Among the most remarkable of these caverns are those of Gaylenreuth, on
the confines of Bayreuth. The opening to these, which is about seven
feet and a half high, is at the foot of a rock of limestone of
considerable magnitude, and in its eastern side. Immediately beyond the
opening is a magnificent grotto, of about three hundred feet in
circumference, which has been naturally divided by the form of the roof
into four caves. The first is about twenty-five feet long and wide, and
varies in hight from nine to eighteen feet, the roof being formed into
irregular arches. Beyond this is the second cave, about twenty-eight
feet long, and of nearly the same width and hight with the former.
A low and very rugged passage, the roof of which is formed of projecting
pieces of rocks, leads to the third grotto, the opening into which is a
hole three feet high, and four feet wide. This grotto is more regular in
its form, and is about thirty feet in diameter, and nearly round; its
hight is from five to six feet. It is very richly and fantastically
adorned by the varying forms of its stalactitic hangings. The floor is
also covered with a wet and slippery glazing, in which several teeth and
jaws appear to have been fixed.
From this grotto commences the descent to the inferior caverns. Within
only about five or six feet an opening in the floor is seen, which is
partly vaulted over by a projecting piece of rock. The descent is about
twenty feet. This cavern is about thirty feet in hight, about fifteen
feet in width, and nearly circular; the sides, roof and floor,
displaying the remains of animals. The rock itself is thickly beset with
teeth and bones, and the floor is covered with a loose earth, the
evident result of animal decomposition, and in which numerous bones are
imbedded.
A gradual descent leads to another grotto, which, with its passage, is
forty feet in length, and twenty feet in hight. Its sides and top are
beautifully adorned with stalactites. Nearly twenty feet further is a
frightful gulf, the opening of which is about fifteen feet in diameter;
and, upon descending about twenty feet, another grotto, about the same
diameter with the former, but forty feet in hight, is seen. Here the
bones are dispersed about; and the floor, which is formed of animal
earth, has great numbers of them imbedded in it. The bones which are
here found, seem to be of different animals; but in this, as well as in
the former caverns, perfect and unbroken bones are very seldom found.
Sometimes a tooth is seen projecting from the solid rock, through the
stalactitic covering, showing that many of these wonderful remains may
here be concealed. A specimen of this kind has been preserved, and is
rendered particularly interesting, by the first molar tooth of the lower
jaw, with its enamel quite perfect, rising through the stalactitic mass
which invests the bone. In this cavern the stalactites begin to be of a
larger size, and of a more columnar form.
Passing on through a narrow opening in the rock, a small cave, seven
feet long, and five feet high, is discovered; another narrow opening
leads to another small cave; from which a sloping descent leads to a
cave twenty-five feet in hight, and about half as much in its diameter,
in which is a truncated columnar stalactite, eight feet in
circumference.
A narrow and most difficult passage, twenty feet in length, leads from
this cavern to another, twenty-five feet in hight, which is everywhere
beset with teeth, bones and stalactitic projections. This cavern is
suddenly contracted, so as to form a vestibule of six feet wide, ten
long, and nine high, terminating in an opening close to the floor, only
three feet wide and two high, through which it is necessary to writhe,
with the body on the ground. This leads into a small cave, eight feet
high and wide, which is the passage into a grotto, twenty-eight feet
high, and about forty-three feet long and wide. Here the prodigious
quantity of animal earth, the vast number of teeth, jaws and other
bones, and the heavy grouping of the stalactites, produce so dismal an
appearance, as to become a perfect model of a temple for a god of the
dead. Here hundreds of cart-loads of bony remains might be removed,
pockets might be filled with fossil teeth, and animal earth was found to
reach to the utmost depth to which the workmen dug. A piece of
stalactite, being here broken down, was found to contain pieces of bones
within it, the remnants of which were left imbedded in the rock. From
this principal cave is a very narrow passage, terminating in the last
cave, which is about six feet in width, fifteen in hight, and the same
in length. In this cave were no animal remains, and the floor was the
naked rock.
Thus far only can these natural sepulchers be traced; but there is every
reason to suppose, that these animal remains are disposed through a
greater part of this rock. Whence this immense quantity of the remains
of carnivorous animals could have been collected, is a question which
naturally arises; but the difficulty of answering it appears to be
almost insurmountable.
[Illustration: THE MAMMOTH CAVE.]