isfe 



gLEAXIXGS iX BEE CULTURE. 



42^) 



tlie name does not stick. This passage is 2-50 

 feet l(/ng. and turns abruptly eight times. 

 We tind waves and riffles in" the petrified 

 ]-ock. Tills passage is very interesting to 

 blind people, because they" can pass their 1 

 hands over the rocky formation without i 

 tiouble, and take in its wonderful beauty. j 



From Fat Man's ^lisery we emerge into 

 what is called •• (Jreat Relief," for we have 

 l>lenty of room to spread out and hold up [ 

 our heads. , It used to be thought, that if [ 

 this close passage were blocked up there j 

 would be no means of escape from the re- j 

 gions beyond. In 1S7I. however, William j 

 ( Jarvin, the colored guide, discovered a short 

 cut known as the Corkscrew ; and after you 

 have climbed through it you would be willing 

 to decide that the name is appropriate. It 

 is a sort of clamber over loose rocks, twist- 

 ing first one way and then another, winding 

 around like a corkscrew, and then winding 

 the other way, but all the while going up- 

 ward. Occasionally you look through the 

 crannies in the rock, and see your comrades 

 with tlie lanterns away down at the l)Ottom 

 of a well below, as it were. Tiie distance is 

 altogether loO feet. Sometimes you climb 

 sliort ladders, again you spring "from one 

 rock to another, the guide catching you by 

 the hand as you alight, that you may not 

 slij) off. Care must be taken that loose 

 rocks are not rattled down, lest they strike 

 your comrades below. In going back to the 

 mouth of the cave this ccn-kscrew ascension 

 saves about a mile of travel. Oddly enoiigli. 

 you s(iuee/.e through a lissure and come out 

 among the Kentucky ciilTs near the ceiling; 

 in one oj' those vast rooms where we hung 

 our overcoats when we started in. 



We are not ready to go out yet, however. 

 'I'he guide takes iisoffin anotlielclianneKand 

 shows us Odd-Fellows" Links, wiiicli are in 

 black on the ceiling of tiie cave. Then we 

 come to Bacon Chamber, which awakens a 

 laugh from almost every one who sees it. for 

 there, hanging down just so as to clear our 

 heads, are verital)le siiioked iianis— smoked 

 hams ill shape and size, and smoked hams in 

 color. When we touch them they feel like 

 smoked hams. I suppose they h:i\-e become 

 greasy from being handled by so man> lin- 

 gers in the years past. 1 lookedat them again 

 and again, and each time it seemed more 

 incredible that these things could have been 

 formed thus by the passage of the water. 



JSJow we go down to Lake Lethe and Kcho 

 River. The guide pnuluces a tin (iipjier, 

 and we take a drink of these famed waters. 

 It is just a' still liody of water, away down in 

 the darkness. The guide shouts! and the 

 sti'ange echoes come back to us. Tlieii oth- 

 ers shout, and we know now why it is called 

 Echo River. This river comes" out at tlie 

 point where Ernest and I discovered it the 

 night before in our rambles. The way 

 they prove it, they throw chaff into Echo 

 River, and it comes out at the hillside where 

 I have mentioned. The eyeless fish and the 

 lobsters are to be seen only" in the long route. 

 But they are always to be found oitthe ta- 

 bles where other samples are kept at the 

 hotel. They are put up in alcohol, in little 

 bottles at 50 cents a bottle. Here we have a 

 room covered with snowballs, and one is al- 



most irresistibly forced to believe that a lot 

 of schoolboys did it for mischief. But there 

 the snowballs stick, and have stuck for ages. 

 They are crystallized plaster of Paris. 



And now. friends, we are informed we are 

 at the end of our trip. A feeling of sadness 

 comes over rne — sadness caused by the 

 thought that this wonderful experience of 

 the past two or three hours has come to an 

 end. As we near the mouth of the cave, the 

 breeze strikes us again, and the temperature 

 reminds ns that it is winter. The boys catch 

 their bats, and put them into their pockets, 

 even though the poor animals do scratch like 

 a sitting hen. I did not want any bats. A 

 sort of solemn feeling came over "me as had 

 many times before during the trip. " In 

 the. beginning God created the heaven and 

 the earth ■■— even this Mammotli Cave: or, 

 at least, he laid his plans so that the water 

 might do the work. I did not feel like talk- 

 ing. The iron door swung back, and we 

 passed out. The little cascade sparkles 

 again in the moonlight. How different is 

 the f)uter air! It seemed heavy and suffocat- 

 ing. The odors of the trees seemed strange 

 and intense. I am told that people some- 

 times experience faiiitness as tliey pass out. 

 (iood-by. old Mammoth Cave, i am a wiser 

 man after having formed your acquaint- 

 ance, and may (iod grant that I am. at least 

 in some respel'ts. a better one. 



Now, theil, a word or two in regard to 

 how all this came about. Perhaps many t>f 

 you feel like saying with Iluber. ■ Where 

 •gettie"V"" Yes, "indeed, "where •gettie'V 

 Well. I will give you some of my opinions, 

 gathered from what I saw and heard, (ireen 

 River, of which I have told you. is (pute a 

 lirisk-moving body of watei'. away down be- 

 tween two great hills, or mountains, only they 

 are not hills or mountains, for there is no val- 

 ley on the other side. The river has cut its 

 wiiy. as it were, throiigli tiie rock.\ land- 

 scape. In fact, it is cutting its way deeper 

 all the while. Soinelxxly has said that it 

 empties eventually into the Oiiio Hiver, 

 with its freight of minerals in solution. 

 Well, some time (ireen IJiver was not down 

 so deeji in the earth. The rain water years 

 ago fell on the hills of Kentucky as it"does 

 now. It ran into the valleys, and then ran 

 into the ground. To escape, the water cut 

 passages through the lissures of the rocks, 

 and finally formed Green River. As the 

 river cut its way down, the water settled in 

 the hill to a lower level, and left its first 

 channel high and dry. Astliis process Avent 

 on for centuries, the water was continually 

 cutting new water-courses, forming new 

 subterranean rivers, as it were. At the 

 same time the water was cutting away.it 

 was, in other places, liuilding up by precipi- 

 tating these mineral substances." Now if 

 you go back and read what I have described, 

 keeping the above in mind, you will find the 

 solution to many of the.se mysteries— Bacon 

 Chamber, for instance. How does it come, 

 however, that these stalactites and stalag- 

 mites, and chunks of bacon, and snowballs, 

 and other things, are not notr soluble in 

 water? 1 n fact, many of the specimens are 

 more like tlint or quartz. Well, see if I can 

 help you by an illustration. If the water of 



