CHAPTER XXXI 



LECTURING TOUR IN AMERICA — WASHINGTON TO 



SAN FRANCISCO 



I had two lecture engagements at Cincinnati, and had also 

 an invitation to visit Mr. W. H. Edwards, the lepidopterist, 

 whose book induced Bates and myself to go to Para, and 

 who resided at Coalburgh in West Virgina. I was also very 

 anxious to see a new cavern which had been discovered about 

 ten years before, and which was said to be far superior to the 

 Mammoth Cave in the variety and beauty of its stalagmitic 

 formations, though not so extensive. I therefore took a 

 rather circuitous route in order to carry out this programme. 

 Leaving Washington April 6 at 3 p. m., I reached Harper's 

 Ferry about 5.30, through a fairly cultivated country, a few 

 fields green with young wheat and a few damp meadows 

 with grass, but otherwise very wintry looking. Changing to 

 a branch line up the Shenandoah Valley, I passed through a 

 picturesque country like the less mountainous parts of Wales, 

 but mostly uncultivated, and reached Luray station about 9 

 p. m. There was a rather rough hotel here, where I had 

 supper and bed, and the next morning after breakfast a wag- 

 gon took myself and a few other visitors to the cavern about 

 a mile away, for seeing which we paid a dollar each, and it 

 was very well worth it. We walked through the best parts 

 (which are lit up with electric lights) for about two hours, 

 through a variety of passages, galleries, and halls, some reach- 

 ing a hundred feet high, some having streams or pools of water, 

 and some chasms of unknown depth, like most caves in the 

 limestone. But everywhere there are stalactites of the most 

 varied forms, and often of the most wonderful beauty. 

 Usually they form pillars like some strange architecture, some- 



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