Vandalia Whig and Illinois intelligencer. [volume] (Vandalia, Ill.) 1832-183?, 1834-10-23
the cave, and is undergoing the process Of

"
the aborlgines of the country, of whose
rambles in the cavern there are numerous
evidences.
"Obscure they went, thro' dreary shades that led
"Along the waste dominIons of the dead.''
We pursued our route quarter of mile
farther, sometimes being compelled to sioop
when we came to a pit seventy feet in
depth by measurment. The diameter of
Its mouth is about ten or fifteen feet. We
held our lamps in IA position to obtain a
view of its walls some distance downward,
which are perpendicular, and appear as
regular as if they were the work of art
Near this pit, in the floor of the cave, is a
fine cool spring, from which we all drank
freely. We continued our walk a short
distance over smooth sandy floor, to wha t
has been named the "bottomless pitt
name applied with much proprety. 1t ex-
tends quite across the cave, IN front, Ieav-
ing narrow passage into another branch
of it on the left, never yet explored, and is
about thirty feet in diameter at its mouth.
Its walls, as far as they could be seen, are
much the same as those of the pit described
above. Into this abyss, line with weights
attached to it, has been lowered three hun
bred feet, without certainty then, of hav-
ing reached the bottom. We had prepar-
ed ourselves with some small fragments of
rock, for the purpose of preciptating into
1t. In descending, before contact with
the walls, they produced several seconds, a
bIIzVInn sound. tbop fbe i IL
echoes made by the first remote contact, -
then fainter and still fainter report, until
all sound died away upon the ear, appar
emily from the great distance, rather than
from final stop in the downward progress
of the rock. 1t seemed indeed. as the
name of the abysm imports, that in this
"lowest deep" there was ga lower deep''
from whence no sound could ascend. We
stood here several minutes, engaged in
reading and carving names on the chalky
rocks, and the supulchral noises and ech-
oes, produced by the drops of water falling
into the chasm, so nearly resembled distant
shrelks, groans, and lamentations of hu-
man beings In agony, an their struggles
to escape from confinement, as several
times, inconsiderately, to be taken for re-
atty. The reflection, that we were then
IN subterranean labyrinth, six hundred
feet at least, below the earth's surface, SC
remote from human assistance, and so dan,
gerously situated, that If by accident our
lamps should be extinguished, extrication
would be hopeless, possibly might have
contributed to excite urnerves, and to pro
duce tor the moment, unusual vividness OF
Imagination. This we think no, only Dos
slble but probable enough, Tor 1t seemed in
deed, as if we were
"Jnst in the gate, and in the Jaws of hell,
l"Where 'yehgeul cares and sulIen sorrows dwell
'hnd pale diseases, and repining age,
"Want, fear, and iamine's unresisted rage:
"Where death: Il tolls, and deaths half brother
| sleep,
|" Forms terrible to vlew) their sentry keen:
with anxious pleasures of guilty mind,
deep frauds before, and open force behind:
ne luues' iron beds: and strife that shakes
"iieF Kissing tresses, and unfolds her snakes.n
Our forward progress was here inter.
rupted, for, although we could see the
continuation OF the cavern beyond the
chasm just described, it would have
been madness to have attempted to
reach it. We therefore retraced our
steps nearly quarter of a mile, and en-.
tered without difficulty, another branch
of the cave, the floor Of which the dis
lance we followed it, (about one mile
was principally composed OF loose mass.
es of flint rock. The curiosity tina, frs,
attracted our particular admiration. in
THIS cavern was the s'dome of Washing.
ton, "a magnificent dome having The
shape of bishops mitre. about fifteen
'eel at the base, and sevcnty-ive feet in
height. We entered this dome by de.
scendlng ten feet through small door
on the left Of the cave. It's form at the
base is nearly round, and its walls have
all the regularity Of construction and
perfection of design, characteristic OF
the incest masonry. Leaving this by
the same door we entered il, and pursu-
ing our forward course few hundred
yards farther, we arrived at the entrance
10 the "dome spring" on our right hand.
This dome is larger at the base, and
loftier, than the one just described, and
excited full measure of wonder and
admiration, both for its perfection of
form and construction, and spaciousness
OF dimensions. Its shape is that of a
regular cone, about 90 feet in diameter
al the base, and a hundred or 1870 feet