88 IN AND OUT OF ITHACA. 



The narrow entrance to this stupendous, chamber is 

 guarded by two funnel-shaped pillars, one on either 

 side. Once past the rocky portal, and an exclamation 

 of astonishment cannot be repressed. You are in 

 a tremendous oblong bowl, entirely surrounded save 

 for the crevice through which admission is gained. 

 The curved rock walls are vertical and overhang. At 

 its remotest end a strange rock formation leans against 

 the smooth wall of the perpendicular cliff. This has 

 been compared to the half of a haystack. Directly 

 above this the water of the creek comes rushing down 

 a short inclined and moss-lined channel, takes a head- 

 long leap clear of the brink, and is dashed in spray 

 on the conical rock a hundred and forty feet be- 

 low. The gray and lofty walls ; the massy columns at 

 the door ; the overhanging roof a hundred and sixty 

 feet above ; the azure canopy; the eastward altar, hung 

 with its adornments of velvet moss ; the richly blending 

 colors ; the profound peace, broken only by the sweet, 

 solemn chant of the mist-robed choir, mingled with the 

 deep-toned accompaniment of the wind-swept evergreens 

 fringing the crests, make the grandeur of the scene sol- 

 emnly impressive. No name could be more appropriate 

 than "The Cathedral." 



If the visitor has come thus far, he will not need to 

 be told to turn around and go back. The vertical cliffs 

 surrounding him do not offer the faintest suggestion of 

 any passage over them. It is possible, of course, to go 

 back and follow up the ravine on the bank ; but having 

 shown you its grand cathedral, Ljck Brook has given 

 you its best. 



