lxxxviii 
LIFE OF 
that, from some unknown cause, the ground had been undermined, 
and had fallen in, in innumerable places, forming regular funnel- 
shaped concavities, of all dimensions, from twenty feet in diameter, 
and six feet in depth, to five hundred by fifty, the surface or 
verdure generally unbroken. In some tracts, the surface was 
entirely destitute of trees, and the eye was presented with nothing 
but one general neighbourhood of these concavities, or, as they 
are usually called, sink-holes. At the centre, or bottom, of some 
of these, openings had been made for water. In several places 
these holes had broken in, on the sides, and even middle of the 
road, to an unknown depth ; presenting their grim mouths as if to 
swallow up the unwary traveller. At the bottom of one of those 
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 Peewee 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 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 
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