Chapter XIII (2)

Palatka is a pretty town of 3,500 inhabitants, and situated in the heart of the orange belt. Besides its picturesque surroundings and importance as a shipping point, it is healthfully located on high ground and in the midst of a piney region noted for the blandness of its climate. Florida has been transformed within the past very few years by the Plant railways from a state of comparatively sandy desolation, without roads through its dense growths, into a country of great advantages and thriftiness. Fruit trees have supplanted the coverts of palmetto, and there is health and prosperity abounding everywhere. The “Florida Cracker,” as her languid, backwoods, one-gallus type of slovenly, slow humanity is called, has not yet wholly disappeared, but the transition to more industrious and cultured citizenship is going on, and it is particularly apparent about Palatka. The old-time conveyance of an ox in shafts hitched to a cart of uncertain age is not quite obsolete, but it survives more as a relic than as a thing of every-day service; and people who visit Florida on a winter trip, people in fine linen who are able to fare sumptuously, are more given to using the ox-cart, than are the permanent inhabitants. In the mountain districts of Colorado tourists ride burros; in Florida they affect a preference for the harnessed ox. It is the influence of locality that diversifies custom. Another curiosity in Florida, peculiar alike to Cuba and the tropics generally, is the palmetto hut, an unsubstantial structure roofed and “weather-boarded” with palmetto leaves, but which furnishes protection from the sun and rain. These huts are usually built to serve as temporary abodes for orange-pickers, and are therefore usually within or near the groves. Throughout Florida it is the custom to sell the orange crop on the trees, the purchasers being fruit dealers from the North. These dealers employ trained pickers, who work throughout the season, going from one grove to another, until the gathering is completed; usually they provide their own supplies, likewise their shelter, and the palmetto hut serves them both well and economically. When the fleas become so thick as to crowd the occupants, they burn the hut and build another. It is the cheapest way yet discovered of getting rid of these elusive pests.

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HOME OF THE ORANGE-PICKERS IN FLORIDA.—A curiosity peculiar to
Florida, and the tropics generally, is the palmetto hut, an
unsubstantial structure roofed and “weather-boarded” with palmetto
leaves, but furnishing ample protection from sun and rain. These
huts are usually built to serve as temporary abodes for orange-
pickers, and are therefore generally within or near the groves. It
is the custom to sell the orange crop on the trees, the purchasers
being usually fruit dealers from the North. These dealers employ
trained pickers, who work throughout the season, going from one
grove to another until the gathering is completed. These pickers
generally provide their own supplies, likewise their shelter, and
the palmetto hut serves them both well and economically.
]

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At Palatka we took boat for an excursion up the Ocklawaha River to Silver Spring and Ocala, the head of navigation on that stream. Of our many trips in the East, West and South, this proved to be the most unique, the most wonderful, the most sensationally picturesque. Ocklawaha River is at once a lagoon, a narrow lake, and a swamp, but at no place does it have the appearance of a flowing stream, for the current is scarcely perceptible. The shore-line is indicated by a profuse growth of water-vegetation and cypress knees, while at places the river is so narrow that lofty trees interlace their branches above the low smoke-stack of the boat. And what a boat! It is well adapted to the trade, and to that end is unlike any other steamer that ever sat in the water, a thing of indescribable shape, an object of surprise and curiosity. On this queer craft fifty people may ride in comfort during the day, while attention is attracted by the alligators, cranes, loons and snake-birds along the shore, but the night must be spent in vain regrets and fighting mosquitoes. No chance to get lonesome on this trip; there is too much to see in day-time and too much to do at night. But it is a novelty, an experience, a sensation worth more than the discomforts that must be endured. Along the Ocklawaha alligators are still plentiful, because shooting is not allowed from the boat, and there is no other way to approach them within gun-shot distance. The lazy monsters may be seen sunning their corrugated backs on nearly every log, and in their company huge water-snakes are often found, associated with big and little snapping-turtles, the three species forming a congenial but most repulsive family of reptilian cousinship. The water being half- stagnant is black with a vegetable dissolution, and yet so transparent that the bottom may at times be seen. But if the creatures that haunt the river are offensive, the sight is compensated by the wonder which they excite; while the dense woods that margin the shore are resonant with the carol of birds and jewelled with their brilliant plumage.

The trip is remarkably interesting, but the greatest charm that attaches to the stream is found when the boat reaches Silver Spring, the most exquisite pool that was ever rippled by dip of oar or skimmed by lap- wing. Tradition tells us that this is the marvelous rejuvenating spring of which Ponce de Leon heard fabulous tales which lured him to the dark interior of Indian-infested Florida. If his eyes ever gazed into its crystalline depths surely he must have believed that his quest for the magic fountain had been rewarded. The clearness of the water may be likened to the air itself, for at its greatest depth of eighty feet objects on the bottom may be clearly and distinctly seen, likewise the fissure through which the water pours up like a veritable fountain. A peculiarity of the spring is the prismatic colors which are reflected from any white or shiny object thrown into it. To test this curious fact I cast in a piece of broken crockery and watched with keenest interest the fragment as it sank in a zigzag motion to the bottom. No rainbow was ever so brilliant as the colors which flashed up from this piece of saucer, nor did ever jewel gleam with more scintillant beauty.

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A HOME IN THE SHADES OF SOUTHERN PINES.—If Ponce de Leon and his
doughty Spaniards had remained in Florida and built them homes like
this, under the shades of the health-giving pines, instead of wading
through swamps and morasses in quest of the fountain of youth, they
might, and probably would, have lived to be hale and hearty old men.
Abodes like this, in the balmy air of the Sunny South, are fountains
of life within themselves, where, free from worry and the necessity
of making a living, one has but little to do aside from living and
growing and being happy. Such homes, with contentment, are more
worthy of being sought after than the wealth of a thousand Crœsuses.
]

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The flow from Silver Spring is so great that a deep river one hundred feet wide is formed, which, after a course of nine miles, joins the Ocklawaha. This stream is called the Run, and a little launch, or tug, plies over this short course, carrying visitors on an excursion which, if brief, is incomparably delightful. Five miles from Silver Spring is Ocala, on the Florida Southern Railroad, to which point we proceeded, and thence north and west by the Savannah, Florida and Western, and the Florida Central and Peninsular railroads to New Orleans. Ocala is on the border or north limit of the hummock lands, and thereafter the journey was through pine-barrens which are so infested with dwarf palmetto that it appears to be an impossible labor to clear it away. This is the home of the deer and likewise of the rattlesnake, very monsters of the latter being more plentiful than game; but north of Gainesville the country presents a change for the better, being much higher and undulating, with hills that are 300 or 400 feet above the ocean level, and the soil is exceedingly fertile. The vegetation, too, loses its tropical character, orange groves disappear, and fields of tobacco and cotton occupy the landscape.

At High Springs we crossed the Santa River, a tributary of the Suwanee; at New Bradford we touched the banks of that historic river, and at Ellaville crossed the stream and halted there a day to pay to it the tribute of a respect aroused in every American heart by Foster’s mournful pastorale, “The Old Folks at Home.” Who has not heard “Way down upon the Suwanee River”? and who hearing the song has not tried to picture the desolate plantation and the dreary heart that went up and down the solitudes of the deserted cotton-field sighing for the old massa and missus, who will never call for Pompey again? In a small boat we rowed down the river, which was as still as death, and almost as motionless. The faint sound of a saw-mill at Ellaville was the only thing that gave reminder of our proximity to civilization; and when at length even this link was broken by distance, it seemed as if all creation had gone into mourning. The spell, while mournful, was yet dreamily charming, and instinctively, under the influence of such lonesome isolation, we sang with the fullness of appreciation, “The Old Folks at Home.” Never before had song such sweetness, never had one so much of sadness, to me; and when the last note died away there was a feeling of oppression in the silence that ensued. The old song brought up visions to which we were unused: a fallow-field where once was bounty; a large white mansion with its long porch fallen in decay; a magnolia-tree with a mocking-bird’s deserted nest ready to fall from its dead branches; two grave-stones, green with moss, in the pasture, and an old darkey bowed in prayer. The Suwanee has its source in Okefenokee Swamps, Georgia, and after running its course of nearly three hundred miles, empties into the Gulf of Mexico, just above Cedar Key. At some places the river has considerable width, but never sufficient depth to permit of navigation by any craft of considerable size. Its banks are occasionally high, as at Ellaville, but generally they are flat and overhung by oaks thickly festooned with moss. The current is sluggish and the water seldom clear, carrying as it does a thick vegetable solution. The stream is neither beautiful nor romantic, save as it acquires the reputation for being both through the song that has made it as famous as our largest rivers.

The country about Ellaville is fairly well settled, though the place itself hardly ranks as a hamlet. We arrived on Saturday, and as no trains run on Sunday we were compelled to remain over, and attended church in the forenoon and witnessed a baptizing later in the day. The administration of the ceremony proved to be a great event in the unruffled lives of the people, and many came long distances to witness the immersion of four candidates, three women and a man. The sight of a baptizing, while common enough, possessed for us unusual interest because the place was Suwanee River, and having the consent of the officiating minister, we took a photograph of the crowd on shore, a heavy cloud overcasting the sun immediately after, so that a picture could not be made of the baptizing. From Ellaville our journey was continued westward through Tallahassee and on to Mobile, where a short stop was made, and thence to New Orleans. Mobile is not only one of the oldest towns in the South, but is among the earliest settlements in America, the exact date of its founding being in dispute. The place is known to have been the original seat of the French colonization in the Southwest as early as 1702, but its growth was so slow that the Colonial Government was transferred to New Orleans in 1723, and with the change, the little importance which it had acquired became lost, nor was it again recovered until the place became a rendezvous for corsairs under the infamous Lafitte, from 1810 to 1815. Its greatest prosperity, however, dates since the civil war, though some years preceding that troublous period Mobile had become a considerable port, her chief shipments being cotton, coal, lumber and naval stores.

The entrance to Mobile Bay is commanded by Forts Morgan and Gaines, which are thirty miles below the city, and on the east side of Tensas River are the ruins of Spanish Fort and Fort Blakely, all of which played an important part in the defence of the city when it was attacked by Admiral Farragut, in August, 1864. One of the most desperate battles that was fought during the war took place in the harbor, when Farragut ran the blockade with a squadron of ten powerful men-of-war headed by his flagship, the _Hartford_, and encountered the Confederate fleet inside. One of the Union ships ran onto a torpedo and was instantly blown into fragments, but the other vessels met with little opposition until at the moment when Farragut thought the battle won, he saw with surprise the dark body of a strange vessel flying the Confederate flag and bearing down upon him at great speed, evidently intent upon ramming and sinking his ship. The _Hartford_, by a piece of good luck and skilful handling, managed to avoid the intended blow, and then followed an engagement that has few parallels in fierceness. The strange gun-boat proved to be the _Tennessee_, one of the most powerful and destructive that the Confederate Government had sent into service. The Union iron- clads closed around their black and terrible antagonist and battered her with their heavy prows of steel until the unequal contest was ended by her surrender. Forts Gaines and Morgan were also captured, but Spanish Fort and Fort Blakely still defended the city, which resisted all efforts at its reduction until April 12, 1865, three days after the surrender of Lee.

Mobile has grown greatly since the war, and now has a population of nearly 35,000. It is situated on a sandy plain that rises into high and very graceful hills. Notwithstanding the barren shore as nature made it, the arts of man have supplied the deficiency of soil and made of the streets bowers of lovely shade, so charming that much of the city’s fame is due to the noble trees that arch all its streets. Bienville Park is one of the prettiest spots in southern lands, noted far and near alike for its massive live-oaks, magnificent magnolias, and handsome fountain, a place swathed in delicious airs and luxurious with the richest and most beautiful vegetation.

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A PLANTATION HOME IN MISSISSIPPI.—This is one of the few old-time
Southern mansions that survived the shock of war and still remain as
landmarks of the golden age of the South country, when the wealthy
planters owned armies of slaves and entertained with a hospitality
even more than princely. As a rule these mansions have fallen into
decay, even where they were not wholly or partially destroyed, for
when the master and his sons left their bones to bleach upon some
distant battle-field, the light of the home went out, and the weaker
members of the household, reduced in many instances to pinching
poverty, sadly but bravely took up the battle of life in less
favored localities. But prosperity promises once more to smile upon
the South, and the old mansions are being rebuilt, but the old faces
are no more seen beneath their roofs.
]

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Westward from Mobile the route was by the Louisville and Nashville Railroad along the Gulf border of Mississippi, through some of the loveliest intervales that vision ever wandered over. The air is warm without debilitating sultriness, for the Gulf of Mexico tempers the atmosphere with refreshing humidity, and a constant breeze shakes the perfume out of flowering shrub and tree. Many beautiful places are passed on the run of one hundred and forty miles from Mobile to New Orleans, some of which are more or less noted as winter resorts, such as Ocean Springs, Biloxi, Beauvoir, Pass Christian, and Bay St. Louis. Beauvoir has a place in history as being the residence of Jefferson Davis for several years after the war, and where he died. The way is beautified also by many palatial homes and well-cultivated plantations that attest the thrift and prosperity of farmers of the New South.

Between Pass Christian and Bay St. Louis the road crosses an inlet of St. Louis Bay on a steel trestle, and a few miles further west passes over Pearl River and enters Louisiana. The land is level, and cut up by innumerable bayous, and after crossing the narrow outlet of Lake Pontchartrain, called Pigolet’s, the road runs along a tongue of sea marsh for a few miles, then plunges into a dismal swamp, where the alligator’s bellow and the cormorant’s cry are the only sounds that disturb its stillness, save when a train goes growling by. “The sea marsh is dotted with many lakes, where green vegetable rafts of lotus leaves and lily pods turn slowly with the tide or float lazily about, blown by the breath of a salt breeze sweeping in from the Gulf. But in the ghostly gloom of the swamp, the forest trees are like an assemblage of monstrosities, great gnarled trunks and knotted arms of moss-draped oaks, clutching at the fan-shaped fronds of palmettos, while the mixture of crooked bodies and twisted leaf-stems of the latonia appear as if they were the bodies and outstretched arms of horned goblins appealing for release.”

New Orleans is a very old city, settled by the French in 1718. Like other settlements of these early times, it has passed through many evil vicissitudes and been in turn a possession of France, Spain, and the United States. A singular thing in connection with the city is the fact that it is built upon ground that is considerably lower than the surface of the Mississippi during high water, and that it has no more substantial foundation than an alluvium deposit which has been going on for centuries, constantly extending into the Gulf, the point of outlet of the Mississippi. To prevent overflowing, the city is protected by a dyke, or levee, which is fifteen feet wide and fourteen feet high. This earth-wall follows the river’s crescent winding a distance of ten miles, while another extends across the rear to protect the city from Lake Pontchartrain. To secure a firm foundation for some of the large buildings, cotton-bales have been used on which to build, as piling is of no service. But that this character of basis is no disadvantage is proven by the fact that New Orleans is noted for its mammoth edifices, public, church and commercial, which give no sign of insecurity. The place is essentially cosmopolitan, for in no other city is the population more mixed, nearly every street being occupied by a different nationality. Commercially it is next to New York as an export city, and easily holds the honor of the leading cotton port of the country, from which one-fourth of the world’s supply is floated. She is likewise a city of many charms and great historic interest. Within the city proper occurred a terrible scene following the rebellion of 1763, when France ceded the place to Spain, while at its southern outskirts is the battle- field on which Jackson won his glorious victory over the British under Packenham, January 8, 1815. The city passed through another storm of shot and shell in 1862, when Farragut compelled its capitulation after a terrible bombardment. But these scars have long since healed, and New Orleans, despite plagues and wars, has held her position as Queen City of the South and one of the great metropoli of America, with a population now of 250,000, which is rapidly increasing. While New Orleans is famous for the romance with which her history is invested, for her immense importance as an export city, and also for the beauty of her parks and magnificence of her private residences, the curiosity of strangers is no less attracted by her cemeteries, which are unlike those of any others in the world. In earlier times it was the custom there to bury the dead in shallow graves, but this practice was finally abandoned for the more sacred and sanitary one of enclosing the bodies in tombs above the ground, and then hermetically sealing up the mortuary cell. This became a necessity because of the nature of the soil, where water is reached at a depth of two feet below the surface. Some of these tombs are mausoleums made of stone or iron and of beautiful architectural designs, but the more common form of disposition of the dead is in a wall pierced by cells large enough to contain a coffin, one above the other, to a height of seven or eight feet. There are thirty-three such cemeteries in New Orleans, in one of which (Greenwood) is a monument to the Confederate dead; and in another, the National, at Chalmette, the Union dead are similarly honored.

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FAIRY GROTTO, MAMMOTH CAVE.—There is a remarkable absence of
stalactitic formations in Mammoth Cave, Fairy Grotto and the
Maelstrom being the only points where they are found in any
quantity. But on the other hand, it contains an unexampled wealth of
crystals of endless variety and incomparable beauty. There are halls
canopied with fleecy clouds, or studded with mimic snowballs, and
others displaying various grotesque resemblances on the walls and
ceilings. Two avenues, each a mile long, are adorned by myriads of
gypsum rosettes and curiously twisted crystals, called
“oulopholites,” or cave-flowers, which are unfolded by pressure like
a sheaf of wheat forced through a tight binding. This charming
embellishment of clusters and garlands is frequently seen curling
outward, like roses, composing petrified bouquets that cover the
snowy arches.
]

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Having completed our work in New Orleans, and a tour of the Southeast, or at least that portion which is noted for its semi-tropical characteristics and great picturesqueness, we took train on the Louisville and Nashville Railroad for Mammoth Cave, to make an inspection and photographic tour of that world-wonderful natural curiosity. To reach the Cave our route was northeast through Birmingham, Nashville, and thence to Glasgow Junction, at which point connection is made with a little spur of the Louisville and Nashville Road, which runs directly to the Cave, a distance of twelve miles from the Junction. Mammoth Cave is in the eastern part of Edmondson county, Kentucky, eighty-five miles south of Louisville, and its entrance is in a forest ravine nearly two hundred feet above Green River, where the banks are very steep and high. It is said to have been discovered in 1809 by a hunter named Hutchins, while pursuing a wounded bear that had taken refuge in a wide crevice that led directly into a broad chamber of the Cave. The history of this discovery is not sufficiently definite to enable us to know which one of the two points of entrance was thus accidentally found. The present opening used is in the ravine mentioned, but the original mouth is believed to have been the aperture that is nearly a quarter of a mile above, and leads into what is known as Dixon’s Cave, a disconnected branch of Mammoth Cavern.

Luray Caverns are lighted by electricity, so that photographing its many chambers and beautiful stalactitic formations is easily accomplished; but though Mammoth Cave is the largest and best known of the world’s great subterranean recesses, and visited by about 6,000 persons annually, no provision has been made for lighting, beyond the crude method of guides who carry torches and candles. To photograph its dark rivers, avenues, configurations, and strange sculpturings many attempts have been made by the aid of magnesium lights, but without satisfactory results until Mr. Ben. Hains, of New Albany, Indiana, made special and most careful preparations to do the work which had so often failed in the hands of others. Several weeks were spent in the cave testing the powerful artificial lights which he had provided, and by dint of perseverance he was at last rewarded by the most perfect results. To this enterprising gentleman we are indebted for the use of the photographs from which our reproductions are made.

Mammoth Cave first came into notice and importance about the year 1812, when it was discovered that the cave contained vast beds of niter, sufficient, as was stated at the time, to supply the whole population of the globe with saltpeter. Gratz and Williams were the owners, and established a very large industry in collecting the nitrous earth by means of ox-carts and shipping it to Philadelphia, where it was used in manufacturing the gun-powder that enabled us to triumph over England a second time. The region is essentially cavernous, as Professor Shaler estimates that in this carboniferous limestone district of Kentucky “there are at least 100,000 miles of open caverns,” but very few of the five hundred caves and grottoes of Edmondson county contain nitrous earth. On the other hand, there have been very few evidences of prehistoric occupancy discovered in Mammoth Cave, while in Salt Cave, its neighbor, and almost a rival in size, archæologic remains, such as fire-places, burnt torches, sandals, and moccasin-prints are numerous; and in Short Cave, also near-by, the mummified bodies of several small animals and a few human remains have been found. White Cave is half a mile from the Mammoth Cave entrance, and the two may be connected, though the communication has not been discovered. But there is a decided difference in the formations that characterize the two. White Cave is in some respects similar to Luray Caverns in its exquisitely charming variety of stalactites. In the first chamber, “Little Bat Room,” as it is called, we find many lovely creations and a few objects of great interest to paleontologists. In the second room is a piece of stalactitic drapery, which has been very appropriately called the “Frozen Cascade.” “Humboldt’s Pillar” and “Bishop’s Dome” are other wonderful examples of the effects of slowly percolating water bearing lime in solution. In this same cave, some seventy years ago, were found huge fossil bones, of the megalonyx, or giant sloth, bear, bison, and stag, and scattered among these animal remains were a few human bones.

But while the adjacent caves each possess an interest peculiar to themselves, Mammoth Cave must continue to remain the most remarkable cavern in our country, not only for its size, but likewise for the marvels which exploration of its labyrinthine avenues has revealed. To Professor H. C. Hovey’s admirable and scientific description of the Cave I acknowledge my indebtedness for a larger part of the information here imparted, from which, also, liberal extracts are made, though without quotation credit.

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OLD STONE HOUSE, MAMMOTH CAVE.—The dry atmospheric condition of the
galleries of Mammoth Cave led to a belief some forty years ago that
a continuous residence within these dark precincts for a definite
period would be beneficial to consumptives. The experiment was
therefore made by building a number of stone houses or huts at a
point about a mile within the cave, in which a colony of invalids
took up their abodes and lived in deep seclusion until it was
demonstrated by the death of several of the sufferers that they
derived no benefit from the surroundings. Relics of two of these
stone huts still remain, but they exist now only as curiosities, no
one having spent a night in either of them for many years.
]

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The entrance to Mammoth Cave is arched by a rock-span of seventy feet, thence leading by an easy descent down a winding flight of stone steps to a narrow passage through which the air rushes outward with great force in summer and is drawn inward with corresponding violence during the winter, a phenomenon due to the inequality of temperature between the air inside and out of the Cave, for the temperature of the Cave is uniformly 54° Fahrenheit at all times. The atmosphere being thus constantly agitated, is kept constantly pure, for while the lower levels are moist, being no doubt connected with Green River, the upper avenues and galleries are always dry; conditions which were one time thought to be particularly favorable to consumptives, as well as to those suffering from other wasting diseases. The experiment was therefore made, some forty years ago, of building thirteen stone houses at a point one mile within the Cave, in which a number of invalids took up their domicile and lived there in deep seclusion until it was demonstrated that whatever might be the salubrity of the atmosphere, consumptives derived no benefit from it, a number dying in the Cave. Relics of two of these stone huts still remain, but they exist now only as curiosities, no one having spent a night in one of them for many years.

The main cave is from 40 to 300 feet wide and from 35 to 125 feet high, divided into a great number of rooms and winding avenues, the extent of which has not yet been determined, for exploration of the Cave is far from being complete. Some of the best known rooms are, first, the Rotunda, in which are ruins of the old saltpeter works, and where the skeletons of two men were found several years ago. Beyond this is the Star Chamber, where the protrusion of white crystals through a coating of black oxide of manganese creates an optical illusion of great beauty. Another department is called the Chief City, a chamber of nearly two acres space, with a vaulted roof 125 feet high. The floor is bestrewn with rocks, among which have been found charred torches of cone, and a few other evidences of prehistoric occupancy. There are also shown some mummified bodies, preserved by their inhumation in nitrous earth, utensils, ornaments, braided sandals, and other relics, but all of these were found in Salt and Short Caves, near-by, and removed to Mammoth Cave for exhibition. The main cave ends four miles from the entrance, but is joined to other spacious chambers by winding passages leading to different levels, so that while the cavern area is perhaps less than ten miles, the total length of the avenues is supposed to be 150 miles.

The chief places of interest are found along two main lines of the explored portions, from which side excursions may be made. The “short route” may be covered in about four hours, but it requires nine hours to traverse what is known as the “long route.” Audubon Avenue is the first leadway, interesting for the swarms of bats that hang in huge clusters from the ceiling, but it is not until Gothic Avenue is reached that stalactites and stalagmites are met with. This passage leads into the Chapel, at the end of which is a beautiful double dome and cascade; thence we pass into the Throne-Room, with its royal formations of surprising splendors, which compel visitors to stop, and elicit exclamations of wonder and admiration. The Bridal Altar is almost equally grand, with its frosted pillars of pearl-white, and the convolutions of their magnificent pediments that may be likened to clouds in the sky of cave. Indeed, these vertical shafts or petrified columns are among the most surprising features of cave scenery. They are not confined to the Bridal Altar, however, for they pierce through all levels, from the uppermost galleries to the lowest floors, and even find lodgment in the sink-holes.

A block of stone that is forty feet long by twenty feet wide is called the Giant’s Coffin, and when viewed from a certain angle the resemblance to a funeral casket is so great that even if attention were not called to it, visitors would hardly fail to be a little shocked by the sight. There is a narrow passage-way around the coffin, which followed leads to a large vault called Gorin’s Dome, in which there are six pits varying in depth from 65 to 220 feet; truly, awful pits to fall into. Notwithstanding the treacherous character of the floor, Gorin’s Dome is one of the finest chambers in the Cave, for it is charmingly festooned and pillared with stalactitic formations. Mammoth Dome, which is at the termination of Sparks Avenue, is probably more interesting, because besides having its walls draped with a marvelous tapestry, the great wonder of the room is immensely increased and beautified by a cataract, which falls from a height of 250 feet and fills the apartment with its musical splashings. The Egyptian Temple, which is a continuation of the Mammoth Dome, contains six massive columns, two of which are quite perfect and eighty feet high by twenty-five feet in diameter. Lucy’s Dome, which is three hundred feet high, is the loftiest of these monster shafts, the equal of which cannot be found in any known cave in the world.

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BEAUTIFUL BOW VALLEY.—One of the peculiarly attractive and
picturesquely exquisite portions of British America is mountain-
begirted Bow Valley, 500 miles east of Vancouver, along the Canadian
Pacific Railway line. The region is wondrously diversified and
marvelously beautiful, holding within its compass not only a valley
of paradisaic charms, but also mountains of startling grandeur, with
crystalline lakes reposing on their bosoms, range breaking beyond
range, snowy crests gleaming with sunlight splendors, forests tinted
with softest hues, streams that murmur and cascades that roar, while
the valley is aflame with the richest colorings of daisies,
buttercups, bluebells, heather, wild pinks, anemones, and brianthus,
a symphony of beauty, a colossal bouquet decorating the marriage-bed
of nature.
]

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GIANT’S COFFIN, MAMMOTH CAVE, KENTUCKY.—This remarkable and weird
curiosity is composed of a huge block of stone forty feet long by
twenty wide, and when viewed from a certain angle the resemblance to
a funeral casket is so great that, even if attention were not called
to it, visitors would hardly fail to be a little shocked by the
uncanny sight. Standing within its presence it is almost impossible
to divest one’s self of the belief that he is gazing upon the last
resting-place of some tremendous giant, the guardian genius,
perhaps, of this lugubrious subterranean abode; and it is with a
sigh of relief that we pass on to more inspiring and splendid
scenery.
]

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The Maelstrom, in Croghan’s Hall, is one of the deepest and most awful- appearing pits yet discovered, and until 1859 no one had ever ventured to explore its dark recesses. It is at a remote point in the Cave and seldom visited, because the way is beset with obstacles, while the sight is neither reassuring nor compensating. A son of George D. Prentice, however, braved the dangers of the pit by permitting some of his friends to lower him 190 feet by a rope to the bottom, but his experience was of little value, because he found nothing of interest to reward him for the trouble. Some pretty stalactites are near this pit, and also in Fairy Grotto, but in the deeper recesses there is a remarkable absence of these formations. Indeed, considering the character and extent of Mammoth Cave, its poverty of stalactitic ornamentation is surprising. On the other hand, it contains an unexampled wealth of crystals of endless variety and incomparable beauty. Besides the sparkling vault of the Star Chamber, which is 300 feet long and 80 feet high, there are halls canopied by fleecy clouds, or studded by mimic snow-balls, and others displaying various grotesque resemblances on the walls and ceilings. Cleveland’s Cabinet, and Marion’s Avenue, each a mile long, are adorned by myriads of gypsum rosettes and curiously twisted crystals called “oulopholites.” These cave-flowers are unfolded by pressure, like a sheaf of wheat forced through a tight binding. This charming embellishment of clusters and garlands is frequently seen curling outward, like roses, composing petrified bouquets that cover the snowy arches.

This curious feature is even more marked by the stalactites in Mary’s Vineyard, where they appear in the form of an aggregation of spherical prominences, resembling clusters of grapes. Other chambers are drifted with snowy crystals of sulphate of magnesia, and the ceilings are so thickly covered with their efflorescence that a sharp concussion of the air will cause them to fall like flakes in a snow-storm.

Many small rooms and tortuous paths, where danger lies, are avoided as much as possible; but even on the regular routes through the Cave some disagreeable experiences are inevitable, while about the deep pits peril is always present. The one now known as the Bottomless Pit was for many years a barrier to all further exploration, and until a substantial wooden bridge was built across it. Long before the shaft had been cut as deep as now, the water flowed away by a channel gradually contracting until at a point called The Fat Man’s Misery the walls were only eighteen inches apart. The rocky sides are beautifully marked with waves and ripples, as if running water had been suddenly petrified. This winding-way conducts to River Hall, beyond which lie the crystalline gardens that have been described. It was formerly believed that if this narrow passage were closed, escape would be impossible; but a few years ago a tortuous fissure called the Cork-Screw was discovered, by means of which a good climber ascending a few hundred feet finally lands 1,000 yards from the mouth of the Cave, and cuts off nearly two miles.

The waters, entering through numerous domes and pits, and falling, during the rainy season, in cascades of great volume, are finally collected in River Hall, where they form several extensive lakes, or rivers, whose connection with Green River is known to be in two deep springs appearing under arches on its margin. Whenever there is a freshet in Green River the streams in the cave are joined in a continuous body of water, the rise sometimes being as much as sixty feet above the low-water mark. The subsidence within is less rapid than the rise; and the streams are impassable during a greater part of the year. They are usually navigable from May to October, and furnish exceedingly interesting as well as novel features of cave scenery. The largest body of water is called the Dead Sea, embraced within a basin formed by cliffs sixty feet high, above which a path has been made which leads to a stairway and thence to the River Styx, a body of water that is four hundred feet long and forty feet wide. Lake Lethe is the next water- basin, enclosed by walls ninety feet high, below which is a path that conducts to a pontoon at the neck of the lake. Thence a beach of the finest yellow sand extends for 500 yards to Echo River, the largest of all, being nearly one mile long, from 20 to 200 feet broad, and varying in depth from 10 to 40 feet. Two or three boats are placed on this Lethean or Stygian stream, in which visitors are taken from one end of the river to the other, and the trip is of such novelty that the remembrance of it is imperishable. To see the boats approaching, in the weird light of flickering torches, is like a vision of a spectral crew, funereal, sepulchral and almost horrific. The arch overhead is symmetrical but irregular in height, and is famous for its musical reverberations—not a distinct echo, for the repetitions are so rapid that they merge and become a prolongation of sound that continues for nearly half a minute. The long vault has a certain key-note of its own, which, when sounded, produces harmonies of almost incredible depth and sweetness.

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THE BRIDAL ALTAR, MAMMOTH CAVE.—The Bridal Altar is one of the most
magnificent spectacles of Mammoth Cave, with its frosted pillars of
pearl-white and the convolutions of their magnificent pediments that
may be likened to clouds in the sky of the cave. These vertical
shafts or petrified columns are among the most surprising and
beautiful features of cave scenery, and when brilliantly lighted
they present a scene of splendor surpassing the utmost stretch of
the imagination. Let us not, therefore, wonder that this is a
favorite resort for young married people, who come hither in the
rosy blush of their wedding dawn to plight the faith that makes them
one for time and eternity.
]

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In these Plutonian regions of perpetual night, where vegetation is only imaged by petrified efflorescence, many creatures find a congenial abode, and become so accustomed to this dark habitat that they cannot live elsewhere. Of the twenty-eight different species here found, the most remarkable are a blind and wingless grasshopper with extremely long antennae; a blind and colorless cray-fish, and a blind fish which grows to the length of six inches. These fish possess the additional curiosity of being viviparous, or producing their young in a living state, instead of by eggs. Occasionally other fish are caught in the running streams of the Cave which are identical with species common in Green River, thus proving the subterranean connection that exists between that river and the Cave streams.

The strongly marked divergence of these blind creatures from those found on the outside led Agassiz to believe that they were specially created for the limits within which they dwell; but the opinion now generally held is that they are modifications of allied species existing in the sunlight, and that their peculiarities are to be accounted for on the principles of evolution—the process of change being accelerated, or retarded, by their migration from the outer world to a region of silence and perpetual darkness.

Having concluded our examination of Mammoth Cave, we departed by the Louisville and Nashville Railroad for Louisville, at which city train was taken on the St. Louis Air Line for Wyandotte Cave, which was to be our last objective point in completing our extensive photographic tour of America. This very remarkable Cave, though not so generally known as Luray or Mammoth, is about ten miles south of the Louisville and St. Louis Air Line, in Crawford county, Indiana, and is only five miles from the Ohio River. We reached the Cave by way of Milltown, thence to Corydon, and from that point by private conveyance a distance of eleven miles. Entrance to the Cave is by way of a large opening in a hillside, the aperture being about six feet high and twenty feet wide, through which there is always a strong circulation of air like that noted at the mouth of Mammoth Cave, while the temperature is likewise uniformly 54° Fahrenheit. A short avenue leads into a chamber known as Fanueil Hall, whose dimensions are 200 feet long, 50 feet wide and 25 feet high; thence the route conducts through Twilight Hall into Columbian Arch, which resembles a railroad tunnel, so symmetrical is the excavation. Washington Avenue is next entered, which, followed, brings the visitor to Banditti Hall, where the ceiling rises to an immense height, and the walls are jagged, as is the floor, with protruding rocks, so that this chamber is both forbidding in appearance and difficult to traverse. At this point the main gallery branches, one avenue leading to what is known as the Old Cave, and the other conducting by a longer route to more interesting apartments than those before passed. Through a narrow crevice the visitor gains a room called the Bats’ Lodge, and beyond this is Rugged Mountain, which is in the center of a circular room, where Epsom salts of sparkling purity and vast quantities of gypsum in efflorescent beauty cover the arched vault. Seen under torch-light the effect is indescribably magnificent, and is the first striking intimation which the visitor receives of the extraordinary grandeur to which he will be presently introduced. Following the long route we cross a lovely sand-deposit known as the Plain, but find an abrupt termination of this level walk and are compelled to climb the rock-bestrewn Hill of Difficulty, then squeeze through a small passage-way from which we find present relief by emerging into Wallace’s Grand Dome, one of the most magnificent chambers, as well as the largest, in the Cave, being 245 feet high and 300 feet in diameter. In the center is Monument Mountain, a tremendous stalagmite formation above which is an immense dome beflowered with curling leaves of gypsum that bear a wondrous likeness to the foliage of the acanthus. At the apex of the mountain is a stalagmite one hundred and twenty feet in circumference, which has been broken by some force into three columns, which, viewed from the base, admirably counterfeit three monuments, or ghosts clad in robes of gleaming whiteness, from which fact the chamber takes its name. Visitors are usually treated to a superbly grand sight while examining the splendors of this hall, for the guide disposes his company about the base of the mountain, and ascending to the summit he extinguishes his torch in order to bring the visitors under the influence of dense darkness for a few moments. Suddenly the peak is lighted up with a dazzling splendor, as the guide touches off green, blue, red and orange lights, bathing the chamber in a sea of flaming beauty and bejewelling its lofty arch until Aladdin’s Cave of our imagination is reproduced.

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THE RIVER STYX, MAMMOTH CAVE, KENTUCKY.—Some idea of the grandeur of
the waterways of Mammoth Cave will be obtained from the following
description: The largest body of water is called the Dead Sea,
embraced within a basin formed by cliffs sixty feet high, above
which a path has been made leading to a stairway and thence to the
River Styx, which is forty feet wide and four hundred long. Lake
Lethe is the next water-basin, enclosed by walls ninety feet high,
below which is a path that conducts to a pontoon at the neck of the
lake. Thence a beach of the finest yellow sand extends for five
hundred yards to Echo River, the largest of all, being nearly one
mile long, from twenty to two hundred feet broad, and varying in
depth from ten to forty feet. Two or three boats ply this Stygian
stream, in which visitors are taken from one end to the other, and
the trip is of such novelty that the remembrance of it is
imperishable.
]

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ENTRANCE TO PILLARED PALACE, WYANDOTTE CAVE.—There are many grand and
splendid halls in Wyandotte Cave, of which the most attractive is
Pillared Palace, in which gypsum and stalactites occur in the most
charming and imposing forms. This hall is particularly entrancing in
its sumptuous and architecturally beautiful decorations. It is from
five to six feet high, forty or fifty wide and several hundred long.
The ceiling is a complete fringe-work of stalactites, while the
floor is as thickly set with stalagmites, many of which uniting with
the former produce pillars of the grandest proportions, beautiful
beyond the power of imagination to describe. Drapery of every
conceivable style is seen in the utmost profusion, some of it
transparent as crystal and resonant as a silver bell when struck
with a metal substance.
]

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THE THRONE, WYANDOTTE CAVE.—Although less celebrated than Mammoth or
Luray Caves, Wyandotte fully equals them in many of its wondrous and
beautiful formations. The Throne and the hall in which it is located
are truly marvels of Nature’s handiwork. Imagine great bunches of
white, delicate, branching coral, twisting, curling and interlacing
itself, serpent-like, into every conceivable fantastic shape, and
you have only a faint idea of the truly extraordinary scenery of
this glorious temple erected by Nature. In all directions are to be
seen fantastic examples of stalactite formations, and marvelous
decorations of whitest gypsum. Huge rocks, overhung by galleries of
creamy stalactites, with vermicular tubes intertwined, while frozen
cataracts and vine-like pendent forms cluster along the walls in a
profusion almost incredible.
]

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Beyond Wallace’s Dome there are a hundred halls of great magnificence, in nearly all of which are seen fantastic examples of stalactite formations, and marvelous decorations of whitest gypsum, Milroy’s Temple being a very exhibition-room of these exquisite curiosities: huge rocks, overhung by galleries of creamy stalactites, vermicular tubes intertwined, frozen cataracts and vine-like pendant forms of stalactites, cluster along the walls in a profusion almost incredible. Imagine great masses of white delicate branching coral, twisting, curling and interlacing itself, serpent-like, into every conceivable fantastic shape, and you have only a faint idea of the truly extraordinary scenery of this glorious temple erected by nature. Other halls of almost rival splendor are known as Snowy Cliffs, Frosted Rocks, Fairy Palace, Beauty’s Bower, The Throne, and Pillared Palace, in all of which gypsum and stalactites occur in the most charming and imposing forms. Pillared Palace is particularly entrancing in its sumptuous and architecturally beautiful decorations. It is from five to six feet high, forty or fifty feet wide and several hundred feet long. Its ceiling is a complete fringe-work of stalactites, while its floor is as thickly set with stalagmites, many of which latter unite with the former, making the grandest pillars. Drapery of every conceivable style may be seen, some of which is as transparent as crystal and rings like a silver bell when exposed to a light blow. After Pillared Palace comes the Palace of the Genii, which for delicate formations even excels the former. Here are found stalactites of every conceivable form, many of them as white as if they were made of sugar or whitest marble.

Passing through Fairy Grotto, Neptune’s Retreat, and Hermit’s Cell, the visitor enters a larger chamber invested with the same charming ornamentation, and in the center is a rich canopy of stalactite overhanging a stalagmite which has been likened by some imaginative person to a chair richly upholstered. This is called the Throne, a designation appropriate enough, for it is one of the most royally beautiful curiosities in the Cave, as the illustration will show.

That portion known as the Old Cave, while scarcely so interesting as the galleries and vaults of the long route, contains several halls of much interest and one, called the Senate Chamber, which rivals Wallace’s Dome. In the center of this room stands a mountain whose top is covered many feet deep with stalactite formations, upon which stands the Pillar of the Constitution. This is an immense stalagmite measuring seventy- five feet in circumference and thirty feet high, reaching from the top of the mountain to the ceiling above, fluted and carved after a manner that would have put to shame the most extravagant architecture of Rome’s most halcyon days. The world has not yet produced, so far as civilized man knows, anything of the kind to equal it. A writer says of it:

“Before us arose a considerable hill, upon the top of which stood, like a column supporting the ceiling, a vast stalagmite like an immense spectral-looking iceberg looming up before us, appearing as though it had just arisen from the foaming waves of the ocean, on a dark and foggy night. In the uncertain light of our lamps it presented an appearance grand, if not appalling; but when the Drummond light had been set off, all this changed to the most unearthly beauty. The ceiling above, with its long fringes of stalactites, came out to view, and the great pillar could be seen in all its grandeur and beauty.”

Beyond this is Pluto’s Ravine, where stands Stallasso’s Monument, a large white stalagmite, marked all over with pencil inscriptions, some of them sixty years old, composing an autograph album of wonderful curiosity, containing hundreds of names which to fame are otherwise unknown, and effusions of doggerel poets whose reputations, alas, will no doubt be forever restricted to the limits of this cave chamber. A short distance beyond Pluto’s Ravine is the termination of this section of the Cave, and from this point return is made to the open air. A ramble among the subterranean glories and petrified splendors of Wyandotte Cave was a fitting conclusion to one of the most interesting tours that was ever taken through the picturesque regions of our country; a tour affording so much information, pleasure, adventure, and profit, that the remembrance must forever remain a source of intense satisfaction and delight. It was with feelings of deep regret that we separated after the completion of our work, and each returned to his respective home, to take up anew the old labor which we had laid down when the start was made upon our long journey. During the trip our photographers took five thousand pictures; many of these were taken under unfavorable conditions, and upon development were found unworthy of reproduction. Many others were excellent and well deserving to rank with those which we have here used, but there is a limit to all things, and ours does not exceed the space occupied by the 520 odd views which we have presented; these, however, are fairly representative of the incomparable scenery that charmingly diversifies our native land, a land kissed by the lips of liberty, bounty, and beauty, and blessed with an amplitude of powers, under the exercise of which the largest freedom, benefits and sovereign rights are obtained for the whole people.

[THE END.]