ALEXANDER WILSON. 
lxiii 
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 con- 
stantly 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 particu- 
lars 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 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 black- 
ened by smoke, and bundles of half burnt canes scattered 
about. A bark mockasin, of curious construction, besides 
several other Indian articles, were found among the 
rubbish. The earth, also, lay piled in heaps, with great 
regularity, as if in preparation for extracting the saltpetre. 
“ Notwithstanding the miserable appearance of the tim- 
ber in these barrens, the soil, to my astonishment, produced 
