place abounding in caves, grottos and 

 subterranean passages. I determined to 

 visit the celebrated Grotto of Magdalena, 

 at Adelsberg, although I felt quite cer- 

 tain it would not surpass, or even equal, 

 the magnificent caverns of America. For 

 along the course of the Mississippi River 

 and its tributaries, it has been estimated 

 that there are at least one hundred thou- 

 sand miles of cavern, and these caves are 

 fashioned on the large principle of the 

 'Father of Waters/ 



"In the Grotto of Adelsberg I found 

 one fine room, some eight hundred feet 

 in length, whose walls were of rich, dark 

 stone. From the canopy above hung the 

 most graceful stalactites, covered with 

 calcareous gems. The 'Gnome' of this 

 Grotto must have had a taste for theat- 

 rical representations, at least he had pre- 

 pared a magnificent stage curtain of semi- 

 transparent stone. There was a small 

 lake in the cave containing lizard-like ani- 

 mals which the scientists call Protei. 

 They can live in either water or air, and 

 have no eyes." 



"Dear me," said Howard, how I wish 

 I had one for a specimen to put in my 

 aquarium. Wouldn't it be a curiosity 

 though? I wonder if its eyes would 

 grow if it lived a long while in the light." 



"Do' people who' live underground lose 

 the use of their eyes?" asked Edith. 



"No, for they have artificial light. 

 Your question reminds me of the salt 

 mines, which I visited at Wieliczka. To 

 me they were quite as interesting as the 

 caves of which we have been speaking. 

 These mines are very old. It is thought 

 that they were worked as early as the 

 ninth century. It is certain that they 

 have been in use since the twelfth cen- 

 turv. There is such an enormous mass of 



rock salt that the town has been entirely 

 undermined by the excavations. 



"A city has been made underground in 

 which it is said people have been born, 

 lived and died, without ever ascending to 

 the surface. The mines are in four 

 stories, and are nearly two> thousand feet 

 deep. In the second story there is a 

 beautiful lake on which I enjoyed a ride. 

 Upon descending to the third story, I 

 was surprised to find that the lake which 

 I had rowed across was now directly over 

 my head. In various places there were 

 obelisks, statues and other works of art 

 and the miners had also 'scooped' a 

 Gothic chapel out of the rock salt." 



"I'd like to live down there," exclaimed 

 John; "I could have such fun making 

 'snow men' out of 'salt' and they wouldn't 

 melt, either, just as I had them nicely 

 finished." 



"I think you'd find salt a little harder 

 material to work with than snow, and 

 would throw up the task pretty soon," 

 observed Howard, skeptically. 



"Have we any such artificial caves of 

 salt in America?" Alice inquired. 



"It is said that there are only two> per- 

 fectly pure salt mines in the world and 

 one of these is on an island in the state of 

 Louisiana. It has not yet been deter- 

 mined how deep the deposit is, but sev- 

 eral acres have been formed into vast 

 chambers, which resemble beautiful 

 cathedrals with floors and walls of solid 

 salt sparkling with crystals. The roof is 

 supported by salt pillars sixty feet 

 square." 



At this point Aunt Jane said "I'm sorry 

 to interrupt, but it is the children's bed- 

 time, and they must say good-night. I 

 know they will have magnificent dreams 

 of 'caverns measureless to man.' ' 



Belle Paxson Drury. 



116 



