18823 In Wyandotte Cave 



narrows the bed of the stream, so that silt accumu- 

 lates, steadily raising the water level and thus con- 

 stantly augmenting the danger from floods. And 

 the cutting away of the timber on the great Northern 

 tributaries — the Ohio, Tennessee, and Cumber- 

 land especially — allows the water from spring 

 rains to run ofi^ more and more quickly, swelling the 

 lower reaches of the Mississippi and adding to the 

 troubles of the delta state of Louisiana. Necessary 

 readjustment at the river's mouth must ultimately 

 become a national problem. 



In Lake Pontchartrain, a large, brackish sheet of Varied 

 water near New Orleans, I found a curious mixture •^'^""'^ 

 of sea and river forms. There small sharks dis- 

 puted with channel cats over the garbage thrown 

 from the wharves. In surrounding swamps the 

 bottoms were lined with rough water snakes — ■ 

 Natrix sipedon — hibernating through the warm 

 winter. Not far away I saw a big alligator lashing 

 the bushes but getting nowhere; on investigation I 

 discovered that he was tied by one leg to a tree ! 



The following summer I had a curious experience a Uuie 

 while making a second visit to Wyandotte Cave in "/'^"»«'^w/ 

 the neighborhood of Corydon, Harrison County, In- 

 diana. That huge cavern in the limestone rock 

 extends for several miles and has never yet been 

 explored to the end. Our party consisted of a num- 

 ber of people from Indianapolis, under the direction 

 of the state geologist. Dr. E. T. Cox. After penetrat- 

 ing underground for about three miles, we started 

 back at noon. Being somewhat in advance of the 

 rest of the party, I decided to try a little experi- 

 ment and see what absolute darkness would be like. 



C 243 3 



