118 GLEANINGS FROM NATURE. 



climbing over slippery, perpendicular banks we made 

 our way until finally the passage began to rise, and 

 the limestone gave way to a dark shale and this in 

 time to a light colored clay. We were 900 feet from 

 the fork and thought we were nearing the surface and 

 would soon find our way above ground, when all at 

 once our lights went out and we staggered backward 

 through utter darkness, escaping, as if by a miracle, 

 the clutches of the deadly choke-damp which lurks for 

 unwary explorers amidst the deepest recesses of this 

 cave. 



Beyond the point where the right branch leaves it, 

 the main passage continues in a southerly direction 

 and was explored until the back water from the dam 

 at the mouth of the cave became too deep to wade. 

 While preparing to leave the cave a heavy thunder 

 shower came up and the water soon poured in torrents 

 through the sink-hole and adding its volume to that 

 of the enlarged stream within the cave, quickly cov- 

 ered the entire floor to a depth of nearly two feet. 



DONNEHUE'S CAVE. 



The mouth of this cave is located near the foot of 

 one of the bluffs of White River, 500 yards distant 

 from that stream and two and one-half miles south- 

 west of Bedford, Lawrence County. From the mouth 

 of the cave a small stream finds its way, the source of 

 which is in a sink-hole three-fourths of a mile distant 

 in a north-easterly direction. The stream is greatly 

 enlarged after a heavy rain and by its erosive action 

 the cave is constantly but slowly increasing in size. 



