ROMANCE AND MYSTERY OF CAVES.—THE FAMOUS CAVES OF THE WORLD.—THE GREATEST CAVERN ON THE GLOBE.—ITS IMMENSE FAME.—AMERICANS’ NEGLECT OF IT.—CAUSE OF THEIR INDIFFERENCE.—SITUATION OF THE MAMMOTH CAVE.—ITS MISERABLE MANAGEMENT.—ANNOYANCES AND IMPOSITIONS PRACTISED UPON TOURISTS.—JOURNEY THROUGH THE VAST TUNNEL.—WHAT ONE SEES, FEELS, AND DOES.—CONSUMPTIVE GHOSTS.—WONDERS OF THE STAR-CHAMBER.—DESCENT INTO THE BOTTOMLESS PIT.—CROSSING THE STYX AND THE LETHE.—MARVELLOUS ECHOES.—STARTLING ACCIDENTS.—WOMEN IN AWKWARD SITUATIONS. Caves in all ages have been associated, not only with mystery and romance, but with sorcery and superstition of every conceivable kind. Fable and tradition have converted them into the abodes of demons and witches, and history shows that robbers and law-breakers have always made them places of refuge and shelter. Every mountainous or picturesque region I have visited has abounded in witches’ caves, robbers’ caves, murderers’ caves, and caves generally, in which supernatural rites and horrid deeds are supposed to have been celebrated or committed. The dark, dreary, and weird quality of many caves, added to their unique and fantastic formation and uncertain windings naturally awake a feeling of awe, and appeal strongly and strangely to the imagination. The ancient priests, in order to influence favorably the minds of the ignorant, pretended that the divinities they claimed to interpret had their residence in deep and dreary caverns, and that thence they revealed their mighty purpose to their mortal agents. The oracles of Delphos, which princes and sages were wont to consult, were interpreted, as it was assumed, by a priestess sitting at the mouth of a cave, and claiming to predict the future of nations, and tell the destiny of kings. The old Norsemen performed their barbarous rites in caverns; the Indian Brahmins devoted caverns to religious purposes, and from natural openings in the rocks constructed gorgeous temples. These subterranean chambers were doubtless the earliest abodes of men, and even now, in certain uncivilized regions, they are so employed. Petra—the Sela and Joktheel of the Bible—continues to be visited as a curiosity, because its ruins plainly indicate that its inhabitants dwelt in spaces hewn out of the solid stone. That caverns were used for the dead as well as for the living is evinced by the Catacombs of Thebes, Rome, Naples, and Malta. [Sidenote: MYSTERIES OF CAVES.]