New-York daily tribune., 1842-09-03

hole 2" we returned an unequivocal aad emphatic
ives he clapped heels TO his horse in twink
ling, evidently determined TO have no further COM
muncation with persons of such stamp as our
selves.
A rough walk over Balls Mountain, and half an
hours floundering in the darkness through swails
and over fences and paslure-land, we at last
brought up at log hut somewhere, we supposed,
in the vicinity Of the Cave. Here, however, we
learned ,ha, Mr.. Wilbur. the person who acted as
guide, lived still farther on through the fields,
and also the comfortable and agreeable inforna-
tien that he, with his family, were In all proba-
bility absent from home. Z" Pleasant, truly,
growled my friend, who by this time did not
relish the idea Of retracing our steps, and in
whose brain visions of beds and repose were fit
ting with all the temptingness that long walk OF
thirty miles would be apt to induce. Push
ahead, keep moving our motto, and we
1ectisn Of Mr.. W.s house. On arriving, the sud-
den light which streamed from the window raised
our spirits from zero to their natural level and in
less than fifteen minutes all preliminarics were
arranged, and we were stretched Oh as comfortable
bed in as neat log cabin as the country affords
Old Somnas was " on hand, ~ and buried US Oh into
the land of dreams before we had time to reflect
upon our rather novel situation The early dawn
found US up and stirring, and after doing ample
Justice to the really excellent meal our kind hostess
| had provided we set out, with our guide and ac-
coutrements, for the brisk walk of fifteen
minutes brought US to large wood, in which, on
is located Here we were first apprised OF the
fact that during the fifteen or twenty years this
Cave has been known, candles and small terches OF
pine wood had alone been used by the visitors.
| How people can submit to use the latter miserable
smoke generator is not easy to conceive, especially
when white birch is as plentiful it is here. Our
guide himself knew nothing Of its use, and we were
compelled to make torches from them ourselves.
The opening to the Cave is nearly circular and
about eight feet across, presenting to the eye the
appearance of large, unfathomablc we'll Havng
deposited hats, &c. and bound our Eandkerchiefs
around our heads, we lighted our candles and
commenced our descent by ladder placed there
for the purpose. The ladder is 20 feet in length
and rests upon q shelf Of the rock. Thus far the
descent is perpendicular, but from this narrow
shelf to the depth of $50 feet farther, the descent
varies somewhat from the perpendicular Cling
ing alternately to the rocks and trunks of trees,
which have been thrown in to facilitate the de-
scent, we at length reached the bottom of the en-
trance. This is over two hundred feet below the
surface, and here daylight never reaches. A few
steps farther brought US to little stream, which
we followed some distance to the lake in which it
empties. Here we found small boat firmly
chained to the rock. After unloosing it we en-
tered with our guide, seating ourselves upon the
bottom, to steady the boat and guard our heads
from the roof. 1t required no great effort of the
Imagination to conceive ourselves in old Plutos
demain, and our guide, alternately padding with
his hands and pushing forward against the rocks
that archAd fo.. foot ~hev THO uvoi Of the
water, Termed pretty good representative, tn
appearance, to the ferryman of the Styx. The
passage over this lake is narrow, and beautifully
and regularly arched over head, with cornce
running parallel on either side. The lake is about
ten or twelve rods in length; and having passed it
and secured our boat in safety-for without it we
should never have been able to return-we scram-
bled upward and onward for considerable dis
tance to the big room This is perhaps, eighty
or hundred feet long, forty wide, and rising in
some places to the hight Of forty feet With OF
dinary lights it presents the appearance of a stu
pendous cellar, bat when we lighted our torches
the scene was really magnificent, and the myriad
of water drops pendent the roof and sides
seemed like burning gems. Our guide, though ne
had visited it so often, declared he had never
seen it before" and was in perfect raptures with
scene so novel. Formerly there were many
stalacttes dependent from the roof, but they have
long since been carried off. There is still in
corner large staagmite Of pure, white carbonate
of lime weighing probably many tons, from which
we procured several beautiful specimens
Having examined the winding branches from
this room to their extent we proposed to retrace
our steps. Having used candles alone in our en-
trance, we now took our torches, still burning,
and commenced our return. BY the light of these
we discovered that there were many pointed rs
sules in the rock extended to great hight pre-
sen,iug an appearance that alone would amply re-
pay visit, In recrossing the lake we witnessed
feature before uanoticed The water is of the
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