RECENT ARCHAEOLOGICAL DISCOVERIES IN OHIO. 651 



Besides the body of the giant, the tomb contained a spear-head, a hatchet, 

 two lances, three mattocks or hoes, a spade, a cup, two plates and a small urn, 

 all of copper. I appropriated one of the lances and the cup as souvenirs. These 

 wonderful people understood the secret of hardening copper, for an ordinary file 

 will barely scratch the lance, and the edge of a cold- chisel turns up like lead when 

 struck against it. The cup is of softer metal, and beautifully engraved with trail- 

 ing vines and wreaths. A square package at the head of the tomb, wrapped in 

 the varnished cloth, was opened and found to contain a book of one hundred 

 leaves of thin copper, fastened loosely at the top, and crowded with finely engrav- 

 ed characters, similar to those already described. 



Lack of time and the total inefficiency of our tools prevented us from making 

 further investigations, but when we ascended the well, we could plainly discern 

 works of the sharp cutting tools used in excavating the cave. In the first two 

 chambers, and in the last five, we had noticed many curious blocks of stone shap- 

 ed like tables or benches, and presumed them to be of natural origin Later 

 examination revealed the marks of chisel and pick, and these agents were un- 

 doubtedly used to fashion the entire cavern. The irregularity of the limestone 

 chamber is due to natural causes. In all probability the room was dry when the 

 wonderful people who designed and built it were alive. The stalactites and stalag- 

 mites have formed since. I measured one of the largest of the former. It was 

 five feet, six and one-half inches from base to apex. Allowing that it lengthened 

 at the rate of one inch every fifty years, which a geological friend tells me is a very 

 rapid growth, it would have been 3,325 years reaching its present, length. Con- 

 jecture alone can fix the date of the last occupancy of the cave. It must have 

 been years before the stalactites began to form. I examined the mouth of the cave 

 and discovered traces of a stairway which once led to the surface of the ground. 

 Indeed, I found broken fragments of rock which, five or six thousand years ago, 

 were undoubtedly parts of abroad staircase. There were also traces of a stairway 

 which once wound around the sides of the well, affording easy entrance to the 

 lower cavern. The upper cave must have been the cellar of a residence built 

 above ground, and used for domestic purposes or a place of retreat in time of 

 danger. 



Mr. Grooms intends to open up all the tombs and the great mausoleum, ar- 

 range convenient means of entrance to the cave, and throw it open to the general 

 public, charging a small price of admission to reimburse him. Several parties have 

 visited it since the discovery of the lower cavern, and all are impressed with the 

 wonderful character of the discoveries. Mr. Grooms is anxious to have a scientist 

 examine the cave, and at his request a description of the discoveries, together with 

 the engraved book, have been forwarded to the Smithsonian Institute. — Cincinnati 

 Commercial. 



