the moun- 

 tain to a deep perpendicular abyss with re-entrant sides, from the bot- 

 tom of which nothing, having once fallen in, could ever escape without 

 wings or help from the outside. It is a place of such peculiar terror 

 that I will describe our exploration of it. Having resolved to visit the 

 cave, and having secured a guide in the person of Dr. Silverthorne, an 

 old resident of this locality, we finished work at 5 o'clock on Saturday 

 afternoon, and taking our blankets and necessary provisions, together 

 with candles, lanterns, axes, ropes, &c, we proceeded to the foot of the 

 mountain that evening, and, having cooked our supper, camped there 

 over night. In the morning, after an early breakfast, we started for the 

 cave. 



Entering the main opening, we proceeded about 50 feet to a smaller 

 opening in the right-hand wall of the cave and about ten feet from the 

 floor. Climbing up into this we kept on through a narrow passage-way 

 to a point about 30 feet from the entrance, where the passage dwindled 

 into a small hole just large enough to admit a man's body. Here we all 

 hesitated for an instant. Horrible visions of rattlesnakes and tarantulas 

 and bottomless pits rose up before us and kept us back, but only for an 

 instant. I happened to be the first through on the other side, and found 

 this low archway led to another passage similar to the one we had left. 

 On we went, turning several corners, but along a floor which kept nearly 

 level until we came to a second archway, supported by round crystal- 

 line limestone pillars on either side. Here the level line of the floor 

 became depressed to an angle of perhaps 30 degrees. The very black- 

 ness of darkness prevailed, which the candle we had with us seemed to 

 only make visible. So intense was the darkness that the candle rays 

 did not enable us to see six feet before us. Every one stopped involun- 

 tarily. No one wanted to begin the descent before us, and it is fortu- 

 nate no one did, as the sequel will show. Presently some one proposed 

 to throw a stone down the incline and listen to its descent. We did so. 

 There was a breathless silence. The stone rolled along the incline, then 

 bounded off and struck again far below, then again, and again, the 

 sound reverberating as if it came from the depths of the earth. We 

 were appalled. Two steps farther in the dark passage-way before us 

 would have been instant death. Eopes were now brought and more 

 lights, and before long we had a rope-ladder constructed, about 20 feet 



