LIFE OF WILSON. cxxix 



objects around me began to make their appearance more dis- 

 tinctly. The bottom, for fifteen or twenty yards at first, was 

 so irregular, that we had constantly to climb over large masses 

 of wet and slippery rocks; the roof rose in many places to the 

 height of twenty or thirty feet, presenting all the most irregu- 

 lar projections of surface, and hanging in gloomy and silent 

 horror. We passed numerous chambers, or offsetts, which we 

 did not explore; and after three hours wandering in these pro- 

 found regions of glooms and silence, the particulars of which 

 would detain me too long, I emerged with a handkerchief fill- 

 ed with bats, including one which I have never seen described; 

 and a number of extraordinary insects of the Gryllus tribe, 

 with antennae upwards of six inches long, and which I am per- 

 suaded had never before seen the light of day, as they fled from 

 it with seeming terror, and I believe were as blind in it as 

 their companions the bats. Great quantities of native glaubcr 

 salts are found in these caves, and are used by the country 

 people in the same manner, and with equal effect, as those of 

 the shops. But the principal production is saltpetre, which is 

 procured from the earth in great abundance. The cave in 

 Warren county abovementioned, has lately been sold for three 

 thousand dollars, to a saltpetre company, an individual of 

 which informed me that, from every appearance, this cave had 

 been known to the Indians many ages ago; and had evidently 

 been used for the same purposes. At the distance of more 

 than a mile from the entrance, the exploring party, on their 

 first visit, found the roof blackened by smoke, and bundles of 

 half burnt canes scattered about. A bark mockasin, of cu- 

 rious construction, besides several other Indian articles, were 

 found among the rubbish. The earth, also, lay piled in heaps, 

 with great regularity, as if in preparation for extracting the 

 saltpetre. 



" Notwithstanding the miserable appearance of the timber 

 on these barrens, the soil, to my astonishment, produced the 

 most luxuriant fields of corn and wheat I had ever before met 

 with. But one great disadvantage is the want of water, for 



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