404 Discovery of a Cavern In America 



As in the original ilecrce tiie |)!iiase was 

 " tels personnes sont defendus de faire''' 

 ceci et cela, li)c iiiexpt-iienced ))liilolo- 

 <(ist rati to his dicliouary, and foinul the 

 vr;rb defendre, 1o defend, as well as to 

 forbid, and ho adopted the iirst inter- 

 pretation, making tiie English version 

 jiroceed thus: — "All persons are de- 

 fended in ciittino; down, rooting up. Sec. 

 the youupf tinibcr-lrees in the royal 

 forests, svhilc in pursuit of game, deer, 

 or aiiimals of prey." 



'i'lie mistake of the Frenchman, who 

 ima;;ined lie could travel throu£;h Italy 

 with a com|)osi1ion of his own and the 

 Latin lajiguaijc together, was scarcely 

 more whimsical. He was, however, 

 undeceived in his attempting to order 

 Iiis very first meal. Kinging the hell 

 for the waiter, he called out, " Galatzo 

 volo drjeimai-e ;^' the attendant replied, 

 " Bene^iii/nor,'" and withdrew ; but, no 

 hrrakfast coming, the traveller rang 

 again, and with more than usual cm- 

 ))iiasis repealed his supposed domarul, 

 (whereas it was a declaration tliat he 

 would fast,) and the boy as loudly said, 

 with a how, " Bene, signor." Nothing 

 but an appeal to the host set the matter 

 right, and administered to the guest's 

 liuns;ry impatience. 



Tlic French hlnndcr even worse than 

 vc do. 1 remember a grave translation 

 of a work on our mineral waters : it was 

 at the time when the gardens behind the 

 sign of tlic Dog-and-Diwk were in po- 

 pular vogne for cockney tea-drinking, 

 and the fame of the spot was augmentetl 

 by a mineral spring, whicli the French 

 translator had to represent as the Dog- 

 and-Duck spring ; but he described it as 

 soup made by stewing a dog and a duck, 

 and then gravely commented on the 

 national fondness of the English'for dog- 

 and-duck broth! A. B. 



For the Monlhly Magazine. 

 DISCOVERY of another great CAVERN 



in NORTH AMERICA. 



THERE has been lately discovered, 

 on the northern bank of the Black 

 River, in the grounds of Mr. Bayze, 

 opposite the village of Watertown, 

 Massachusetts, in the United States, an 

 extraordinary cavern, the entrance to 

 which is about 60O paces from the river. 

 A traveller, who has descended into it, 

 details the following particulars. 



Our first advance is by a path that 

 lias been dug 6ve feet below the surface 

 of the adjacent soil; there is then a 

 descent, to a dcjitli of sixteen feet and a 

 lialf, to arrive at the Crst chamber, which 



[June t, 



is twenty feet long by sixteen broad. 

 Op|)osite the entrance is a large flat 

 stone or table, formed by a rock ; it is 

 from twelve to fourteen feet sijuaic, and 

 two feet ill thiirkiiess. Enormous sta- 

 lactites descend from the vault to this 

 stone: on tiie left is a vaulted i>a1li, 150 

 feet in length ; and on the rigiit another 

 vaulted path, six feet broad, and as 

 many in height, leading to a consider- 

 able chamber. Proceeding in this di- 

 rection, we come to a hall a hundred 

 feet long, by ten broad, varying in its 

 heiu;ht Irom eight to five feet. The 

 vault is suj)|)orted by columns and 

 arcades, and the sides are covered with 

 stalactites as white as snow, folded 

 variously, like rich silver stuffs of ele- 

 gant drapery. 1'ovvards the middle of 

 this hall, facing the entrance, is an 

 arched doorw ay, through which we pass 

 into another large liall.which, like the for- 

 nuT. is embcllishrd with crystallizntions. 



Eetiirning to the great hall, we 

 enter, through another arcade, into an 

 endless niiiiibcr of partitions, communi- 

 CKtiiig with each other, and filled with 

 .stalaciitps. After this suite of apart- 

 ments, there is a descent of ten feet; 

 here we find a chamber of about twenty 

 feet square, and twelve in height. In a 

 corner of it is a small elevation, twelve 

 feet in diameter, and three in height ; 

 the top is hollowed and filled with 

 water, which drops from the stalactites. 

 Leaving this chamber, we enter a large 

 gallery, where there is another basin, 

 filled with limjiid water. 



Tiie number and extent of the com- 

 partments, the beauty of the stalactites 

 that cover the walls, — the numberlei-s 

 crystallizations of the vault, distilling or 

 dropping water, — the columns of spath 

 resting on pedestals, that seem cut out 

 artificially to support them, — the rever- 

 beration of the lights, — the various 

 forms produced by the crystallizations, 

 — combined to give a magical effect to 

 this wonderful cavern, and render it one 

 of the most magnificent spectacles any 

 where to be seen. 



When first discovered, it attracted 

 crowds of visitors to Watertown ; but, 

 as many made free with what they found, 

 — breaking off and carrying away pieces 

 of its contents, the proprietor blocked 

 up the passage with a door, secured with 

 a lock and key. 



The cavern, at present, is bat im- 

 perfectly known: only a small part of 

 it Ins been penetrated, though several 

 s:iy they have traversed more than a 

 hundred ac^es iu it. Y. 



Far 



