THE MUSEUM. 



37 



ing-off place. Dropping a few feet 

 onto a good solid floor we turn abrupt- 

 ly and pass southward through a long 

 passage which leads us directly under 

 the way of danger just passed which 

 lies many feet above us in the open 

 cleft. Presently the cleft closes in 

 over our heads and we tind ourselves 

 in a tunnel-like passage which still 

 leads downward. Shortly we arrive 

 at a place where the passage is en- 

 larged somewhat in width but it SDon 

 again contracts. 



We have now zigzaged our way 

 down the ancient cleft to a consider- 

 able depth and from this point to the 

 end of the cave we will need no more 

 ropes. It is either crawl or walk (two 

 crawls to one walk) but at last after a 

 miserable journey through an e.xceed- 

 ingly damp ••worm hole" we emerge 

 to our delight in a chamber in which 

 Goliath of Gath might stand erect with- 

 out any danger of bumping his noddle 

 or doing damage to the point of his 

 spear. For, ceiling, -there is none, 

 at least none visible. "Hold up your 

 torch." Do you see the roof.' "No!" 

 We will let off some of those big 

 Roman candles. The colored balls go 

 whizzing upwards disclosing the grim 

 vertical walls far above us but the ceil- 

 ing they do not reach, nor can we see 

 it. At our last visit a blazing ball af- 

 ter reaching the limit of its flight and 

 partially illuminating for an instant 

 the tremendous rent, turned, fell a 

 short distance and then lodged on a 

 mysterious broad gallery-like shelf 

 which seemed to extend the length of 

 the chamber but at an unattainable 

 height above us. Here its life of light 

 was almost instantly spent, giving us 

 but a second's view of the unknown 

 and leaving the upper darkness more 

 intense than before. 



This chamber, which is of consider- 

 able size, has an almost level floor. 

 The angle of meeting between the side- 

 walls and floor is almost as sharp and 

 clear-cut as in the room of a house. 

 Lengthwise across its floor, to the 

 left, runs a tiny shallow stream of 



water. At the extreme end of the 

 room it is embasined by some minute 

 dams of calcareous tufa. But the 

 glory of the chamber is the twin col- 

 umns of white, which from the floor 

 to the right, stretch upwards against 

 the rocky wall far out of sight. This 

 incrustation of stalactitic growth sim- 

 ulates two noble pillared forms which 

 rise alike, then at an equal height 

 break alike in numerous separate flut- 

 ed pillarets which again reunite in two 

 fantastic flowered capitals. From 

 these ornate capitals the twin col- 

 umns reach upwards to an unknown 

 height. We made an attempt to pho- 

 tograph them but owing to the smoke 

 from the many torches, and fireworks 

 used, the result was poor. We should 

 have exposed our plates at once upon 

 entering the room. 



Leaving the "House of Goliath" at 

 its farther end we scramble up a pre- 

 cipitous rock and soon find ourselves 

 in a chaotic passage where it seems to 

 have rained big masses of rock, some 

 of which caught between the oppos- 

 ing walls and hang threateningly over 

 our path. Picking our way cautiously 

 over and under these ponderous blocks 

 we come to a pause before a low arch- 

 ed opening, — another "worm-hole." 

 This "fat-man's-misery," i8 feet in 

 length, has a nice comfortable floor of 

 mud and clay but it is the only known 

 way of access to the Grand Rotunda, 

 the most beautiful and largest room 

 of the cave. The Grand Rotunda is 

 52 feet in length, half as wide, and, 

 like the House of Goliath, has no vis- 

 ible ceiling. Martin Carson speaks of 

 this chamber as the thirteenth room, 

 the largest of the cavern, and de- 

 scribes it as being a large rotunda 

 studded with beautiful stalactites of 

 various shapes and sizes. 



At our visit in November, 1896, we 

 found the difficult entrance to this 

 chamber half-filled with water and 

 consequently did not attempt to enter. 

 To accomplish the feat one has to lay 

 flat and slowly twist and wiggle 

 through. However, I shall append a 



