Rambles in the Mammoth Cave, during the Year 1844: By a VisiterBullitt, Alexander Clark
History
Rambles in the Mammoth Cave, during the Year 1844: By a Visiter
Bullitt, Alexander Clark
Bullitt, Alexander Clark, 1807-1868; Mammoth Cave (Ky.)
"In the digging of saltpetre earth, in the short cave, a flat rock was
met with by the workmen, a little below the surface of the earth in
the Cave; this stone was raised, and was about four feet wide and as
many long; beneath it was a square excavation about three feet deep
and as many in length and width. In this small nether subterranean
chamber, sat in solemn silence one of the human species, a female with
her wardrobe and ornaments placed at her side. The body was in a state
of perfect preservation, and sitting erect The arms were folded up and
the hands were laid across the bosom; around the two wrists was wound
a small cord, designed probably, to keep them in the posture in which
they were first placed; around the body and next thereto, was wrapped
two deer-skins. These skins appear to have been dressed in some mode
different from what is now practised by any people, of whom I have any
knowledge. The hair of the skins was cut off very near the surface.
The skins were ornamented with the imprints of vines and leaves, which
were sketched with a substance perfectly white. Outside of these two
skins was a large square sheet, which was either wove or knit. This
fabric was the inner bark of a tree, which I judge from appearances to
be that of the linn tree. In its texture and appearance, it resembled
the South Sea Island cloth or matting; this sheet enveloped the whole
body and the head. The hair on the head was cut off within an eighth
of an inch of the skin, except near the neck, where it was an inch
long. The color of the hair was a dark red; the teeth were white and
perfect. I discovered no blemish upon the body, except a wound between
two ribs near the back-bone; one of the eyes had also been injured.
The finger and toe nails were perfect and quite long. The features
were regular. I measured the length of one of the bones of the arm
with a string, from the elbow to the wrist joint, and they equalled my
own in length, viz: ten and a half inches. From the examination of the
whole frame, I judged the figure to be that of a very tall female, say
five feet ten inches in height. The body, at the time it was first
discovered, weighed but fourteen pounds, and was perfectly dry; on
exposure to the atmosphere, it gained in weight by absorbing dampness
four pounds. Many persons have expressed surprise that a human body of
great size should weigh so little, as many human skeletons of nothing
but bone, exceed this weight. Recently some experiments have been made
in Paris, which have demonstrated the fact of the human body being
reduced to ten pounds, by being exposed to a heated atmosphere for a
long period of time. The color of the skin was dark, not black; the
flesh was hard and dry upon the bones. At the side of the body lay a
pair of moccasins, a knapsack and an indispensable or reticule. I will
describe these in the order in which I have named them. The moccasins
were made of wove or knit bark, like the wrapper I have described.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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