Star Chamber--Salts Room--Indian Houses--Cross Rooms--Black Chambers--
A Dinner Party--Humble Chute--Solitary Care--Fairy Grotto--Chief City
or Temple--Lee's Description--Return to the Hotel.
The Star Chamber next attracted our attention. It presents the most
perfect optical illusion imaginable; in looking up to the ceiling,
which is here very high, you seem to see the very firmament itself,
studded with stars; and afar off, a comet with its long, bright tail.
Not far from this Star Chamber, may be seen, in a cavity in the wall
on the right, and about twenty feet above the floor, an oak pole about
ten feet long and six inches in diameter, with two round sticks of
half the thickness and three feet long, tied on to it transversely, at
about four feet apart. By means of a ladder we ascended to the cavity,
and found the pole to be firmly fixed--one end resting on the bottom
of the cavity, and the other reaching across and forced into a crevice
about three feet above. We supposed that this was a ladder once used
by the former inhabitants of the Cave, in getting the salts which are
incrusted on the walls in many places. Doct. Locke, of the Medical
College of Ohio, is, however, of the opinion, that on it was placed a
dead body,--similar contrivances being used by some Indian tribes on
which to place their dead. Although thousands have passed the spot,
still this was never seen until the fall of 1841. Ages have doubtless
rolled by since this was placed here, and yet it is perfectly sound;
even the bark which confines the transverse pieces shows no marks of
decay.
We passed through some Side Cuts, as they are called. These are caves
opening on the sides of the avenues; and after running for some
distance, entering them again. Some of them exceed half a mile in
length; but most generally they are short. In many of them, "quartz,
calcedony, red ochre, gypsum, and salts are found." The walking, in
this part of the avenue, being rough, we progressed but slowly, until
we reached the Salts Room; here we found the walls and ceiling covered
with salts hanging in crystals. The least agitation of the air causing
flakes of the crystals to fall like snow. In the Salts Room are the
Indian houses, under the rocks--small spaces or rooms completely
covered--some of which contain ashes and cane partly burnt. The
_Cross Rooms_, which we next come to, is a grand section of this
avenue; the ceiling has an unbroken span of one hundred and seventy
feet, without a column to support it! The mouths of two caves are seen
from this point, neither of which we visited, and much to our loss, as
will appear from the following extract from the "Notes on the Mammoth
Cave, by E.F. Lee, Esq., Civil Engineer," in relation to one of
them--the Black Chambers:
"At the ruins in the Black Chambers, there are a great many large
blocks composed of different strata of rocks, cemented together,
resembling the walls, pedestals, cornices, etc., of some old castle,
scattered over the bottom of the Cave. The avenue here is so wide, as
to make it quite a task to walk from one side to the other. On the
right hand, beyond the ruins, you enter the right branch, on the same
level--the ceiling of which is regularly arched. Through the Big
Chimneys you ascend into an upper room, about the size of the Main
Cave, the bottom of which is higher than the ceiling of the one below.
Proceeding on we soon heard the low murmurings of a water-fall,--the
sound of which becomes louder and louder as we advanced, until we
reached the Cataract. In the roof are perforations as large as a
hogshead, on the right hand side, from which water is ever falling, on
ordinary occasions in not very large quantities; but after heavy
rains--in torrents; and with a horrible roar that shakes the walls and
resounds afar through the Cave. It is at such times that these
cascades are worthy the name of cataracts, which they bear. The water
falling into a great funnel-shaped pit, immediately vanishes."
Here we concluded to dine, and at quite a fashionable hour--4, P.M.
The guide arranged the plates, knives and forks, wine-glasses, etc.,
on a huge table of rock, and announced,--"Dinner is ready!" We filled
our plates with the excellent viands prepared at the Cave House, and
seating ourselves on the rocks or nitre earth, partook of our repast
with the gusto of gourmands, and quaffing, ever and anon, wines which
would have done credit to the Astor or Tremont House. "There may be,"
remarked our corpulent friend B., "a great deal of romance in this way
of eating--with your plate on your lap, and seated on a rock or a lump
of nitre earth--but for my part I would rather dispense with the
poetry of the thing and eat a good dinner, whether above or below
ground, from off a bona-fide table, and seated in a good substantial
chair. The proprietor ought to have at all the watering places, (and
they are numerous,) tables, chairs, and the necessary table furniture,
that visitors might partake of their collations in some degree of
comfort." The guide who, by the way, is a very intelligent and
facetious fellow, was much amused at the suggestion of our friend, and
remarked that "the owner of the Cave, Doct. Croghan, lived near
Louisville, and that the only way to get such '_fixings_' at the
watering places, was to write to him on the subject." "Then," said B.,
"for the sake of those who may follow after us, I will take it upon
myself to write."
From this point you have a view of the Main Avenue on our left,
pursuing its general course, and exhibiting the same solemn grandeur
as from the commencement,--and directly before us the way to the
Humble Chute and the Cataract. The Humble Chute is the entrance to the
Solitary Chambers; before entering which, we must crawl on our hands
and knees some fifteen or twenty feet under a low arch. It is
appropriately named; as is the Solitary Chambers which we have now
entered. You feel here,--to use an expression of one of our
party,--"out of the world." Without dwelling on the intervening
objects--although they are numerous and not without interest,--we will
enter at once the Fairy Grotto of the Solitary Cave. It is in truth a
fairy grotto; a countless number of Stalactites are seen extending, at
irregular distances, from the roof to the floor, of various sizes and
of the most fantastic shapes--some quite straight, some crooked, some
large and hollow--forming irregularly fluted columns; and some solid
near the ceiling, and divided lower down, into a great number of small
branches like the roots of trees; exhibiting the appearance of a coral
grove. Hanging our lamps to the incrustations on the columns, the
grove of Stalactites became faintly lighted up, disclosing a scene of
extraordinary wildness and beauty. "This is nothing to what you'll see
on the other side of the rivers," cries our guide, smiling at our
enthusiastic admiration. With all its present beauty, this grotto is
far from being what it was, before it was despoiled and robbed some
eight or nine years ago, by a set of vandals, who, through sheer
wantonness, broke many of the stalactites, leaving them strewn on the
floor--a disgustful memorial of their vulgar propensities and
barbarian-like conduct.
Returning from the Fairy Grotto, we entered the Main Cave at the
Cataract, and continued our walk to the Chief City or Temple, which is
thus described by Lee, in his "Notes on the Mammoth Cave:"
"The Temple is an immense vault covering an area of two acres, and
covered by a single dome of solid rock, one hundred and twenty feet
high. It excels in size the Cave of Staffa; and rivals the celebrated
vault in the Grotto of Antiparos, which is said to be the largest in
the world. In passing through from one end to the other, the dome
appears to follow like the sky in passing from place to place on the
earth. In the middle of the dome there is a large mound of rocks
rising on one side nearly to the top, very steep and forming what is
called the _Mountain_. When first I ascended this mound from the cave
below, I was struck with a feeling of awe more deep and intense, than
any thing that I had ever before experienced. I could only observe the
narrow circle which was illuminated immediately around me; above and
beyond was apparently an unlimited space, in which the ear could catch
not the slightest sound, nor the eye find an object to rest upon. It
was filled with silence and darkness; and yet I knew that I was
beneath the earth, and that this space, however large it might be, was
actually bounded by solid walls. My curiosity was rather excited than
gratified. In order that I might see the whole in one connected view,
I built fires in many places with the pieces of cane which I found
scattered among the rocks. Then taking my stand on the Mountain, a
scene was presented of surprising magnificence. On the opposite side
the strata of gray limestone, breaking up by steps from the bottom,
could scarcely be discerned in the distance by the glimmering light.
Above was the lofty dome, closed at the top by a smooth oval slab,
beautifully defined in the outline, from which the walls sloped away
on the right and left into thick darkness. Every one has heard of the
dome of the Mosque of St. Sophia, of St. Peter's and St. Paul's; they
are never spoken of but in terms of admiration, as the chief works of
architecture, and among the noblest and most stupendous examples of
what man can do when aided by science; and yet when compared with the
dome of this Temple, they sink into comparative insignificance. Such
is the surpassing grandeur of Nature's works."
[Illustration: CHIEF CITY OR TEMPLE.
On Stone by T. Campbell
Bauer & Teschemacher's Lith.]
To us, the Temple seemed to merit the glowing description above given,
but what would Lee think, on being told, that since the discovery of
the rivers and the world of beauties beyond them, not one person in
fifty visits the Temple or the Fairy Grotto; they are now looked upon
as tame and uninteresting. The hour being now late, we concluded to
proceed no further, but to return to the hotel, where we arrived at
11, P.M.