BLIND GUDGEONS OF THE MAMMOTH CAVE. 265 



is a convenient place for that purpose, on the re- 

 past which our host had provided for us ; and that 

 ceremony concluded we began once more our explo- 

 ration of the Mammoth Caves. In answer to a 

 question which I addressed to Mr. Edmund Rush 

 with regard to the blind fish, he told me that we 

 had yet many hours to pass in the caves before 

 reaching the lake where they were to be found. 



After a time, we reached the Temple, which is a 

 circular grotto, much larger than that of Antiparos, 

 and here it is where the travellers who undertake to 

 explore these giant caves usually pass the night. 

 For this purpose, we had brought with us some ham- 

 mocks, which were soon slung from staples firmly 

 fixed in the walls of the Temple, and we all sought 

 the comfort of repose. 



We were all up again next morning at six o'clock, 

 enjoying the coffee and breakfast which had been 

 prepared, and pressed onwards to the other wonders 

 of the caves. In one of them we found a cataract 

 called the Maelstrom, a subterranean whirlpool, the 

 waters of which flow none knows whither. One of our 

 guides related to us a stirring anecdote of a young 

 man from Louisville who had explored the depths of 

 the hole in which the whirlpool was, and had barely 

 escaped with life. Hence we passed along Pentico 

 Avenue, and so on by the Bunch of Pineapples (a 

 splendid mass of stalagmites), the Zig-zags, and the 

 Eandit's Halt, until we came to the lake in which 



