Page:The Galaxy, Volume 5.djvu/782

752 party uttered an involuntary shout of admiration. The ceiling is very high, and formed of large, smooth, undulating masses of rock, covered with a delicate, snow-white crust, which, by the faint light of their candles, resembled, with singular exactness, the fleecy masses of cumuli which float in the summer atmosphere. A little further on is "the Bishop's Pulpit," a lofty rostrum, commanding a wide and splendid amphitheatre. The ladies bantered Sylvester to mount it and make a speech. He clambered up, and, as he did so, one of the guides led his audience to a remote part of the chamber, saying: "This is the best place to hear." Sylvester commenced a declamation, and his first words fell upon their ears with a rush of sound which startled them. "Whisper," called the guide. He did so, and every syllable was distinctly heard. The place is a whispering gallery of rare perfection.

Passing onward, James called the attention of the party to a bed of the decomposed gypsum, covered with groups of slender, transparent filaments, growing in bunches like grass. They varied from the thickness of a knitting-needle to the fineness of a hair. Some of them were nine or ten inches long. "Those," said the professor, "are specular crystals of pure sulphate of magnesia, generally known as Epsom salts. The doctor might gather enough here to last him and his patients all their lives."

Some distance farther on, the cave, divides into two passages, which unite again about a hundred yards beyond; and the space included between the branches is called "Calypso's Island." Just beyond the island is "Cerulean Vault," a lofty vaulted corridor, its ceiling formed of smooth, bluish rocks, which, by the faint candle-light, strongly resemble the blue expanse of the sky. Proceeding onward for some distance, over a difficult pathway of jagged, sharp-pointed rocks, called "Rugged Pass," the travellers passed through a series of three lofty arched colonnades, nearly equal in size, and named the "Chapel," "Vestry," and "Parsonage." Just beyond them is "the Junction," where the cave again divides into two branches. Our travellers followed the larger of the two, and passed through, successively, "the Frost King's Chamber" and "the Ice Palace." At the Ice Palace a short branch diverges, in which is discovered a Liliputian pavilion of white crystals, in a small recess in which the passage abruptly terminates. It is called "Queen Mab's Retreat."

The ensuing mile was unanimously pronounced the finest part of the cave. The travellers passed in succession the "Snowy Cliffs," "Marble Hall," "Sylvan Arcade," "Beauty's Bower," and the "Fairy Palace," each excelling its predecessor in exquisite beauty. The whole interior, excepting the floors, is completely covered with the pearly crystals, arranged in exquisite forms of endless variety. Blanche expressed a wish to carry some of them home. Sylvester helped her gather some of the finest, and wrapped them carefully in a handkerchief. The other ladies, assisted by their cavaliers, did the same. The rest of the party looked on and smiled, but said nothing. On reaching home their treasures were carefully unpacked, but nothing was found of the beautiful crystals but a mass of yellowish, crumbling dust. These beautiful incrustations, not only here, but throughout the cave, have been sadly disfigured by unappreciative visitors, over whose vandalism the guides seem to have exercised no restraint Wherever an overhanging space comes within reach, huge initials, names and dates have been traced with the smoke of candles upon the pure white surface.

Returning to the Ice Palace, the travellers entered another passage, which, for three-quarters of a mile, presented no feature of especial interest. At length