3 88 1. 63 Trans. N. Y. Ac. Set. 



'Charybdis, where the sound of its trickling is still audible. Shelby's 

 Dome is simply the upward continuation of this combined pit. So nar- 

 row, moreover, are the ridges separating Scylla from Charybdis on the 

 one side and from the Covered Pit, {q), on the other, and so small is the 

 distance to the Side Saddle Pit {k), that it seems in the highest degree 

 •probable that this group of pits compose merely the upper branches 

 of a single large pit into which they are all united, or at least directly 

 ■connected before the bottom is reached, and the small relative depth of 

 the Side Saddle Pit is explicable in the same manner as that of the Bot- 

 tomless Pit. Such an extraordinary group of pits, forming an appar- 

 ent nucleus of cave drainage, might be expected to have its counterpart in 

 an unusually large depression, or group of sink-holes, at the surface. 

 Impressed with this idea, Mr. Hovey found in the woods, scarcely half 

 a mile from the Hotel, in the known direction of these pits, a depression 

 {P Fig. 2.), many acres in extent, and so deep that from its edge he 

 could overlook the tops of the pine trees that rose from the middle. 



Leaving this region of pits and domes, the route leads still downward, 

 passing again under the main cave through the narrow tortuous chan- 

 nel known as " Fat Man's Misery" (s) where the distance from floor to 

 roof is in many places not more than three feet. Through the floor a 

 winding passage has been worn away, varying in width and depth from 

 one to three feet. This terminates in a chamber which has received 

 the appropriate name of "Great Relief," where the succession of 

 pebbles, gravel, sand and fine cliy again records the work of erosion 

 and deposit. This bed is not more than 50 or 60 feet above the 

 drainage level, and from here down to the River Styx, the ground 

 becomes more or less damp. A succession of bodies of water 

 are then encountered, including the tubular Echo River, which is 

 navigated in boats. It is a part of the tunnel which has subsided 

 below the water level, and is in connection with Green River, being 

 filled to within a few feet of the roof in summer, and completely 

 closed in winter when the Green River rises. The column of air be- 

 tween the water and the impervious roof, closed everywhere except at 

 the two ends, which are three- fourths of a mile apart, serves as a 

 resonator for any note within the range of the human voice, and mul- 

 tiple echoes gliding imperceptibly into each other, continue to be re- 

 turned for many seconds after the voice has been hushed. 



Beyond Echo River, the cave may be followed with continual ascent, 

 through S'lUman's Avenue, the Pass of El Ghor and Cleveland's Cab- 

 inet, for about five and a half miles. A pile of jagged rocks, roc feet 

 high, is then surmounted and the wearied climber is confronted with a 

 large cavern, 100 feet wide and 70 feet deep, where three short 

 branches have united in one tunnel. Following the left branch for a 



