146 THE MAMMOTH CAVE. 
farther side presents a striking resemblance to an 
immense curtain, which extends from the ceiling 
to within forty feet of the floor. . The window 
through which Gorin’s Dome is viewed is circu- 
lar in form, and not more than two or three feet 
in diameter, allowing but one person at a time 
to enjoy the view of the interior. By imagin- 
ing an immense well or deep circular excavation 
in the earth, without any opening at top or bot- 
tom, and supposing one’s self to approach it about 
the center, or at a point midway between the 
floor and ceiling, and finding a small aperture 
through which a view of it can be obtained, 
would we not feel almost as much astonished at 
the novelty of the point of view as we would on 
beholding the curiosity itself? 
Bayard Taylor speaks thus of this Dome : 
“We now reached another pit, along the 
brink of which we walked, clambered up a ledge, 
and at last found a window-like opening, where 
Alfred (the guide) bade us pause. Leaning over 
the thin partition wall, the-light of our united 
lamps disclosed a vast glimmering hall, the top 
of which vanished into darkness, and the bottom 
of which we could only conjecture by the loud, 
hollow splash of water-drops that came up out 
of the terrible gloom. Directly in front of us 
