If the visitor thinks he has seen something up to now, he is due for a surprise, for a few moments later the winding pathway leads to the first of the many scenic rooms for which the Carlsbad Caverns have become so famous. Appropriately named the Green Lake Room, this first of several similar chambers is breath-taking in its beauty. Its name is derived from the small green pond seen to the right of the trail, which is fed by drip water from above, a pool so clear its depth is easily seen. On the ceiling above are huge masses of stalactites, at times so thick as to form curtains of stone, varying from reddish brown to a light grey, intriguing in their staggered form and defying description by even the most talented poet or writer. On beyond the pool the visitor marvels at the Veiled Statue, a pillar of dripstone which resembles a frozen waterfall and which began its existence about 100,000 years ago. [Illustration: © BY ROBERT NYMEYER The Painted Grotto--Big Room] Many visitors have said at this point they have had their money's worth. This one room alone was worth their whole trip. Actually, they aren't yet quite half way, and there is more to come. Continuing on past the Frozen Waterfall and the Bashful Elephant, both named for the effect they give, the traveler enters the King's Palace which, to some, is the most ornate of the many chambers the entire Park has to offer. Thousands of stalactites hang from the ceiling, at times resembling stringy mosses hanging from the limbs of trees. Some, appearing to hang at a slight angle, give the impression the "stone moss" might be swaying in the wind. Underneath there is a noticeable scarcity of corresponding stalagmites, and geologists think the floor at this point was at one time covered with water, which would prohibit the formation of the "floor icicles." The eye roams over ever-changing forms with no two quite alike, and the immensity of the room alone is sufficient to remind man what a small mortal he be, after all. At the far end of the Palace are seen two pendants, stalactite and a stalagmite which come within a fraction of an inch of kissing. Now dead, they will never touch; hence the name, the Frustrated Lovers. And, as though they might have been the King and the Queen, they are found at the small passageway that connects the King's Palace with the Queen's Chamber, another room of similar shapes and decoration which do indeed remind the visitor of the ornate finery to be expected in Her Majesty's domicile. The countless rows of stalactites look like driplets of finely woven lace, stretching over much of the ceiling not unlike the frills of a canopy one might expect to find adorning the Queen's bed in her castle.