IN MAMMOTH CAVE 249 



earlier geologic ages. The waters have worn 

 the rock as if it were but ice. The domes and 

 pits are carved and fluted in precisely the way- 

 dripping water flutes snow or ice. The rainfall 

 must have been enormous in those early days, 

 and it must have had a much stronger and 

 sharper tooth of carbonic acid gas than now. 

 It has carved out enormous pits with perpendi- 

 cular sides, two or three hundred feet deep. 

 Goring Dome I remember particularly. You 

 put your head through an irregularly shaped 

 window in the wall at the side of one of the 

 avenues, and there is this huge shaft or well, 

 starting from some higher level and going down 

 two hundred feet below you. There must have 

 been such wells in the old glaciers, worn by a 

 rill of water slowly eating its way down. It 

 was probably ten feet across, still moist and 

 dripping. The guide threw down a lighted 

 torch, and it fell and fell, till I had to crane 

 my neck far out to see it finally reach the bot- 

 tom. Some of these pits are simply appalling, 

 and where the way is narrow, have been covered 

 over to prevent accidents. 



No part of Mammoth Cave was to me more 

 impressive than its entrance, probably because 

 here its gigantic proportions are first revealed to 

 you, and can be clearly seen. That strange 

 colossal underworld here looks out into the light 

 of day, and comes in contrast with familiar 

 scenes and objects. When you are fairly in the 

 cave, you cannot see it; that is, with your 

 above-ground eyes ; you walk along by the dim 



