166 THE MAMMOTH CAVE. 



picturesque and elegant, and I did not regret the 

 trouble I had taken to reach it." v 



To show the similarity of the impressions pro- 

 duced upon different individuals by these novel 

 and remarkable sights, we quote from the "Vis- 

 itor," who, in turn, quotes from Mr. Lee : 



" Returning from the Fairy Grotto, we entered 

 the Main Cave at the Cataract, and continued 

 our walk to the Chief City, or Temple, which is 

 thus described by Lee, in his ' Notes on the 

 Mammoth Cave': 



"'The Temple is an inmiense vault covering 

 an area of two acres, and covered by a single 

 dome of solid rock, one hundred and twenty feet 

 high. It excels in size the Cave of Staffa ; and 

 rivals the celebrated vault in the Grotto of An- 

 tiparos, which is said to be the largest in the 

 world. In passing through from one end to the 

 other, the dome appears t(j follow like the sky in 

 passing from place to place on the earth. In the 

 middle of the dome there is a large mound of 

 rocks rising on one side, nearly to the top, very 

 steep, and forming what is called the Mountain. 

 When first I ascended this mound from the Cave 

 below I was struck with a feeling of awe more 

 deep and intense than anything that I had ever 

 before experienced. I could only observe the 



