Page:EB1911 - Volume 17.djvu/550

 as the oulopholites resemble roses. Again, there are chambers with drifts of snowy crystals of the sulphate of magnesia, the ceilings so thickly covered with their efflorescence that a loud concussion will cause them to fall like flakes of snow.

Many small rooms and tortuous paths, where nothing of special interest can be found, are avoided as much as possible on the regular routes; but certain disagreeable experiences are inevitable. There is peril also in the vicinity of the deep pits. The one known as the Bottomless Pit was for many years a barrier to all further exploration, but it is now crossed by a wooden bridge. Long before the shaft had been cut as deep as now the water flowed away by a channel gradually contracting to a serpentine way, so extremely narrow as to be called the Fat Man’s Misery. The walls, only 18 in. apart, change direction eight times in 105 yds., while the distance from the sandy path to the ledge overhead is but 5 ft. The rocky sides are finely marked with waves and ripples, as if running water had suddenly been petrified. This winding way conducts one to River Hall, beyond which lie the crystalline gardens that have been described. It used to be said that, if this narrow passage were blocked up, escape would be impossible; but an intricate web of fissures, called the Corkscrew, has been discovered, by means of which a good climber, ascending only a few hundred feet, lands 1000 yds. from the mouth of the cave, and cuts off one or two miles.

The waters, entering through numerous domes and pits, and falling, during the rainy season, in cascades of great volume, are finally collected in River Hall, where they form several extensive lakes, or rivers, whose connexion with Green River is known to be in deep springs appearing under arches on its margin. Whenever there is a freshet in Green River the streams in the cave are joined in a continuous body of water, the rise sometimes being 60 ft. above the low-water mark. The subsidence within is less rapid than the rise; and the streams are impassable for about seven months in each year. They are navigable from May to October, and furnish interesting features of cave scenery. The first approach is called the Dead Sea, embraced by cliffs 60 ft. high and 100 ft. long, above which a path has been made, whence a stairway leads down to the banks of the river Styx, a body of water 40 ft. long, crossed by a natural bridge. Lake Lethe comes next—a broad basin enclosed by walls 90 ft. high, below which a narrow path leads to a pontoon at the neck of the lake. A beach of the finest yellow sand extends for 500 yds. to Echo River, the largest of all being from 20 to 200 ft. wide, 10 to 40 ft. deep and about three-quarters of a mile long. It is crossed by boats. The arched passage-way is very symmetrical, varying in height from 19 to 35 ft., and famous for its musical reverberations—not a distinct echo, but an harmonious prolongation of sound for from 10 to 30 seconds after the original tone is produced. The long vault has a certain keynote of its own, which, when firmly struck, excites harmonics, including tones of incredible depth and sweetness.

There are several other streams here besides those in River Hall. On one of them F. J. Stevenson of London is said to have floated for seven hours without finding its end. A glance at the accompanying map will show that there is a labyrinth of avenues and chasms seldom visited and never fully explored. New discoveries are frequently made. An exploring party in 1904 found a curious complex of upper and lower galleries accessible from the most eastern portion of the cave; beyond which another party, in 1905, discovered several large domes previously unknown. H. C. Hovey, in 1907, was led by expert guides into still wilder recesses, where a series of five domes were found, that opened into each other by tall gateways; each dome being 60 ft. in diameter and 175 ft. high. This magnificent group has since been named “Hovey’s Cathedral Domes.” No instrumental survey of the Mammoth Cave has ever been allowed by the management. The best map possible is therefore only the result of estimates and partial measurements. The depths of the most noted pits have easily been ascertained by line and plummet and the height of several large domes has been found by the use of small balloons. While making a survey exclusively for the cave-owners in 1908, Max Kaemper of Berlin, Germany, forced an opening from the main cave into a remarkable region to which the general name of “Violet City” was given, in honour of Mrs Violet Blair Janin, who owned a third of the Mammoth Cave estate. Special features are Kaemper Hall, Blair Castle, the Marble Temple and Walhalla. There are eleven enormous pits, many large fine stalactites and stalagmites and surprisingly beautiful mural decorations. Dr Hovey made and published (1909) a new handbook embodying all known discoveries of importance, with four sketch-maps of the routes of usual exhibition.

The fauna of Mammoth Cave has been classified by F. W. Putnam, A. S. Packard and E. D. Cope, who have catalogued twenty-eight species truly subterraneous, besides those that may be regarded as stragglers from the surface. They are distributed thus: Vertebrata, 8 species; Insecta, 17; Arachnida, 12; Myriapoda, 2; Crustacea, 5; Vermes, 3; Mollusca, 1. Ehrenberg adds a list of 8 Polygastric Infusoria, 1 fossil infusorian, 5 Phytolitharia and several microscopic fungi. A bed of Agaricus was found by the writer near the river Styx; and upon this hint an attempt has been made to propagate edible fungi in this locality. All the known forms of plant-life are either fungi or allied to them, and many are only microscopic. The most interesting inhabitants of Mammoth Cave are the blind, wingless grasshoppers, with extremely long antennae; blind, colourless crayfish (Cambarus pellucidus, Telk.); and the blind fish, Amblyopsis spelaeus, colourless and viviparous, from 1 in. to 6 in. long. The Cambarus and Amblyopsis have wide distribution, being found in many other caves, and also in deep wells, in Kentucky and Indiana. Fish not blind are occasionally caught, which are apparently identical with species existing in streams outside. The true subterranean fauna may be regarded as chiefly of Pleistocene origin; yet certain forms are possibly remnants of Tertiary life.

—Plan and Description of the Great and Wonderful Cave in Kentucky, by Dr Nahum Ward (1816); Notes on the Mammoth Cave, with a Map, by Edmund F. Lee, C. E. (1835); Rambles in the Mammoth Cave in 1844, by Alexander Bullitt, with map by Stephen Bishop; guide-books by Wright (1858), Binkerd (1869), Forwood (1875), Proctor (1878), Hovey (1882), &c., and Hovey and Call (1897); Hovey’s Celebrated American Caverns (1882, &c.); and The Mammoth Cave and its Inhabitants, by Packard and F. W. Putnam (1879).

 MAMORÉ, a large river of Bolivia which unites with the Beni in 10° 20′ S. to form the Madeira, one of the largest tributaries of the Amazon. It rises on the northern slope of the Sierra de Cochabamba east of the city of Cochabamba, and is known as the Chimoré down to its junction with the Chapare, or Chapari. Its larger tributaries are the Chapare, Sécure, Apere and Yacuma from the west, and the Ichila, Guapay or Grande, Ivari and Guaporé from the east. Taking into account its length only, the Guapay should be considered the upper part of the Mamoré; but it is shallow and obstructed, and carries a much smaller volume of water. The Guaporé, or Itenez, also rivals the Mamoré in length and volume, having its source in the Serra dos Parecis, Matto Grosso, Brazil, a few miles from streams flowing northward to the Tapajos and Amazon, and southward to the Paraguay and Paraná. The Mamoré is interrupted by rapids a few miles above its junction with the Beni, but a railway 180 m. long has been undertaken from below the rapids of the Madeira. Above the rapids the river is navigable to Chimoré, at the foot of the sierra, and most of its tributaries are navigable for long distances. Franz Keller (in The Amazon and Madeira Rivers; New York, 1874) gives the outflow of the Mamoré at mean water level, and not including the Guaporé, as 2530 cub. in. per second, and the area of its drainage basin, also not including the Guaporé, as 9382 sq. m.

See Edward D. Mathews, Up the Amazon and Madeira Rivers (London, 1879).

 MAMUN (c. 786–833), originally, surnamed (“in whom men trust”), the seventh of the Abbasid caliphs of Bagdad, was born about 786, and was the second son of Harun al-Rashīd. By Harun’s will he was 