THE MAMMOTH CAVE. 161 
into a crevice in the rock. How it was placed 
in its present position is a difficult question to 
settle, inasmuch as it could not have been in- 
serted in the position it occupies by artificial 
means. 
After passing the S Bend, which has no par- 
ticular points of attraction, Wright’s Rotunda is 
entered. 
This Rotunda is four hundred feet in its 
shortest diameter. The ceiling is from ten to 
forty-five feet in height, and is perfectly level, 
the apparent difference in height being produced 
by the irregularity of the floor. It is astonish- 
ing that the ceiling has strength to sustain itself, 
for it is not more than fifty feet from the surface 
of the earth. Fortunately the Cave at this 
point is perfectly dry, and no change of any 
kind is transpiring in it, otherwise there might 
be some risk of it falling in, as evidences of such 
occurrences are to be found in the surrounding 
country. 
When this immense area is illuminated at 
the two extremes simultaneously, it presents a 
most magnificent appearance. 
At the eastern extremity of the Rotunda 1s a 
column, four feet in diameter, extending from 
14* 
