THE MAMMOTH CAVE. 59 
only leave hope, but we leave care and sorrow 
and all the feelings that make up the sum of 
our mundane existence, in the world behind us. 
We really enter a new phase of life. We 
forget, for a time, the life we have lived before. 
Here we find no. objects of comparison,—nothing 
to remind us of our pre-existence. It is worth 
a visit to the Cave to experience these new and 
extraordinary sensations. 
We first enter a small arehway at: the mouth 
of the Cave, called the Narrows. ‘The sides are 
walled up with rock, which the saltpetre manu- 
facturers removed from the floor at this point to 
_ allow of easy ingress. 
After leaving the Narrows, the ceiling of which 
is about seven feet high, and which does not pos- 
sess any special interest, the Rotunda is entered. 
The Rotunda is said to be situated immedi- 
ately under the dining-room of the Cave Hotel. 
The ceiling of the Rotunda is about one hun- 
dred feet high, and its greatest diameter is one 
hundred and seventy-five feet. 
The floor is strewn with the remains of vats, 
water-pipes, and other materials used by the 
saltpetre miners in 1812. The wood of which 
they are made is in a remarkablé state of pres-_ 
ervation. 
