314 WILD SPORTS IN THE FAR WEST. 



roasting, I took a survey of the outside, which presented 

 a, wall of limestone rock, about thirty feet high, and 

 about 300 feet long, with four openings. After having 

 well fortified the inner man, we prepared to enter the 

 cave. We took only one rifle with us, but each had 

 his large hunting-knife, and I buckled my powder-horn 

 close to my side ; then with my rifle in my right hand, 

 and a torch of at least twenty inches in my left, we 

 entered a dark passage about four feet high and two 

 feet wide ; young Conwell came next to me with 

 another torch, followed by his father with a bundle of 

 splinters to replace the torches as they burnt out. For 

 about eighty yards it was all hard rock, and we ad- 

 vanced easily enough. But now came a sudden turn to 

 the right, and the cave was so low that we were obliged 

 to crawl on our hands and knees ; the bottom was stiff 

 clay, with numerous marks of bears, some quite fresh. 

 As we advanced the passage became still smaller, and 

 we were obliged to crawl on our stomachs. Thus far 

 the Indians had penetrated, as we found by splinters 

 of fir, and marks of their elbows and knees in the clay. 

 The passage was now so small that I was obliged to 

 lie quite flat, and push myself along by my feet assisted 

 by my left elbow, holding the torch in my left hand, 

 and the rifle in front with the right. The aperture 

 was quite round, and rubbed smooth by the passing in 

 and out of wild animals, who may perhaps have made 

 this their winter-quarters for hundreds of vears. Here 

 and there we found stalactites, which were a great 

 hinderance, and we often had considerable dilliculty in 

 pushing ourselves through. 



Apparently, we were the first whites, indeed the first 



