* THE MAMMOTH CAVE. 27 



From data that we have obtained from 

 various sources, we learn that the " Bottomless 

 Pit" was not crossed, nor the great curiosities 

 beyond dreamed of, for about thirty years after 

 what is called the " Main Cave" had been 

 explored. Indeed, it is known that many 

 avenues, with their hidden treasures, have not 

 to the present day been trodden by mortal 

 footsteps. So much has already been explored 

 that curiosity appears to be satiated. 



It is said that about one hundred and fifty 

 miles of travel is required to visit the parts of 

 the Cave that have already been traversed; and 

 we were informed by the guides that avenues 

 were known to them which would probably 

 increase the extent of travel to two hundred 

 miles.* 



* Since the foregoing was penned, we have been informed by 

 the proprietor of the Cave Hotel, Mr. L. J. Proctor, in a letter 

 dated March 12, 1870, that " Two years ago three of the guides 

 at the Cave, Messrs. F. M. De Monbrum and Charles and A. Mer- 

 ideth, discovered a new avenue in the Mammoth Cave, branching 

 off from the Pass of El Ghor, just beyond Ole Bull's Concert 

 Room. They first entered a narrow crevice, through which they 

 passed some seventy yards, when they entered a large cave, 

 which they explored for many miles, and from which many 

 branching avenues led off, which they did not explore. They de- 

 scribe this newly-discovered avenue as extremely grand, and in 

 many places beautiful. They crossed a large, and as yet unex- 



