104 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY ['bull. 76 



canoe. One hundred feet within is a magnificent cascade, Avhere 

 the stream rushes and leaps down a narrow passage with such vio- 

 lence that the noise is plainly heard at the entrance. 



"The right-hand passage for the first 100 feet is about 10 feet 

 high by 15 wide, with a clay bottom and a roof on a level with that 

 of the vestibule. It then expands into a large room, 230 feet long 

 and 40 feet wide, which lies east and west at right angles to the 

 entering passage. This narrows at the west end to 20 feet, and at 

 one point the outer air flows in through a small opening in the roof. 

 From near the small end of the room a narrow passage starts off to 

 the southward and can be traveled for 200 feet, when it becomes too 

 small for further advance. Along this passage a small stream flows, 

 disappearing through a hole in the floor near the entrance to the 

 larger room. Other than this, both right and left passages leaving 

 the main entry are dry. 



" The passage at the left of the main entrance to the cave is about 

 150 feet long bv 20 broad, and contains no points of especial interest.'' 

 [W. S. Blatchley.] 



It may be added to the above description that a heavy rain causes 

 a rapid rise of several feet in the stream through the middle passage. 



The cavern is situated 3^ miles east of Mitchell, It has been fitted 

 up by the State University as an experiment station for the study 

 of underground fauna and flora. 



The branch to the right is never entirely dry. Throughout the 

 year water trickles or seeps over the stones and keeps the mud soft 

 and sloppy, while after extremely heavy rains the water may be 2 

 or 3 inches deep for a short time — enough to keep all the earth 

 washed from the floor for 50 or 60 feet from the entrance. 



The northern or left branch presented a smooth, solid floor of rock 

 at the beginning. The roof is about 13 feet above the floor, being 

 a flat stratum broken by a joint-seam along which there is a slight 

 fault. A ledge of friable sandstone 3^ feet thick lies next below the 

 roof. The disintegration of this gave a dry covering to the clayey 

 earth which covered the floor almost to the extreme edge of the rock 

 overhanging the stream and gradually rose toward the rear, where 

 it entirely filled the space from floor to roof. The distance between 

 the side walls is 8 feet at the mouth. They diverge slightly, and at 

 65 feet are about 12 feet apart. Here they separate more sharply, 

 forming a chamber 30 feet in diameter, measuring on every side to 

 the contact of the earth and the roof. At the extreme rear a slight 

 wash or depression in the earth revealed the top of a vertical solid 

 wall, thus marking the limit of the cave in that direction. It seems. 

 however, to extend farther to the east and the west than it can now 

 be followed ; in fact, the indications are that at one time a consider- 

 able cross-cavern extended along this line. 



