THE MAMMOTH CAVE OF KENTUCK Y. 6l 



this large Cavern Is worn away on all sides by water, and if the 

 floor were levelled could really be used for dancing. A little 

 further and we come to a ghastly object, the guide suddenly stops, 

 and pointing says, "' Look there." We involuntarily reply " a 

 coffin." It is a large rock shaped by the water splitting off into 

 two currents. This " Giant's Coffin " is 48-ft. long and 20-ft. 

 wide at the extreme points ; the roof over is coated with black 

 oxide of iron, making it still more gloomy looking. 



"The Mammoth Dome (pi. 1, fig. 2,) is very grand, 250-ft. 

 high, with five large pillars, termed Corinthian columns. 



We now come to one of the most beautiful and interesting spots 

 in the Cave, — ''Gorin's Dome,'' 2.^0 feet high, and 60 feet 

 across the widest part. You descend a few feet by means 

 of slippery steps covered with gypsum, and look through a 

 small opening while the guide kindles a Bengal light. The 

 sight is magnificent. Imagine yourself looking into a shaft 

 about half way up it : this shaft to be lined with glittering alabaster 

 columns, with a fringe about half way up of a blackish red colour, 

 and you will have Gorin's Dome ; but remember, the sculpture is 

 not the work of a human artist, but of water and carbonic acid. 

 How nature could have wrought such a wonderful design, I know 

 not. As we stand gazing into it> amid the most awful silence, 

 nothing is heard save ''drip, drip, drip," as the water trickles 

 down the sides, or falls from the top — this is the tool by which 

 nature has sculptured her dome ; and one is bewildered when one 

 tries to imagine the countless ages that must have elapsed ere such 

 results were attained. The fringe is a reality, for no human being 

 could reach the place ; the pattern is most chaste, and would adorn 

 any structure. 



We next visit "the Star Chamber." The roof is for the most 

 part covered with black oxide of iron, but in parts this has been 

 detached by the efflorescence of sulphate of soda, and the under 

 coating of lime thus exposed presents to the imagination a starry 

 sky. The chamber is five hundred feet long, seventy feet wide, 

 and sixty feet in height. On entering the guide collects the lights. 



