which our guide had disappeared, a light like the rising of the moon, which grew larger and larger, until Alfred emerged through some opening from the regions below, and appeared in the distance in the same cave in which we were standing. “After leaving this chamber, which was more beautiful than any we had entered, we made our way to the Gothic Gallery. This avenue was unlike anything we had yet seen. It is some four or five rods wide and three-quarters of a mile long, the path over which we walked being much more level than the most of those we had walked over, and much of the wall over our heads looking almost as smooth as if it had been plastered. In this avenue we visited the Haunted Chamber, so called from the fact that two mummies were discovered here many years ago; Vulcan’s Forge, so called from being very dark, and a formation resembling cinders; and near its end the Gothic Gallery. This room has a great variety of stalactite and stalagmite formations, many of which have formed solid massive pillars. As we approached the Chapel, our guide made us all stay behind, while he went ahead, taking all our lamps with him; and when we went forward at his call, we found each of our lamps hung upon some one of these pillars, and illuminating a room, compared with which Taylor’s saloon on Broadway, or the most gorgeous saloon New York can boast, is simplicity itself. These formations are a wonderful curiosity. They are of a very light color, are nearly as hard as granite, and are said to be formed by the drippings of lime water. They are in a great variety of shapes, to which a great many fanciful names have been given, such as the Pulpit, the Devil’s Arm-Chair, the Pillars of Hercules, &c. “I had intended in this letter to speak of the chief points of interest in what is called the short route through the cave; that is, the portion of the cave that is visited without crossing either of the rivers. I made two visits on this side of the rivers, the first time traveling about six miles, and the second time traveling ten miles and a half. But I am the more willing to pass by the Bandit’s Hall, Mammoth Dome, Persico Avenue, Crockett’s Dome, Snowball Arch, Bunyan’s Way, and other places of special interest, with a mere mention of their names, from the fact that it is so entirely impossible to describe them. Some of these are but rarely visited, and it costs no little effort to reach them. But however narrow the fissures in the rocks through which we squeezed, however steep and slippery the ascent, however long the distance we had to crawl on our hands and knees, we were always more than paid for our pains.