Caverns and Rock Shelters. 83 



to an unexplored portion of the cavern, I attempted to crawl 

 through. Right there I saw a gruesome sight, the memory of 

 which will remain with me as long as 1 live. At the end of this 

 narrow opening, in a hollow in the rock, about level with my 

 eyes, was a pile of bones partially decayed, ghastly, slimy white 

 in the dim light of my candle, and literally alive with a mass of 

 pale, sickly white, crawling worms. The sudden and unexpected 

 and close coming upon this hideous mass gave me a shock that I 

 will never forget. 



Not "many people know of the existence of this cave and still 

 fewer care to visit it. 



The following burial caves, nearly all of them small at the en- 

 trance, are located within a few miles of my home at Carthage, 

 and nearly all have been explored by me: Alexander's, High's 

 bluff, Farley, Petross and Nunley's bluff. Nunley's bluff is the 

 site of Old Cuff's cave. Old Cuff is a name to conjure with in this 

 section. Whether Old Cuff was some eccentric early white settler 

 or an Indian I have never been able to learn. Certain it is that 

 the fishermen around Old Cuff's cave attribute all unexplained 

 noises and all bad luck to Old Cuff". There is a beautiful stream- 

 let running along the floor of this cave and making a beautiful 

 little waterfall to the river below. 



ROCK SHELTERS. 



We now come to inhabited rock shelters, known in some sec- 

 tions of the state as rock houses. In the day of primitive man 

 in our valley these rock houses were favorite places of abode. 

 All over the valley, wherever is found a cliff projecting sufficiently 

 to afford reasonable shelter and facing to the south, so as to af- 

 ford warmth, you are certain to find traces of early human oc- 

 cupancy. 



I show herewith a rock shelter under a cliff on Caney Fork 

 River, near Sebowisha Station. I dug up an Indian there. The 

 ashes and kitchen refuse showed plainly human occupancy by 

 primitive man. The beautiful stretch of river in this picture is 

 interesting from the fact that here, about thirty years ago, the 

 first commercially important pearl was discovered in the Caney 

 Fork Valley. This pearl, selling originally for a few dollars, 

 passed from hand to hand, at an ever-increasing price, until it 



