THE MAMMOTH CAVE. 191 



rate in its statements, so far as their nature is 

 susceptible of positive demonstration. 



The most recent, and best authenticated in- 

 formation we have been able to find upon the 

 subject of the Cave Mummies, is contained in a 

 letter from Mr. Proctor, the present proprietor 

 of the hotel, dated March 12, 1870. He says 

 (in reply to our inquiries) : 



" There was a mummy found in the Mammoth 

 Cave, and one in Short Cave, a cave in the 

 neighborhood of the Mammoth. The one in 

 Mammoth Cave was found in the Gothic 

 Avenue, in 1815, by Mr. Ward, of Marietta, 

 Ohio, and was sent to the Antiquarian Society 

 of Worcester, Massachusetts, and is now there, 

 as I learn by a letter of the Secretary of the 

 Society ; but is in a dilapidated condition. The 

 one found in the Short Cave was taken and 

 placed in the Museum at Cincinnati, and was 

 burnt with that establishment many years ago. 

 I have in my possession a photograph of the one 

 taken out of the Gothic Avenue by Mr. Ward, 

 in 1815." 



In concluding our remarks on this subject, we 

 emphatically agree with the author of ''Rambles 

 of a Visitor," etc. when he says, "The removal 

 of those mummies from the place in which they 



