320 Geology, ^c. of Tennessee, ^c. 



lofty arch, all of solid rock, appears perfectly in sight. Not 

 one in a thousand can forbear to make an involuntary pause : 

 but the servant, who had hitherto followed his master, without 

 meeting with any thing particularly to arrest his attention, had 

 no sooner arrived at this point, and caught a glance of the ob- 

 ject which burst upon his vision, than he fell upon his knees, 

 fixed in wonder and admiration. 



A River Jlowing from a Cave. 



3. I will next mention a singular cave, which I do not. re- 

 member ever to have seen described. It is situated in the 

 Cherokee country, at Nicojack, the north-western angle in the 

 map of Georgia, and is known by the name of the Nicojack 

 cave. It is 20 miles S. W. of the Look-Out mountain, and half 

 a mile from the south bank of the Tennessee River. The 

 Rackoon mountain in which it is situated, here fronts to the 

 northeast. Immense layers of horizontal limestone form a 

 precipice of considerable height. In this precipice the cave 

 commences ; not however with an opening of a few feet, as is 

 common ; but with a mouth fifty feet high, and one hundred and 

 sixty wide. Its roof is formed by a solid and regular layer of 

 limestone, having no support but the sides of the cave, and as 

 level as the floor of a house. The entrance is partly obstructed 

 by piles of fallen rocks, which appear to have been dislodged 

 by some great convulsion. From its entrance, the cave con- 

 sists chiefly of one grand excavation through the rocks, pre- 

 serving for a great distance the same dimensions as at its mouth. 



What is more remarkable than all, it forms for the whole 

 distance it has yet been explored, a walled and vaulted passage, 

 for a stream of cool and limpid water, which, where it leaves 

 the cave, is six feet deep and sixty feet wide. A few years 

 since, Col. James Ore of Tennessee, commencing early in the 

 morning, followed the course of this creek in a canoe, for three 

 miles. He then came to a fall of water, and was obliged to 

 return, without making any further discovery. Whether he 

 penetrated three miles up the cave or not, it is a fact he did 

 not return till the evening, having been busily engaged in his 



