THE MAMMOTH CAVE. 143 



comment. The three or four pounds that were 

 in our coat pockets became an intolerable burden 

 upon the shoulders and neck. A young gen- 

 tleman from Virginia, a Baptist minister, who 

 accompanied our party, very accommodatingly 

 proposed that we should place our specimens 

 with his in his handkerchief, and carry them 

 alternately. By this arrangement we succeeded 

 between us in bringing out a very fair collection 

 of some of the minor curiosities of the Cave. 



It is unnecessary to refer to the incidents of 

 our outward passage ; they possess but little of 

 interest. We made our exit from the Cave, 

 footsore and weary, at half-past nine o'clock in 

 the evening, having been under ground for a 

 period of twelve hours and a half We climbed 

 the rugged hill and reached the hotel, feeling as 

 though it would have been impossible to have 

 walked another step. 



Though being exceedingly fatigued, for the 

 reason that we had long been unaccustomed to 

 much pedestrian exercise, yet we felt a thousand 

 times repaid for our exhaustion in having visited 

 a new world, and witnessed with our own eyes 

 its multiform phases of wonder. 



Awaiting our return, we found prepared a 

 bountiful supper; and, happily, all were in a 

 condition to do it full justice. 



