128 THE MAMMOTH CAVE. 



- Serena's Arbor is' twenty feet in diameter and 

 about forty in height. The walls and ceiling 

 are covered with stalactite cornices, columns, 

 grooves, ogees, etc., many of which are semi- 

 transparent and sonorous. 



At the base of the Rocky Mountain the guide 

 stopped, intimating that the terminus of the 

 journey had been reached. Having read a 

 thrilling account of a descent into the Mael- 

 strom some years ago, we expressed a desire to 

 see the awful pit, which was some distance 

 beyond. All the gentlemen of the party, and 

 one or two of the ladies also, expressed a will- 

 ingness to climb the Rocky Mountain. The 

 other ladies awaited our return. The ascent of 

 the mountain was extremely difficult, and it is 

 not to be wondered at that the guides do not 

 insist upon visitors passing over it. 



Beyond the mountain we enter Crogan's Hall, 

 which constitutes the end of the Long Route, 

 and which is about seventy feet wide and twenty 

 high. The left wall is covered wdth stalactite 

 formations, which are white and semi-transpa- 

 rent and of great hardness, and fragments of 

 which are sometimes worked into ornaments. 



