4^8 UNITEI> STAtES* 



this is on the top of an extensive ridge. You descend 

 thirty or forty feet, as into a well, from whence the 

 cave then extends, nearly horizontally, 400 feet into 

 the earth, preserving a breadth of from 20 to 50- 

 feet, and a height of from 5 to 12 feet. After en- 

 tering this cave a few feet, the mercury, which in 

 the open air was at 50 deg. rose to 57 deg. of Fahren- 

 heit's thermometer. 



At the Panther Gap, in the ridge which divides 

 the waters of the Cow and Calf Pasture, is what is ' 

 called the Blowing cave. It is on the side of a hill, 

 and emits constantly a current of air of such force, 

 as to keep the weeds prostrate to the distance of 20 

 yards before it. This current is strongest in dry 

 frosty weather, and in long spells of rain weakest. 

 Regular inspirations and expirations of air by ca- 

 verns and fissures, have been probably enough ac« 

 counted for, by supposing them combined with in- 

 termitting fountains, as they must of course inhale 

 the air while the reservoirs are emptying themselves, 

 and again emit it while they are filling. But a con- 

 stant issue of air, only varying in its force as the 

 weather is drier or damper, will require a new hy- 

 pothesis. There is another blowing cave in the Cum- 

 berland mountain, about a mile from where it crosses 

 the Carolina line. All we know of this is, that it is 

 not constant, and that a fountain of water issues from 

 it. 



In the county of Monroe, near the Kanhawa, thei e 

 is a remarkable cave, extending entirely through the 

 base of a high mountain, the distance of upwards of 

 two miles. Persons have passed from one side of 

 this mountain to the other through this, subterraneous. 



