LIFE OF WILSON. Ixxxvii 



traveller. At the bottom of one of thosp declivities, at least fifty feet below the 

 general level, a large rivulet of pure water issued at once from the mouth of a 

 cave about twelve feet wide and seven high. A number of very singular 

 sweet smelling lichens grew over the entrance, and a pewee had fixed her nest, 

 like a little sentry-box, on a projecting shelf of the rock above the water. 

 The height and dimensions of the cave continued the same as far as I waded 

 in, which might be thirty or forty yards, but the darkness became so great that 

 I was forced to return. I observed numbers of small fish sporting about, and 

 I doubt not but these abound even in its utmost subterranean recesses. The 

 whole of this country from Green to Red river, is hollowed out into these 

 enormous caves, one of which, lately discovered in Warren couiit_), about 

 eight miles from the Dripping Spring, has been explored for upwards of six 

 miles, extending under the bed of the Green river. The entrance to these 

 caves generally commences at the bottom of a sink-hole; and many of them 

 are used by the inhabitants as cellars or spring-houses, having generally a 

 spring or brook of clear water running through them. I descended into one 

 of these belonging to a Mr. Wood, accompanied by the proprietor, who carried 

 the light. At first the darkness was so intense that I could scarcely see a few 

 feet beyond the circumference of the candle; but, after being in for five or 

 six minutes, the objects around me began to make their appearance more dis- 

 tinctly, the bottom, for fifteen or twenty yards at first, was so irregular, that 

 we had constantly to climb over large masses of wet and slippery rocks ; the 

 roof rose in many places to the height of twenty or thirty feet, presenting all 

 the most irregular projections of surface, and hanging in gloomy and silent 

 horror. We passed numerous chambers, or ofi-sets, which we did not explore ; 

 and after three hours' wandering in these profound regions of glooms and 

 silence, the particulars of which would detain me too long, I emerged with a 

 handkerchief filled with bats, including one which I have never seen described; 

 and a number of extraordinary insects of the Gryllus tribe, with antennae 

 upwards of six inches long, and which I am persuaded had never before seen 

 the light of day, as they fled from it with seeming terror, and I believe were- 

 as blind in it as their companions the bats. 



" Great quantities of native glauber salts are found in these caves, and are 

 used by the country people in the same manner, and with equal efi'ect, as those 

 of the shops. But the principal production is saltpetre, which is procured 

 from the earth in great abundance. The cave in Warren county above men- 

 tioned, has lately been sold for three thousand dollars, to a saltpetre company, 

 an individual of which informed me that, from every appearance, this cave had 

 been known to the Indians many ages ago ; and had evidently been used for the 

 same purposes. At the distance of more than a mile from the entrance, the 

 exploring party, on their first visit, found the roof blackened by smoke, and 

 bundles of half-burnt canes scattered about. A bark moccasin, of curious 

 construction^ besides several other Indian articles, were found among the rub- 

 bish. The earth, also, lay piled in heaps, with great regularity, as if in pre- 

 paration for extracting the saltpetre. 



" Notwithstanding the miserable appearance of the timber on these barrens, 

 the soil, to my astonishment, produced the most luxuriant fields of corn and 



