266 SPOET IN NORTH AMERICA. 



the blind gudgeons were to be found. This lake is 

 more than three hundred yards below the surface of 

 the earth, and is justly considered to be one of the 

 wonders of the world. - 



This vast subterranean Dead Sea seems to have no 

 tide or current, but its waters are doubtless supplied 

 and renewed from some invisible source. There was 

 a boat, into which we entered, bearing torches in 

 our hand and looking very like the passengers whom 

 Charon ferries over the infernal Styx. We had with 

 us a square net with a pocket in the centre, and at 

 three dips, without any difficulty, we landed over 

 two hundred gudgeons exactly like those of our 

 rivers, with this exception, that they have no eyes. 

 I took several of these fish into my hands to examine 

 them, and was amazed at the eccentricity of Nature 

 in thus peopling this subterranean lake with a fish 

 deprived of a sense which would be useless to it in 

 these darksome regions. 



Our guides soon lit a fire, and with the aid of a 

 frying-pan and some butter, cooked the blind gud- 

 geons, and we found them most excellent and sa- 

 voury. (One peculiarity about these Dead Sea gud- 

 geons is that they won't keep long j they go bad a 

 few hours after they are caught.) This done, we 

 proceeded to explore the rest of the wonders of the 

 Mammoth Caves, and managed to finish our task 

 before the sun was set. The sight of the glorious 

 luminary as we emerged from the regions of dark- 



