IN MAMMOTH CAVE 247 



when we do so. I thought of the lines of our poet 

 of Democracy : — 



" Surely, whoever speaks to me in the right voice, him or her I 

 shall follow, 

 As the water follows the moon, silently, with fluid steps, any- 

 where around the globe." 



Where we were standing was upon an arch over 

 an avenue which crossed our course beneath us. 

 The reverberations on Echo Eiver, a point I did not 

 reach, can hardly be more surprising, though they 

 are described as wonderful. 



There are four or five levels in the cave, and a 

 series of avenues upon each. The lowest is some 

 two hundred and fifty feet below the entrance. 

 Here the stream which has done all this carving and 

 tunneling has got to the end of its tether. It is 

 here on a level with Green River in the valley below 

 and flows directly into it. I say the end of its 

 tether, though if Green River cuts its valley deeper, 

 the stream will, of course, follow suit. The bed of 

 the river has probably, at successive periods, been on 

 a level with each series of avenues of the cave. The 

 stream is now doubtless but a mere fraction of its 

 former self. Indeed, every feature of the cave at- 

 tests the greater volume and activity of the forces 

 which carved it, in the 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 



