Page:The Galaxy, Volume 5.djvu/780

750 professor conjectured that there must be at this point some hidden passage from the cave, of which the bats alone possessed the secret. A short distance farther is "the Counterfeiters' Trench," a locality so named from having been once used by a noted gang of counterfeiters for the concealment of their tools and apparatus. A few hundred feet farther on, the level floor of the passage suddenly terminates at the foot of a steep acclivity, formed of jagged rocks piled together in "confusion worse confounded." The ladies ascended it easily and lightly, carefully assisted by the young gentlemen; but not so the professor. Several times the huge steps nearly baffled his farther progress, but he at length arrived at the summit, panting, perspiring, and exhausted, but still jovial and beaming.

The ascent is appropriately called "Rugged Mountain." Just beyond are two fine dome-shaped caverns, called the "Coons' Council Chamber," and the "Rotunda." The ceilings of both are covered with long, slender stalactites, and the walls thickly stuccoed with fantastic incrustations. From this point the floor of the cavern is a smooth, sandy road for about a quarter of a mile, and is named "Sandy Plains." At the termination of the Plains is a rough and difficult ascent, similar to Rugged Mountain, called the "Hill Difficulty." At its summit is the most remarkable portion of the cave.

Passing through a short, narrow passage, the party stood in an immense rotunda, but a small part of which was made visible by the feeble light of their candles. It is nearly circular at the base, three hundred feet in diameter, and two hundred and forty-five feet in height In the middle is a huge pile of broken masses of rock, one hundred and forty-five feet high, by the falling of which from the ceiling the cavern has in part been formed. The guides placed a number of candles at its summit, and others at points around the circumference of the dome, by which its proportions were faintly revealed. The professor had brought some Roman candles from New Albany, which were now employed with striking effect. Posting themselves at different points around the circumference, the five gentlemen and the two guides simultaneously shot the flaming balls toward the centre of the ceiling. By the light thus afforded the ceiling appeared covered with concentric circles of stalactic incrustations, forming a splendid stucco of magnificent proportions. From every projecting point hangs a long stalactite, and beneath each one on the floor or on the heap of rocks below stands a corresponding stalagmite. One of these, which stands on the summit of the rocks, and bears a strong resemblance to a colossal veiled figure, is called "Lot's Wife." From a crevice in one of the walls issues a small spring strongly impregnated with sulphuretted hydrogen. The guides conducted the party to another spring which dropped from what appeared to be a marble spout into a rude marble basin upon the floor. In the basin lay a heavy marble cup, with sides half an inch in thickness. This, they were told, was a common tin cup, incrusted with the carbonate of lime contained in the water. The basin and the spout had been formed in the same way. Our travellers remained admiring the vast proportions of the cavern until their fireworks were exhausted. James, in the meanwhile, had been making a brief mental calculation. "You might put the Academy of Music in here," he said, "pile the City Hall on top of it, and have room for a block or two of brownstone houses around the sides."

At length they signified their readiness to proceed. One of the guides led them to a hole in the side of the cavern, about two feet in diameter, and opening obliquely downward, apparently into a bottomless pit "This is the Auger Hole," he said.