LURAY CAVERN, PAGE COUNTY, VIRGINIA. 459 



It is a matter of profound regret that the peculiar combiuatioii of un- 

 toward circumstances prechided a more scientific examination of the 

 Luray Cavern. It is quite certain that the work could be thoroughly 

 done with little cost if the same party could have proper facilities an- 

 other season. The daze of first impressions being off, there would be 

 no hindrance to genuine work. An electric light should be used in 

 place of the magnesium wire, and bearings, distances, and elevation 

 carefully noted. ^ 



Comparing this great natural curiosity with others of the same class,\ 

 it is safe to say that there is probably no other cave in the world more \ 

 completely and profusely decorated with stalactitic and stalagmitic 

 ornamentation than that at Luray. So abundant is this decoration that 

 in only a small portion of the whole interior is unadorned rock visible. 

 Here in this dark studio of nature are reproductions of all those 

 objects which are wont to fill the mind with pleasure, wonder, or alarm — 

 crystal fountains, spouting geysers, cascades, flower gardens, gems 

 which are the crown jewels of nature set off against a background of 

 velvet darkness, cathedrals gorgeously sculptured and frescoed, chimes 

 and deep-toned organs, thrones, spectral beings, terrestrial, celestial, 

 and infernal — objects whose multiplicity variety and splendor would ex- 

 haust the whole literature of mythic and fairy lore, in providing names 

 for their infinite diversity of beauty. The indications are that the work 

 was done with comparative rapidity, and the present dryness is suffi- 

 cient evidence that the process has nearly ceased. Indeed, with the ex- 

 ception of a few spots where there is a slight percolation of water fi^om 

 above, and a few where the gathering into pools allows the crystalliza- 

 tion of the salts of lime, the atmosphere is all too dry for the deposition 

 of lime carbonate. The cessation of the production of stalactites after 

 the chambers had received their finishing touches was doubtless due to 

 a change of condition of the land in the neighborhood, causing the drain- 

 ing away into deeper channels of the surface water. This change prob- 

 ably resulted from the further deepening of the bed of the neighboring 

 stream, after the greater part of the ornamentation had been completed. 

 These circumstances indicate some degree of geological antiquity for the 

 Luray Cavern. Hence a date as early as the Tertiary period has been 

 suggested, but there is no apparent reason why it may not be supposed 

 to have originated in one of the Mesozoic periods. In auy case we may 

 safely assume that the Luray Cavern long antedates the pristine man, 

 although one of his descendants paid a fatal visit here long before Mr. 

 Stebbins. 



The obscurity of the aperture through which it was discovered by its 

 present proprietors (1878) would naturally suggest that its existence 

 could not have been previously known. The discovery of parts of a 

 skeleton of man or of some large vertebrate, mostly embedded in 

 tufaceous carbonate of lime, at the bottom of a chasm, shows that it was 

 at one time of easier access ; indeed, it is affirmed that former owners 



