THE most celebrated cave in the United States, is that in Rockingham
county, Virginia, known by the name of _Madison’s Cave_. It is in the
heart of a mountain, about two hundred feet high, which is so steep
on one side, that a person standing on the top, might easily throw a
pebble into the river which flows round the base; the opposite side of
it is, however, very easy of ascent, and on this side the path leading
to the cavern runs, excepting for the last twenty yards, when it
suddenly turns along the steep part of the mountain, which is extremely
rugged, and covered with immense rocks and trees from top to bottom.
The mouth of the cavern, on this steep side, about two thirds of the
way up, is guarded by a huge pendant stone, which seems ready to fall
every instant; it is impossible to stoop under it and not reflect with
a degree of awe, that, were it to drop, nothing could save you from
perishing within the dreary walls of that mansion to which it affords
an entrance. The description which follows, is from the Travels of
Mr. Weld.
‘Preparatory to entering, the guide, whom I had procured from a
neighboring house, lighted the ends of three or four splinters of pitch
pine, a large bundle of which he had brought with him: they burn out
very fast, but while they last are most excellent torches. The fire he
brought along with him, by the means of a bit of green hickory wood,
which, when once lighted, will burn slowly without any blaze, till the
whole is consumed.
‘The first apartment you enter is about twenty-five feet high, and
fifteen broad, and extends a considerable way to the right and left,
the floor ascending toward the former; here it is very moist, from the
quantity of water continually trickling from the roof. Fahrenheit’s
thermometer, which stood at sixty-seven degrees in the air, fell to
sixty-one degrees in this room. A few yards to the left, on the side
opposite to you on entering, a passage presents itself, which leads
to a sort of anti-chamber, from whence you proceed to the sound room,
so named from the prodigious reverberation of the sound of a voice
or musical instrument on the inside. This room is about twenty feet
square; it is arched at the top, and the sides of it as well as of
the apartment which you first enter, are beautifully ornamented with
stalactites. Returning from hence into the anti-chamber, and afterwards
taking two or three turns to the right and left, you enter a long
passage about thirteen feet wide, and, perhaps, about fifteen feet
in height, perpendicularly; but if it was measured from the floor to
the highest part of the roof obliquely, the distance would be found
much greater, as the walls on both sides slope very considerably, and
finally meet at the top.
‘This passage descends very rapidly, and is, I should suppose,
about sixty yards long. Towards the end it narrows considerably, and
terminates in a pool of clear water, about three or four feet deep.
How far this pool extends, it is impossible to say. A canoe was once
brought down by a party for the purpose of examination, but they said,
that after proceeding a little way the canoe would not float, and they
were forced to return. Their fears most probably led them to fancy so.
I fired a pistol with a ball over the water, but the report was echoed
from the after part of the cavern, and not from the part beyond the
water, so that I should not suppose the passage extended much farther
than could be traced with the eye. The walls of this passage consist
of a solid rock of limestone on each side, which appears to have been
separated by some convulsion. The floor is of a deep sandy earth, and
it has repeatedly been dug up for the purpose of getting salt-petre,
with which the earth is strongly impregnated. The earth, after being
dug up, is mixed with water, and when the grosser particles fall to
the bottom, the water is drawn off and evaporated; from the residue
the salt-petre is procured. There are many other caverns in this
neighborhood; and also farther to the westward in Virginia; from all
of them great quantities of salt-petre are thus obtained. The gunpowder
made with it, in the back country forms a principal article of commerce,
and is sent to Philadelphia in exchange for European manufactures.
‘About two thirds of the way down this long passage just described, is
a large aperture in the wall on the right, leading to another apartment,
the bottom of which is about ten feet below the floor of the passage,
and it is no easy matter to get down into it, as the sides are very
steep and extremely slippery. This is the largest and most beautiful
room in the whole cavern; it is somewhat of an oval form, about sixty
feet in length, thirty in breadth, and in some parts nearly fifty feet
high. The petrifactions formed by the water dropping from above are
most beautiful, and hang down from the ceiling in the form of elegant
drapery, the folds of which are similar to what those of large blankets
or carpets would be, if suspended by one corner in a lofty room. If
struck with a stick, a deep hollow sound is produced, which echoes
through the vaults of the cavern.
‘In other parts of this room the petrifactions have commenced at the
bottom, and formed in pillars of different heights; some of them reach
nearly to the roof. If you go to a remote part of this apartment, and
leave a person with a lighted torch moving about amidst these pillars,
a thousand imaginary forms present themselves, and you might almost
fancy yourself in the infernal regions, with spectres and monsters on
every side. The floor of this room slopes down gradually from one end
to the other, and terminates in a pool of water, which appears to be on
a level with that at the end of the long passage; from their situation,
it is most probable that they communicate together. The thermometer
which I had with me stood in the remotest part of this chamber, at
fifty-five degrees. From hence we returned to the mouth of the cavern,
and on coming to the light it appeared as if we had really been in the
infernal regions, for our faces, hands, and clothes were covered with
soot from the smoke of the pine torches which are so often carried in.
The smoke from the pitch-pine is particularly thick and heavy. Before
this cave was much visited, and the walls blackened with smoke, its
beauty, I was told by some of the old inhabitants, was great indeed;
for the petrifactions on the roof and walls are all of a dead white
kind.’
_Wyer’s Cave_ is situated in the same county with the preceding, and
is equally remarkable. Its entrance is narrow and difficult, and when
first discovered was impeded by perpendicular columns of stalactites,
which have since been removed. After advancing at first in a horizontal
course, we descend into an echoing cavern, by a ladder fifteen or
twenty feet in length. Over our heads hang silvery white stalactites,
while we are surrounded by pillars of stalagmites, and rugged walls
incrusted with a beautiful brown spar. The floor is composed of ledges
of rocks, and presents rather an uneven pathway.
Advancing through a narrow passage in the rocks, we enter still other
apartments, resembling the first in the beauty of their formations,
but of different shape and extent. The sparry incrustations assume a
thousand fantastic figures, sparkling with light, and more like the
wonders of fairy land, than the original productions of nature. This
cave is a mile and a half in extent, varying in perpendicular height
from three to forty feet, and in breadth from two to thirty. Its
dividing branches are numerous. Blue limestone is the base of the
whole cave; every where covered with incrustations of carbonates.
In some places the uneven sides of the rocks are quite covered with
white crystals of the carbonate of lime, and appear like banks of salt.
Sometimes the pavement sparkles as a floor of diamonds; and again the
pathway is pebbled, and resembles the deserted bed of a river. It is
impossible to convey any idea of the number and variety of shapes which
the stalactites assume; resembling every thing in nature, and in the
worlds of imagination, they are still unlike every thing but themselves.
The _Nicojack Cave_ is situated in the Cherokee country, at Nicojack,
the north-western angle in the map of Georgia. We believe it was first
fully described by the Rev. E. Cornelius. It is twenty miles south-west
of the Look-Out Mountain, and half a mile from the south bank of the
Tennessee river. The Raccoon Mountain, in which it is situated, here
fronts to the north-east. Immense layers of horizontal limestone form a
precipice of considerable height. In this precipice the cave commences;
not however with an opening of a few feet, as is common; but with a
mouth fifty feet high, and one hundred and sixty wide. Its roof is
formed by a solid and regular layer of limestone, having no support
but the sides of the cave, and as level as the floor of a house. The
entrance is partly obstructed by piles of fallen rocks, which appear
to have been dislodged by some great convulsion. From its entrance,
the cave consists chiefly of one grand excavation through the rocks,
preserving for a great distance the same dimensions as at its mouth.
What is more remarkable than all, it forms for the whole distance
it has yet been explored, a walled and vaulted passage for a stream
of cool and limpid water, which, where it leaves the cave, is six
feet deep and sixty feet wide. A few years since, Col. James Ore, of
Tennessee, commencing early in the morning, followed the course of this
creek in a canoe, for three miles. He then came to a fall of water, and
was obliged to return, without making any further discovery. Whether
he penetrated three miles of the cave or not, it is a fact he did not
return till the evening, having been busily engaged in his subterranean
voyage for twelve hours. He stated that the course of the cave, after
proceeding some way to the south-west, became south; and south-east by
south, the remaining distance.
There is a remarkable cave or grotto, situated on a bluff of limestone,
on the south bank of the Holston river, in East Tennessee, which has
been well described by Mr. Kain, in an article in Silliman’s Journal.
The bluff is perhaps one hundred feet high, and fifty wide. The grotto
is a large natural excavation of the rock, sixty feet high and thirty
feet wide. It is very irregular, and to the very top bears marks of the
attrition of waves. The river to have been so high, must have covered
the valley through which it now winds its quiet way. The excavation
gradually diminishes in size as you proceed backward, till one hundred
feet from the entrance it terminates. A remarkable projection of the
rock divides the back part into two stories.
This grotto, whose walls are hung with ivy, and the bluff crowned with
cedars, and surrounded by an aged forest, on which the vine clambers
most luxuriantly, viewed from the river which winds slowly around it,
and reflects its image, is more than beautiful: it is even venerable.
But what renders it most interesting to many visitors, is a number of
rude paintings, which were, as tradition reports, left on it by the
Cherokee Indians. These Indians are known to have made this cave a
resting place as they passed up and down the river Holston. These
paintings are still distinct, though they have faded somewhat within
my remembrance. They consist of representations of the sun and moon, of
a man, of birds, fishes, &c. They are all of red paint, and resemble,
in this respect, the paintings on Paint Rock, near the warm springs.
_Mammoth Cave_ is situated near the Green river in Kentucky, the
entrance to which is by a pit forty feet deep, and one hundred and
twenty in circumference. At the bottom of this pit is the mouth of
the cave, which is open to the north, and is from forty to fifty feet
in height, and thirty in width, for upwards of forty rods, when it
becomes not more than ten feet wide and five feet high. ‘However,’
says Dr. Wood, ‘this continues but a short distance, when it expands to
thirty or forty feet in width, and is about twenty feet in height, for
about one mile, until you come to the first _hopper_, where salt-petre
is manufactured. Thence it is about forty feet in width, and eighty in
height, till you arrive at the second hopper two miles from the mouth.
The loose limestone has been laid up into handsome walls on either side,
almost the whole distance from the entrance to the second hopper. The
road is hard, and as smooth as a flag pavement. The walls of the cavern
are perpendicular in every passage that I traversed; the arches are
regular in every part, and have bid defiance even to earthquakes. As
you advance into the cave, the avenue leads from the second hopper west
one mile, then south-west to the chief city, which is six miles distant
from the entrance. This avenue is from sixty to one hundred feet high,
and about the same broad, the whole distance from the second hopper,
until you come to the cross-roads or chief city; and is nearly upon
a level, the floor or bottom being covered with loose limestone and
salt-petre earth. When I reached the immense area, (chief city,)
containing upward of eight acres, without a single pillar to support
the arch, which is entire over the whole, I was struck dumb with
astonishment, and can give but a very faint idea of its splendor.
Nothing under heaven can be more sublime and grand than this place,
covered with one solid arch, at least one hundred feet in height, and
to all appearance entire. After entering the chief city, I perceived
five avenues leading out of it from sixty to one hundred feet in width,
and from forty to eighty in height. The walls (all of stone) are arched,
being from forty to eighty feet of perpendicular height, before the
arch commences.
‘The next avenue which I traversed, after cutting arrows on the
stones under our feet, pointing to the mouth of the cave, was one that
led us in a southerly direction for more than two miles. We then left
it, and took another that led us east, then north, more than two miles
farther; and at last, in our windings, were brought out by another
avenue into the chief city again, after having traversed more than
five miles through different avenues. We rested ourselves for a few
minutes on some limestone strata near the centre of this gloomy area,
and having refreshed ourselves, and trimmed our lamps, again took our
departure through an avenue almost due north, and parallel with the
avenue leading from the chief city to the mouth of the cave, which
we continued for more than two miles, when we entered the second city.
This is covered with one arch nearly two hundred feet high in the
centre, and very similar to the chief city, except in the number of
avenues leading from it, this having but two. We passed through it over
a very considerable rise in the centre, and descended through an avenue
bearing to the east about three hundred rods, when we came upon a third
area, about one hundred feet square and fifty in height, which had a
pure and delightful stream of water, issuing from the side of the wall,
about thirty feet high, and which fell upon some broken stones, and
was afterwards entirely lost to our view. After passing this beautiful
sheet of water a few yards, we came to the end of this passage.
‘We then returned about one hundred yards, and entered an avenue
(over a considerable mass of stone) to our right, which led us south,
through an uncommonly black avenue, something more than a mile, when
we ascended a very steep eminence, about sixty yards, which carried us
within the walls of a fourth city, which is not inferior to the second
city, having an arch that covers at least six acres. In this last
avenue, the farther end of which must be at least four miles from the
chief city, and ten from the mouth of the cave, are twenty large piles
of saltpetre earth on one side of the avenue, and broken limestone
heaped up on the other, evidently the work of human hands. I had
expected, from the course of my needle, that this avenue would have
carried us round to the chief city; but was sadly disappointed, when I
found the end a few hundred yards from the fourth city, which caused us
to retrace our steps; and not having been so particular in marking the
different entrances as I ought, we were very much bewildered, and once
completely lost for fifteen or twenty minutes.
‘At length we found our way, and, weary and faint, entered the chief
city at ten at night; however, much fatigued as I was, I determined to
explore the cavern as long as my lights held out. We now entered the
fifth and last avenue from the chief city, which carried us south-east
about nine hundred yards, when we entered the fifth city, whose arch
covers upwards of four acres of level ground, strewed with broken
limestone. Fire beds of uncommon size, with brands of cane lying around
them, are interspersed throughout this city. We crossed over to the
opposite side, and entered an avenue that carried us east about two
hundred and fifty rods; when, finding nothing remarkable in this
passage, we turned back, and crossed a massy pile of limestone in the
mouth of a large avenue, which I noticed but a few yards from this
last-mentioned city as I came out of it. After some difficulty in
passing over this mass of limestone, we entered a large avenue, whose
walls were the most perfect of any that we had seen, running almost due
south for five hundred rods, and very level and straight. When at the
end of this avenue, and while I was sketching a plan of the cave, one
of my guides, who had been some time groping among the broken stones,
called out, requesting me to follow him. I gathered up my papers and
compass, and also giving the guide who sat with me orders to remain
where he was, until we returned, and moreover to keep his lamp in
good order, I followed after the first, who had entered a vertical
passage just large enough to admit his body. We continued to step
from one stone to another, until at last, after much difficulty, from
the smallness of the passage, which is about forty feet in height,
we entered upon the side of a chamber eighteen hundred feet in
circumference, and whose arch is one hundred and fifty feet high in
the centre. After having marked arrows, pointing downwards, upon the
slate-stones around the little passage through which we had winded, we
walked nearly to the centre of this area. It was past midnight when I
entered this chamber of eternal darkness, where “all things are hushed,
and nature’s self lies dead.” I must acknowledge I felt a shivering
horror at my situation, when, I looked back upon the different avenues
through which I had passed, since I entered the cave at eight in
the morning; and “at time of night, when church-yards groan,” to be
buried several miles in the dark recesses of this awful cavern, the
grave, perhaps, of thousands of human beings――gave me no very pleasant
emotions. With the guide who was now with me, I took the only avenue
leading from this chamber, and traversed it for the distance of a mile
in a northerly direction, when my lamps forbade me going any farther,
as they were nearly exhausted. The avenue, or passage, was as large as
any that we had entered; and how far we might have entered, had our
lights held out, is unknown.
‘It is supposed that Green river, a stream navigable several hundred
miles, passes over three branches of this cave. It was nearly one
o’clock in the morning, when we descended the passage of the chimney,
as it is called, to the guide who sat on the rocks. He was quite
alarmed at our long absence, and was heard by us a long time before we
reached the passage to descend to him, hallooing with all his might,
fearing we had lost our track in the ruins above. Very near the
vertical passage, and not far from where I had left my guide sitting,
I found some very beautiful specimens of soda, which I brought out with
me. We returned over piles of saltpetre earth and fire beds, out of one
avenue into another, until at last, with great fatigue and a dim light,
we entered the walls of the chief city; where, for the last time, we
trimmed our lamps, and entered the spacious avenue that lends to the
second hopper. I found, when in the last-mentioned large avenue, or
upper chamber, many curiosities; such as Glauber salts, Epsom salts,
flint, yellow ochre, spar of different kinds, and some petrifactions,
which I brought out together with the mummy, which was found at the
second hopper. We happily arrived at the mouth of the cave at five
in the morning, nearly exhausted and worn down with nineteen hours’
continued fatigue. I have described to you hardly one half of the cave,
as the avenues between the mouth of the cave and the second hopper
have not been named. There is a passage in the main avenue, about sixty
rods from the entrance, like that of a trap-door. By sliding aside a
large flat stone, you can descend sixteen or eighteen feet into a very
narrow defile, where the passage comes upon a level, and winds about
in such a manner us to pass under the main passage, without having
any communication with it; and at last opens into the large passages,
just beyond the second hopper. It is called the Glauber salt room, from
salts of that kind being found there. There is also the sick room, the
bat room, and the flint room, all of which are large, and some of them
quite long. The last that I shall mention is a very winding avenue,
which branches off at the second hopper, running west, and south-west,
for more than two miles. This is called the haunted chamber, from
the echo of the sound made in it. The arch of this avenue is very
beautifully incrusted with limestone spar; and in many places the
columns of spar are truly elegant, extending from the ceiling to the
floor. I discovered in this avenue a very high dome, in or near the
centre of the arch, apparently fifty feet high, hung in rich drapery,
festooned in the most fanciful manner for six or eight feet above the
hangings, and in colors the most rich and brilliant. The columns of
spar, and the stalactites in this chamber, are extremely romantic in
their appearance, with the reflection of one or two lights. There is a
cellar formed of this spar, called Wilkins’s armed chair, which is very
large, standing in the middle of the avenue, and is encircled with many
smaller ones. Columns of spar, fluted and studded with knobs of spar
and stalactites, drapery of various colors, superbly festooned and hung
in the most graceful manner, are shewn with the greatest brilliancy
from the reflection of lamps.
‘A part of the haunted chamber lies directly over the bat room,
which passes under it, without having any connection with it. I was
led into a very narrow defile on the left side of this chamber, and
about a hundred yards from Wilkins’s armed chair, over the side of
a smooth limestone rock, ten or twelve feet, which we passed with
much precaution, for had we slipped from our hold, we had gone to that
“bourne whence no traveller returns,” if I may judge from a cataract of
water, whose dismal sound we heard at a very considerable distance in
this pit, and nearly under us. However, we crossed in safety, clinging
fast to the wall, and winding under the haunted chamber, and through
a very narrow passage for thirty or forty yards, when our course was
west, and the passage twenty or thirty feet in width, and from ten
to eighteen feet high, for more than a mile. The air was pure and
delightful in this, as well as in other parts of the cave. At the
farther end of this avenue, we came upon a reservoir of water, very
clear and delightful to the taste, apparently having neither inlet
nor outlet. Within a few yards of this reservoir of water, on the
right hand of the cave, there is an avenue leading to the north-west.
We had entered it but forty feet, when we came to several columns of
the most brilliant spar, sixty or seventy feet in height, and almost
perpendicular, which stand in basins of water, that comes trickling
down their sides, then passes off silently from the basin, and enters
the cavities of stone, without being seen again. These columns of spar,
and the basins they rest in, for splendor and beauty, surpass every
similar work of art I ever saw. We passed by these columns, and entered
a small but beautiful chamber, whose walls were about twenty feet apart,
and the arch not more than seven feet high, white as white-wash could
have made it; the floor was level as far as I could see, which was not
a great distance, as I found many pit-holes in my path, that appeared
to have been lately sunk, and which induced me to return. We returned
by the beautiful pool of water, which is called the pool of Clitorius,
after the _Fons Clitorius_ of the classics, which was so pure and
delightful to the taste, that, after drinking of it, a person had no
longer a taste for wine. On our way back to the narrow defile, I found
some difficulty in keeping my lights, for the bats were so numerous
and continually in our faces, that it was next to impossible to get
along in safety. I brought this trouble on myself, by my own want
of foresight, for as we were moving on, I noticed a large number of
these bats hanging by their hind legs to the arch, which was not a foot
higher than my head. I took my cane and gave a sweep the whole length
of it, when down they fell; but soon, like so many imps, they tormented
us until we reached the narrow defile, when they left us. We returned
by Wilkins’s armed chair, and back to the second hopper, where I found
the mummy before-mentioned, and which had been placed there by Mr.
Wilkins, for preservation in another cave.’
_Indiana Cave._――In the southern part of Indiana there is a remarkable
cave, which abounds in Epsom Salts, and which is thus described by
Mr. Adams.――‘The hill in which it is situated, is about four hundred
feet high, from the base to the most elevated point, and the prospect
to the south-east, in a clear day, is exceedingly fine, commanding an
extensive view of the hills and valleys bordering on Big Blue river.
The top of the hill is covered principally with oak and chesnut.
The side to the south-east is mantled with cedar. The entrance is
about midway from the base to the summit, and the surface of the cave
preserves in general about that elevation; although I must acknowledge
this to be conjectural, as no experiments have been made with a view
to ascertain the fact. It is probably owing to this middle situation
of the cave, that it is much drier than is common.
‘After entering the cave by an aperture twelve or fifteen feet wide,
and in height, in one place, three or four feet, you descend with easy
and gradual steps into a large and spacious room, which continues about
a quarter of a mile pretty near the same in appearance, varying in
height from eight to thirty feet, and in breadth from ten to twenty. In
this distance the roof is in some places arched, in others a plane, and
in one place, particularly, it resembles an inside view of the roof of
a house. At the distance above-named the cave forks, but the right hand
fork soon terminates, while the left rises by a flight of rocky stairs
nearly ten feet high, into another story, and pursues a course at this
place nearly south-east. Here the roof commences a regular arch, the
height of which from the floor varies from five to eight feet, and the
width of the cave from six to twelve feet――which continues to what is
called the Creeping Place, from the circumstance of having to crawl
ten or twelve feet into the next large room. From this place to the
Pillar, a distance of about one mile and a quarter, the visitor finds
an alternate succession of large and small rooms variously decorated;
sometimes mounting elevated points by gradual or difficult ascents,
and again descending as far below; sometimes travelling on a pavement,
or climbing over huge piles of rocks, detached from the roof by some
convulsion of nature, and thus continues his route until he arrives at
the _Pillar_.
‘The aspect of this large and stately white column, as it heaves in
sight from the dim reflection of the torches, is grand and impressive.
Visitors have seldom pushed their inquiries further than two hundred
or three hundred yards beyond this pillar. This column is about fifteen
feet in diameter, from twenty to thirty feet in height, and regularly
reeded from the top to the bottom. In the vicinity of this spot are
some inferior pillars of the same appearance and texture.
‘I have thus given you an imperfect sketch of the mechanical structure
and appearance of the cave. It only remains to mention its productions.
‘The first in importance is sulphate of magnesia, or Epsom salts,
which, as has been before remarked, abounds throughout this cave in
almost its whole extent, and which, I believe, has no parallel in the
history of that article. This neutral salt is found in a great variety
of forms, and in many different stages of formation, sometimes in lumps,
varying from one to ten pounds in weight. The earth exhibits a shining
appearance, from the numerous particles interspersed through the huge
piles of dirt collected in different parts of the cave. The foregoing
remark applies with truth, not only to the surface, but to three feet
below it. This is the greatest distance hitherto examined. The walls
are covered in different places with the same article, and reproduction
goes on rapidly. With a view to ascertain this fact, I removed from a
particular place every vestige of the salt, and in four or five weeks
the place was covered with small needle-shaped crystals, exhibiting the
appearance of frost.
‘The quality of the salt in this cave is inferior to none, and, when
it takes its proper stand in regular and domestic practice, must be
of national utility. With respect to the resources of this cave, I
will venture to say that every competent judge must pronounce them
inexhaustible. The worst earth that has been tried will yield four
pounds of salt to the bushel, and the best from twenty to twenty-five
pounds.
‘The next production is the nitrate of lime, or saltpetre earth. There
are vast quantities of this earth, and equal in strength to any that
I have ever seen; and when potassium can be more conveniently obtained
than at present, the manufacture of saltpetre must be a lucrative
pursuit. There are also large quantities of the nitrate of allumina
or nitrate of argyl, which will yield as much nitrate of potassium or
saltpetre, in proportion to the quantities of earth, as the nitrate of
lime.
‘The three articles above enumerated are first in quantity and
importance; but there are several others, which deserve notice as
subjects of philosophical curiosity. The sulphate of lime, or plaster
of Paris, is to be seen variously formed; ponderous, crystallized, and
impalpable, or soft, light, and rather spongy. Vestiges of the sulphate
of iron, are also to be seen in one or two places. Small specimens of
the carbonate, and also the nitrate of magnesia, have been found. The
rocks in the cave principally consist of carbonate of lime, or common
limestone.
‘I had almost forgotten to state, that near the forks of the cave are
two specimens of painting, probably of Indian origin. The one appears
to be a savage, with something like a bow in his hand, and furnishes
the hint that it was done when that instrument of death was in use.
The other is so much defaced, that it is impossible to say what it was
intended to represent.’
_Carver’s Cave._――‘About twelve miles below the new garrison at
St. Peter’s,’ says Mr. Schoolcraft, ‘we stopped to examine a remarkable
cavern, on the east banks of the Mississippi, called _Wakon-teebe_, by
the Narcotah or Sioux Indians, but which, in compliment to the memory
of its first European visitor, should be denominated Carver’s Cave.
It is situated in a rock of the most beautiful white sand-stone, at
the head of a small valley about four hundred yards from the banks of
the river. Its mouth is about sixty or seventy feet wide and twenty
in height, but the former soon decreases to about twenty feet, and the
latter to seven. This width gradually lessens as you advance during the
first hundred yards, but the height remains nearly the same, so that
a man can walk without stooping. Then it tapers into a narrow passage,
where it is necessary to creep, which suddenly opens into a spacious
chamber. From this a narrow crevice continues as far as it has been
explored. Some of our party pursued it four hundred yards by the light
of wax candles. It is very damp and chilly. There is a handsome stream
of pure water running from its mouth. The temperature of the air in
the cave was fifty-four degrees, that of the water forty-seven. As it
is situated in sand-stone rock, it affords no stalactites, or spars.
Some parts of the rock at the mouth are colored green, probably by the
carbonate of copper. The bed of the brook is composed of a crystalline
sand of the most snowy whiteness, originating from the disintegration
of the surrounding walls. Scattered over this are a number of small
pebbles, of so intensely black a color, as to create a pleasing
contrast, when viewed through the medium of a clear stream. These, on
examination, proved to be masses of limestone, granite, and quartz,
colored externally by a thin deposit of earthy matter, and I conclude
the color to proceed from the gallic acid, with which the water,
percolating into the cavern, through the beds of oak leaves of the
superincumbent forest, may be partially saturated. This cave has been
visited by most persons who have passed up the Mississippi, if we may
judge from the number of names found upon the walls. Among them, we
were informed, was that of Captain Carver, who visited it in 1768, but
we did not observe it. His grant of land from the Indians is dated in
this cave, but the cave itself appears to have undergone a considerable
alteration since that period, for he says that “about twenty feet from
the entrance begins a lake, the water of which is transparent, and
extends to an unsearchable distance.” As the rock is of a very friable
nature, and easily acted upon by running water, it is probable that the
lake has been discharged, thus enlarging the boundaries of the cave.
He also remarks, “at a little distance from this dreary cavern, is
the burying-place of several bands of the Nawdowessie (Sioux) Indians.
Though these people have no fixed residence, living in tents, and
abiding but a few months in one spot, yet they always bring the bones
of their dead to this place; which they take the opportunity of doing
when the chiefs meet to hold their councils, and to settle the public
affairs for the ensuing summer.” We noticed no bones or traces of
interment about the cave, but perhaps a further examination of the
adjacent region would have led to a discovery.’
In Kentucky and Tennessee, caves are numerous, which appear to have
been used for burial-places. In the county of Ulster, in New York, is
a cave three quarters of a mile in length, caused by a stream running
under ground. The rock which constitutes the roof and sides of the
cave is a dark colored limestone, containing impressions of shells,
calcareous spar, and beautiful white and yellow stalactites. At one
end is a fall of water, the depth of which has not been fathomed. At
Rhinebeck, near the Hudson, is a cave in which a narrow entrance leads
to several spacious rooms, abounding with columns of stalactites.
At Chester, in Warren county, there is a stream which passes under
a natural bridge, and among many deep caverns; the waters enter in
two streams, unite in the subterranean passage, and issue in a single
current under a precipice sixty feet in height.
In the Laurel Mountain, in Pennsylvania, is a cavern with a very narrow
entrance, and various winding passages, which has been traversed two
miles. It is formed of a soft sandstone, and its roof is covered with
millions of bats. At Durham in Bucks county, on the Delaware, is a cave
in the limestone rock, abounding with pools and rivulets of water. At
Carlisle is another somewhat similar, in which human bones have been
discovered.
GENERAL REMARKS ON CAVES.
Caves or grottoes are natural fissures in the solid crust of
the earth, with walls and a natural roof. They are sometimes of
immense extent and depth, and frequently the first excavation
is only the vestibule to another much larger and deeper. Eldon
Hole, in Derbyshire, has been sounded with a line of more than
nine thousand six hundred feet, but without reaching its bottom.
A cavern near Frederickshall, Norway, has been estimated at eleven
thousand feet in depth. Many caverns are remarkable for various
natural curiosities. The most interesting are those in which the
dropping of water has caused the formation of stalactites, either
suspended from the vaults of the caverns in the shape of long
crystals, or assuming fantastic forms on the floor and along
the wall. Antiparos and Peak caves in Derbyshire, England, owe
their celebrity to those formations. Other caves are strewed with
petrified bones, and have evidently been the burial-places of
generations of human beings.
There are caverns which contain deep pits of water, or wells,
of such an extent as to acquire the name of subterranean lakes.
In some are the sources, and in others the receptacles, of
large streams. In Norway you may sometimes walk upon an arched
calcareous floor, and hear the roar of torrents under your feet.
In Russia, many caverns have been evidently formed by means of
water, and even masses of ice.
Fingal’s Cave in the Isle of Staffa, on the western coast of
Scotland, is the grandest in the known world. Its sides are formed
of majestic columns of basalt, which are almost as regular as if
they had been formed by art. These columns support a lofty roof,
under which the sea rolls its waves, while the vastness of the
entrance admits the light of day to the recesses of the cave. The
origin of these basaltic formations is uncertain.
The caves of Kirkdale, in England, and Gailenreuth, in Germany,
are remarkable for the quantities of bones of the elephant,
rhinoceros, and hyena found in them. The mine of fluor spar, in
Castleton, Derbyshire, passes through several stalactic caverns.
Other caverns in England contain subterraneous cascades. In the
Rock of Gibraltar there are a number of stalactic caverns, of
which the principal is called St. Michael’s, and is one thousand
feet above the sea. The most famous caves of Germany are those of
Bauman and Bielstein, in the Hartz.
Caves sometimes exhale poisonous vapors. Of these, the most
remarkable is near Naples, named the Grotto del Cane. In Iceland,
there are many formed by the lava from its volcanoes. In the
volcanic country near Rome, are many natural cavities of great
extent and coolness, which form pleasant places of resort in
the hot weather. The grottoes in the Cevennes Mountains, in
France, are both numerous and extensive, and abound in objects
of curiosity. In South America is the cavern of Guacharo, which
is said to extend for leagues.