"My final conclusions in regard to Fairy Cave were that it was about six hundred feet long by from fifteen to forty feet wide and from eighty to ninety feet high: that in the upper story there are rooms that I could not reach, that will amply pay the scientist and explorer to investigate in the future: that probably we reached all the accessible parts in the level we traveled: that the temperature was fifty-six or very near that degree: that small as it is, it contains the finest formations and grandest scenery I have ever seen in a cave: and I have examined over one hundred of various sizes. I believe that for interior beauty its equal is not to be found in America, and I sincerely believe that the verdict of future exploration will establish the truth of the assertion, but as equally good judges differ on such matters, time will be required for a true and just decision. There are yet many promising caves to be explored in this region, and if my strength holds out a few years I hope to see them all. "T. S. Powell." POWELL CAVE. As a measure of consolation for the disappointment of not seeing the beauty of Fairy Cave, Mr. Irwin suggested that only a quarter of a mile further on was another, recently discovered and worthy of a visit, although small. In that region of steep hills and sharp-edged rocks, a great amount of travel can be added to the experience of a tender-foot in a short distance. The quarter of a mile seemed to stretch out in some mysterious way as we worked on it, but the variety and abundance of attractions are more than ample compensation. The view was fine, including as it did the deep ravine and grassy, wooded slopes rising three hundred feet above, with here and there a handsome ledge of marble exposed like the nearly buried ruin of a forgotten temple of some past age. Scattered about in great profusion among the broken rock on the surface of these hill-sides we observed a water deposit of iron ore. It is a brown hematite and in some cases shows the structure of the bits of wood it has replaced. Since this region has from the earliest time produced a generous growth of vegetation, the decay of which has yielded a never-failing supply of acids to assist in carving the caves and then in their decoration, the presence of the ore is not difficult to account for. The whole Ozark uplift being rich in iron, the acidulated drainage waters coming into contact dissolved and took it in solution, to re-deposit where and when conditions should be favorable. These conditions were found in the basin among the hills and along its outlet.