Trans. N. V. Ac. Set. 62 Dec. 12, 



400 feet long, icx) feet wide and 250 feet high. These figures are of 

 course only approximate, but it is believed that they are not exagger- 

 ated. Into this cavern the water is still trickling, and stalagmites are 

 forming with sufficient rapidity to have cemented firmly to the floor a 

 lamp dropped in 18 12 and found in 1843. Returning to the Rotunda 

 and passing through a half mile or more of the main cave, the visitor 

 reaches, at e , a large fallen slab of limestone to which has been 

 assigned the title of " The Giant's Coffin." This makes the entrance 

 to a side passage (^g) which leads off to the lowest part of the present 

 cave. The main cave forms an acute angle {f) and may be followed 

 for several miles, terminating abruptly in a pile of rocks, where the 

 roof has fallen in the same manner as at the terminus of Dixon's cave. 

 Many of its side passages and avenues are yet unexplored. 



Returning and entering the side passage near the Giant's Coffin, the 

 visitor passes obliquely beneath the main cave, starting upon what is 

 known distinctively as the Long Route. At an expansion {Ji) are suc- 

 cessive deposits of gravel, sand and clay, indicating the downward 

 course of the water which was here partially arrested. Some distance 

 further on, the passage forks (/). Keeping to the right, the dangerous 

 Side Saddle Pit (Ji) is encountered, which measures 65 feet in depth and 

 20 feet across. It is surmounted by Minerva's Dome, 35 feet high. 

 The pit yawns across the right half of the floor of the tunnel, leaving 

 a narrow path on the left. A short distance beyond (/), the tunnel 

 again forks. Keeping to the right as before, Gorin's Dome {m) is 

 reached, and may be viewed with the aid of magnesium lights, from a 

 small opening on the side, ten feet above the pathway. The abysm ex- 

 tends 117 feet downward, 100 feet upward and 60 feet across. Leaving 

 this and passing the fork (/), the tunnel is completely interrupted by the 

 so-called Bottomless Pit («) across which a bridge has been laid, resting 

 upon a ledge. Despite its ominous name it does not defy measurement, 

 having been found to be 95 feet deep on one side of the ledge and 105 

 feet on the other. Almost immediately overhead is Shelby's Dome, 60 

 feet high. Between the Bottomless Pit and the Side Saddle Pit are a 

 pair of very large pits, discovered not a year ago by one of the guides, 

 William Garvin, and examined for the first time last August by Mr. 

 Hovey, who gave to them the names Scylla {p) and Charybdis (p) on 

 account of the narrow, rugged passage which separates them and the 

 great difficulty and danger of access. By timing the fall of pebbles into 

 the water at the bottom, the depth of each was ascertained to be about 

 200 feet. Charybdis was seen to be directly connected with the Bot- 

 tomless Pit. Indeed the latter may be regarded as only a part of 

 Charybdis, its depth, 105 feet, being that of a jutting ledge, or the floor 

 upon which water ceased to fall after being slightly deviated into 



