April 7, 1H93.] 



SCIENCE. 



189 



• There is a linguistic family in Oregon, the Kalapuya, the dia- 

 lects of which show exactly the same peculiarity concerning the 

 substantive nouns. In the Atfalati dialect, once spoken near 

 Gaston and Wappatoo Lake, west of Portland, almost all substan- 

 tives begin with a-, as apumnieig, icoman. Among the few ex- 

 ceptions, I now remember only mantal, dog. All adjectives of 

 Atfalati begin in wa-, u-a-, ua- in their form for the singular, 

 and this coincides exactly with the radix of their numeral for 

 one. Although what we call articles do not frequently appear in 

 American languages, the proclivity of these to agglutinate with 

 their nouns is a well-known fact though mo>re so when the article 

 is suffixed than when prefixed to the noun, c/., the Dakota, 

 Otomi, Basque, and Scandinavian. In the Chonook jargon the 

 French article ?e, la was by the Indians fused into one word with 

 the noun following: Lipipan, leniban; libl5, lebleu, or purple; 

 lilu, le loup. Thus I argue that the Atfalati numeral for one be- 

 came an indefiQite article a and was coalescing with the noun fol- 

 lowing it into an inseparable unit. 



The same thing occurred in the case of the KitonSqa prefix aq-, 

 iXqk-. We find it, though pronounced somewhat differently, as 

 o'ke, o'kw5, one, the first numeral, cf , aiwom tla o'kwe, ten 

 and one, viz., "eleven;" in what Chamberlain calls the indepen- 

 dent form of the substantive and adjective, which through this 

 addition differs from the form as used in composition ; tlQ, snoiv, 

 aqktlii (independent form). The same radical also occurs in 

 aqkto, bear one year old; aqksSkes ko'kwes, one leg ; a'qkl, and, 

 again, more (perhaps " one more " originally). 



I therefore consider this prefix as an obsolete indefinite article, 

 which has gradually fused into one solid body with the noun fol- 

 lowing; we are at leisure to consider it now as a definite or an 

 indefinite article in its original state. It was once an article and 

 is now fossilized, like the a- of the Kalapuyan dialects, into the 

 body of the word. 



MAMMOTH CAVE IN MARCH. 



BY H C. HOVET, D.D , BRIDGEPORT, CONN. 



I HAVE long been curious to see the great cavern amid wintry 

 surroundings. The capricious season is not without charms to 

 one who can appreciate nature's changing moods. As our train 

 pulled out from Louisville we saw that the tumultuous yellow 

 flood had wholly obliterated the falls of the Ohio, as well as the 

 costly canal around them, and had inundated the broad flats by 

 the great bend below to a breadth of twenty miles. The storms 

 of rain and snow swept over the Kentucky hills that guard the 

 line of the Louisville and Nashville Railroad, but could not 

 wholly hide the rugged grandeur of their naked crags and pointed 

 peaks; while the torrents, rolling southward between bright-red 

 ocherous banks, were far more interesting than their dry courses 

 could be in sultry August. There are said to be five hundred 

 caves in Bdmondson County, and several of these are lauded by 

 their owners as rivals to Mammoth Cave. This petty jealousy 

 cropped out in the remarks made to us on our arrival at the 

 Glasgow Junction, where we had to change cars, to the effect 

 that Green River had broken into Mammoth Cave so as to make 

 its avenues impassible ; that visitors were not admitted at this 

 season; that the hotel was literally dropping to pieces and had 

 been closed; and, in short, that we had better turn our steps in 

 some other cavernous direction. This local jealousy has occa- 

 sionally even taken the malignant form of wanton injury to the 

 estate and ugly threats of violence to the manager. Whenever a 

 grander cavern than Mammoth shall actually be discovered 

 (which may sometime be the case), let its claims be allowed; but 

 thus far it stands as the noblest specimen of its kind. As such 

 it has an interest for all patriotic Americans. True, our interest 

 is weakened slightly when we find ourselves taxed fifteen cents 

 per mile on the Mammoth Cave Railroad — a tariff never relaxed 

 by the Nashville company even for excursion parties of hundreds 

 of passengers; and it is further impaired on finding the ancient 

 hotel, if not literally dropping to pieces, yet far from luxurious, 

 or even thoroughly comfortable. It is a great architectural 

 curiosity as having been evolved from a log-cabin germ planted 



in 1812, but it fails to meet the demands of the modern travelling 

 public. While admirinn; the good taste that keeps the suriound- 

 ing fore.st intact in its native wildness, we should appreciate 

 better walks by which the woodland charms might be made more 

 accessible. We would also respectfully remark that these are 

 days when electric lights are quite generally used, in preference 

 to lard-oil lamps, and nowhere would they be more serviceable 

 than in illuminating the grand subterranean realm of Mammoth 

 Cave, as has long been done at Luray. It is our conviction that 

 the owners of this splendid estate could make no more remunera- 

 tive investment than by the timely adoption of these friendly 

 suggestions. 



And yet justice should be done to the improvements already 

 made by the enterprising manager, Mr. H. C. Ganter, about the 

 hotel and grounds, and especially within the cavern itself. One 

 of the first localities we explored on this visit was Audubon 

 Avenue, the first right-hand branch from the main cave, which 

 when we last saw it was heavily encumbered throughout with 

 great fragments of limestone that made the going very tedious. 

 These have all been removed at great expense, some of them 

 being dumped into a deep ravine, and others piled up in formida- 

 ble, yet shapely, walls. One object of all this is to prepare the 

 way for the practical cultivation of mushrooms on a scale equal 

 to that at Frepillon and Mery, in France. Over |.5,000 have 

 already been spent in this work under the direction of skilled 

 gardeners, and ultimate success is looked for. Another striking 

 change accomplished recently is the opening for the public of 

 what is to be known henceforth as Ganter Avenue, and which 

 has hitherto been passable only for the guides and hardly for 

 them. It is a wonderful fissure, or rather series of fissures, 

 extending through solid limestone for 8,500 feet, as actually 

 measured by us. The passage, until recently widened, used to be 

 for a great distance only about eight inches wide. But by patient 

 drilling and blasting it has been enlarged so that persons of ordi- 

 nary size have no serious difficulty in going through. Indeed, 

 it has already been threaded by perhaps a thousand visitors. 

 It twists and winds in the most curious manner, more than 

 two hundred turns having been actually noted, and it is well 

 worth seeing for its own sake. But the main advantage derived 

 from it is that when River Hall is flooded, as it is liable to be during 

 more than half the year, tourists can thus gain the crystalline 

 regions beyond and reach the extreme end of the "long route:" 

 and should they ever be caught there by a sudden rise of the 

 waters, they have this safe way of exit always available. At the 

 time of my visit Echo River, Lake Lethe, the Styx, and the Dead 

 Sea were all united into one vast body of water, extending from 

 Bacon Chamber to Cascade Hall, its depth from surface to bottom 

 being at least 100 feet; and the water was backing up into 

 Gorin"sDome, the Bottomless Pit, and all other pits in the cavern; 

 but not a drop in Ganter Avenue, through which we safely passed 

 to the regions beyond and returned dry shod. The temperature, 

 both of the water and air, is uniformly 54° F. all the year round ; the 

 exceptions being in localities where a strong draft lowers the mer- 

 cury a degree or two, or where the warm air from the lamps, 

 fireworks, etc., gathers in close domes, whence it cannot imme- 

 diately escape. On the whole, I do not hesitate to recommend 

 Mammoth Cave as a delightful winter resort. The climate is 

 salubrious always, and the sole difference in the cave itself from 

 its summer condition ts in the subterranean waters; and even 

 here, if suitable boats were provided, guests might enjoy a charm- 

 ing sail, and they would find the passage-way over Lake Lethe en- 

 dowed with the same marvellous echoing peculiarities that have 

 made Echo River so famous. By the way, I have never heard 

 mention made of the quite different but equally wonderful 

 acoustic properties of the Chief City. This is an immense hall, 

 450 feet long by 175 feet wide (as measured by us) in which many 

 Indian relics are found. Stationing ourselves at its opposite sides, 

 as far apart from each other as we could get, we had no difficulty 

 in conversing in ordinary tones or even in the very softest 

 whispers, every faintest sound being faithfully carried across the 

 hall. 



It is not my object now to describe the familiar wonders of the 

 great cavern, always the same, winter and summer, and that 



