64 THE MAMMOTH CAVE. 



guide suggested that the oxen were introduced 

 separately, and the carts in piecemea4. 



On the route from the Acute Angle to the 

 Star Chamber, several stone cottages, formerly 

 inhabited by the invalids already mentioned, 

 are still standing, — gloomy monuments of their 

 departed occu23ants. One of these cottages is 

 used as a card-room, where hundreds of private 

 and business cards may be found. 



We are now upon what is known as the Long 

 Route, and we leave the Main Cave at the foot 

 of the Giant's Coffin, 



One by one we pass into a crevice behind the 

 Coffin, at the bottom whereof yawns a narrow 

 hole. Half stooping, half crawling, we descend 

 through an irregular, contracted passage to a 

 basement hall called the Deserted Chamber. 



The Deserted Chamber is a gloomy, aban- 

 doned-looking hall, and is fully entitled to the 

 name given it. This is the point at which the 

 water left the Main Cave to reach Echo River, 

 after it had ceased to flow out of the mouth 

 of the former into Green River. In other re- 

 spects it is not of particular interest. 



The two illustrations which accompany this 

 part of our text — "Entrance to the Long 

 Route," and the " Deserted Chamber" — give the 



