ALEXANDER WILSON. lxxxvii 



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 county, 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 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 distinctly. 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 offsets, which we did not explore ; 

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

 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 effect, 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 mentioned, 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 



