THE MAMMOTH CAVE. 163 
and divided lower down into a great number of 
small branches like the roots of trees, exhibit- 
ing the appearance of a coral grove. Hanging 
our lamps to the incrustations on the columns, 
the grove of stalactites became faintly hghted 
up, disclosing a scene of extraordinary wildness 
and beauty. ‘This is nothing to what you will 
see on the other side of the rivers, cries our 
guide, smiling at our enthusiastic admiration. 
With all its present beauty, this grotto is far 
from being what it was before it was despoiled 
and robbed some eight or nine years ago by a 
set of vandals, who, through sheer wantonness, 
broke many of the stalactites, leaving them 
- strewn on the floor, a disgraceful memorial of 
their vulgar propensities and barbarian-like con- 
duct.’* 
What is called the Chief City is situated in 
the Main Cave beyond the Rocky Pass. 
It is about two hundred feet in diameter and 
forty in height. The floor is covered at different 
points with piles of rock, which present the 
appearance of the ruins of an ancient city. 
Of this, and contiguous parts of the Cave, 
* Rambles in the Mammoth Cave, during the year 1844, by a 
Visitor, pp. 54, 55. 
