64 Mr. Kain on the Geology and 
Other metallic ores are said to have been found among thesé 
mountains, and particularly those of gold and silver ; but the 
accounts are vague and uncertain, and not to be credited. 
The numerous Caves of this country present attractions 
to every the least curious traveller, and, in an eminent de- 
gree, to the mineralogist!' They are crevices, or large 
chasms, probably worn in the rocks by the passage of water: 
This will, at first view, perhaps, appear a bold assertion ; but 
if it be recollected that they occur only in limestone, which is 
a soft rock, and (under certain circumstances,) soluble in 
water ; that the rocks bear every mark of having been worn 
by water; and that streams of water are always found in 
them, it will not appear an improbable hypothesis. It is by 
no means difficult to believe that a stream, after having wort 
such a chasm as a cave presents, in the solid reck, may have 
found another channel ; and, forsaking the old, have left 
room for nature to display some of her most beautiful works. 
A description of one of these caves will be a description of 
all; and we shall select Wier’s Cave, in Rockingham County; 
Virginia, as it is the mest curious of any with which we 
are acquainted. 
The entrance of the cave is narrow and difficult. Wher 
the cave was first discovered, the passage into it was impeded 
by stalactites, which had formed perpendicular columns across 
it but these are now removed. As we advance, our coursé 
is at first horizontal, but we soon descend fifteen or twenty feet 
by a ladder, and find ourselves in a large echoing cavern. Sta 
lactites of a silvery whiteness are suspended ,from above, and 
rocks 
pillars of stalagmites are rising around us. Ledges of 
form our floor, and the uneven walls are incrusted over with 
a beautiful brown spar, which is sometimes suspended fro® 
the canopy in thin, shining, and translucent sheets. In passing 
on over the rugged rocks of our path way, our attention is dir 
vided between a care for our safety, and an admiration of the 
surrounding beautiful wonders. 
Proceeding on through a narrower crevice in the rocks, We — 
are soon introduced into other apartments, differing in pen? 
and size from the first, but resembling it in the irregularity # 
