164 THE MAMMOTH CAVE. 
Bayard Taylor says: “Just one mile from the 
Star Chamber a rough stone cross has been 
erected to denote that the distance has been 
carefully measured. The floor here rises con- 
siderably, which contracts the dimensions of the 
avenue, although they are still on a grand scale. 
About half a mile farther we come to the Great 
Crossings, where five avenues meet. In the dim 
hight it resembled the interior of a great cathe- 
dral, whose arched roof is a hundred feet above 
its pavement. ‘Turning to the left, at right 
angles to our former direction, we walked (still 
following the Main Avenue) some ten minutes 
farther, when the passage debouched into a spa- 
clous hall, with a cascade pouring from the very 
summit of its lofty dome. Beyond and adjoin- 
ing it was a second hall, of nearly equal dimen- 
sions, with another cascade falling from its roof. 
We turned again to the right, finding the avenue 
still more irregular and contracted than before, 
but had not advanced far before its ceiling began 
to rise, showing a long slope of loosely piled 
rocks, lying in strong relief against a back- 
ground of unfathomable darkness. 
“Y climbed the rocks and sat down on the 
highest pinnacle, while Stephen descended to the 
opposite side of the slope, and kindled two or 
