The wonders of the world : $b a complete museum, descriptive and pictorial, of the wonderful phenomena and results of nature, science and artAbbott, John Loraine
Science
The wonders of the world : $b a complete museum, descriptive and pictorial, of the wonderful phenomena and results of nature, science and art
Abbott, John Loraine
Curiosities and wonders
“Emerging again into Cleveland’s Cabinet, we passed on to its
termination, where we ascended the Rocky Mountains, a vast pile of
loose, broken rocks, one hundred and sixty feet high, which have
apparently dropped down from the cave above, leaving a vast vaulted
opening in the cave above, to indicate the place from which they have
fallen. Beyond these mountains, the cave branches in three directions.
We took the branch leading to Croghan’s Hall, the remotest point in the
cave that has yet been visited, and _nine miles from its mouth_. On the
right of this room there is a deep, awful pit, into which we threw
stones, as we had into many others, and heard them roll and bound from
rock to rock, down a distance of one hundred and eighty-five feet. The
water from some point below us runs over these rocks, and flows off, no
mortal knows where. This hall contains large, massive pillars,
elaborately carved and ornamented by the Invisible Architect,
stalactites and stalagmites of various beautiful forms, and its walls
are festooned with that rich drapery which no art can imitate, and which
only decks the grottos, bowers and halls of this wonderful cave.
“After refreshing ourselves here from a pleasant spring, we started on
our nine-mile tramp for the mouth of the cave, taking only a hurried
glance of the varied objects of interest as we passed them. We, however,
sailed very leisurely down Echo River, or the Jordan, as it is also
called. We again had solos and choruses, and drank in rich delights from
this enchanting sail. When we reached Lethe, some of our party
determined to send their clothes across in our boat and swim over. They
accordingly plunged in very boldly, but hurried out in the quickest time
possible; and the chattering of teeth, shivering, leaping and running to
get warm again, seemed more befitting a bath in February, than in one of
the hottest days in August.
“I had now made four different visits to the cave, traveling, according
to the reckoning of my guide, about fifty-four miles. Very few visitors
explore it as thoroughly, and yet I had not gone over one-third of the
space that has already been explored. The guide says that two hundred
and fifty different avenues are already known, measuring the distance of
one hundred and sixty-five miles. The temperature of the cave is
uniformly about fifty-five degrees, and its bracing, invigorating
character may be judged from the fact that ladies, some of them quite
delicate, are constantly taking this ‘long route,’ traveling a greater
number of miles than most men would think of going on foot above ground.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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