THE MUSEUM. 



23 



torches shines but a little way into the 

 Stygian darkness. From the foot of 

 the ladder commences a passage from 

 four to ten feet in width, and tiftj' or 

 sixty feet long, in a westcrh' direc- 

 tion, w-ith a considerable downward 

 tendency. 



At the end of this inclined passage 

 is a second perpendicular descent of 

 some ten or twelve feet After walk- 

 ing perhaps two hundred or more Uet 

 with about the same descent (60 de- 

 grees) we reach the bottom of the 

 cave. Here the opening is ten feet 

 wide and our progress is stopped in 

 this direction by a perpendicular wall, 

 whose height is obscured by the gloom 

 above. Groping around we find an 

 opening close to the floor leading to 

 the right or north. Lying flat up"n 

 the muddy bottom and pushing the 

 light ahead to see the wa\ I manage 

 to wiggle through after a tight squeeze 

 and call to the others, they follow. 

 A few feet away we discover a lake, 

 smooth as a mirror, at whose bottom, 

 within grasp of our hands, is a small, 

 roughly made boat with square ends. 

 Looking ahead we see no way of get- 

 ting further on foot, so we attempt to 

 drag the boat up from the bottom. It 

 is so heavy, by being water l-gged and 

 stuck in the mud, that we fail to move 

 it. Noticing a small ledge along one 

 side I endeavor to go further, hoping 

 that by sustaining myself with my 

 hands against the opposite wall I can 

 get around to a wider ledge some thir- 

 ty or more feet away. It is a hazard- 

 ous undertaking, but by sheer strength 

 I keep going inch by inch until my 

 body is nearly horizontal with the wa- 

 ter below. The passage getting wider 

 I am obliged to retrace my footsteps 

 upon tlic'autll, and at last nearly ex- 

 hausted reach my companions upon 

 the shore. The water is as clear as 

 crystal, so after my desperate struggle 

 I take a drink and find it as cold as 

 ice water. 



Regretting that the lake cannot be 

 crossed, and wading out of the ques- 

 tion, as it looked to be ten feet deep, 



as many feet from the shore, we crawl 

 back through the aperture. To the 

 left we discover another opening near 

 the rocky bottom, larger than the first. 

 Entering this, we find it soon grows into 

 a passage way of considerable size — 

 thirty feet wide in places — and whose 

 height we could not estimate. Before 

 going far we become convinced that 

 this gallery is the dry bed of what was 

 once a lake, for half buried in the mud 

 are the remains of numerous boats, of 

 the same character and build as the 

 one seen on the lake bottom, already 

 described. This lake appeared to have 

 been of considerable size or length — 

 we judged it to be from 300 to 400 

 feet long. The bottom was of that 

 peculiar fine-grained yellowish brown 

 mud found in all the caves I have ever 

 visited. Humpy and uneven, of suffi- 

 cient hardness to walk upon, but as 

 slippery as grease. Some distance on 

 we come to what we suppose is the 

 end of the cave, although to the right, 

 f( me eight feet above we notice a 

 crevasse about two feet wide, which 

 we make no attempt to explore, as 

 one of our party had been unwell all 

 the morning. So we retrace our steps 

 and come back again over the dry 

 lake bed. 



We determined that the boats found 

 there could have been built above 

 ground, lowered by ropes into the 

 cave and dragged through the aper- 

 ture, but the boat in the lake to the 

 right must have been built on the 

 shore, as the opening to it was not of 

 sufficient size to admit of its passage. 



Arriving at the entrance we clamber 

 up the 90 feet ef perpendicular wall by 

 the aid of the rope and old poles, and 

 once more we are out into the sweet 

 air again; all the world looks fairer for 

 our temporary occuitation. 



The Depositing of Gold. 



An exhibition of the greatest interest 

 to mineralogists and practical miners in 

 relation to the much argued (jiiestion 

 as to how gold was originally deposit- 



