174 GLEANINGS FROM NATURE. 



fallen rocks. From this we crawled still farther 

 down, climbing over great blocks of limestone and 

 making our way beneath others partly loosened from 



the roof, until finally we reached the 

 Straits very bottom, probably seventy -five feet 



below our starting point. Here we 

 found another low room, with an earthen floor, which 

 had great cracks running through it in every direc- 

 tion, but with no signs that water had been present 

 for centuries. From this a very low passage makes 

 its way to near the Coon's Council Chamber, but 

 there is no exit into that room. Retracing our way 

 we took another route, and after much creeping, 

 wriggling our way through dust, bumping our heads 

 on the low ceiling, and with nothing in the way of in- 

 terest to repay us for our trouble, we finally emerged 

 on the side of the Hill of Difficulty, and knew by 

 personal experience that the Old Cave and the New 

 are connected, and that the passage-way between 

 them is a very rocky road to travel. 



The entrance to the so-called " Unexplored Regions " 

 of Wyandotte opens from the Ice House, beyond the 

 Junction Room of the Long Route. These regions 



have been partly explored by guides, 

 The Unex= , ... ,/ -A- ^ 



lored Regions visitors seldom pass within their 



portals. Washington Rothrock, the 

 oldest and best known guide of the cave, has been 

 through them several times as far as Rothrock's 

 Island. The formations therein are said to be won- 

 drously beautiful and more numerous than in many 

 of the more thoroughly explored regions of the ave. 

 A large series of specimens were obtained from some 



