64 Mr. Ka'm on the Geology and 



Other metallic ores are said to have been found among these 

 mountains, and particularly those of gold and silver ; but the 

 accounts are vague and uncertain, and not to be credited. 



The numerous Caves of this country present attractions 

 to every, the least curious, traveller ; and, in an eminent de- 

 gree, to the mineralogist. They are crevices, or large 

 chasms, probably worn in the rocks by the passage of water 

 This will, at first view, perhaps appear a bold assertion ; but 

 if it be recollected that they occur only in limestone, which is 

 a soft rock, and (under certain circumstances,) soluble in 

 water ; that the rocks bear every mark of having been worn 

 by water ; and that streams of water are always found in 

 them, it will not appear an improbable hypothesis. It is by 

 no means difficult to believe that a stream, after having worn 

 such a chasm as a cave presents, in the solid rock, may have 

 found another channel ; and, forsaking the old, have left 

 room for nature to display some of her most beautiful works. 

 A description of one of these caves will be a description of 

 all ; and we shall select Wier^s Cave, in Rockingham' County, 

 Virginia, as it is the most curious of any with which we are 

 acquainted. 



The entrance of the cave is narrow and difficult. When 

 the cave was first discovered, the passage into it was impeded 

 by stalactites, which had formed perpendicular columns across 

 it ; but these are now removed. As we advance, our course 

 is at first horizontal, but we soon descend fifteen or twenty feet 

 by a ladder, and find ourselves in a large echoing cavern. Sta- 

 lactites of a silvery whiteness are suspended from above, and 

 pillars of stalagmites are rising around us. Ledges of rocks 

 form our floor, and the uneven walls are incrusted over with 

 a beautiful brown spar, which is sometimes suspended from 

 the canopy in thin, shining, and translucent sheets. In passing 

 on over the rugged rock of our pathway, our attention is divi- 

 ded between a care for our safety, and an admiration of the 

 surrounding wonders. 



Proceeding on through a narrower crevice in the rocks, we 

 are soon introduced into other apartments, differing in shape 

 and size from the first, but resembling it in the irregularity o£ 



