The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1853-08-23

MAMMOTH CAvE.-Many persons will come from
Europe during the present year to see the beautiful
things to be exhibited in the Crystal Palace. There
some things in our country, however, worth see
ing that will not be exhibited in the Crystal Palace.
The Falls OF Niagara and the Mammoth Cave will
not be there. or tho great cataract indeed, good
idea may be obtained from Frankenstein's panorama;
but OF the Mammoth Cave no panorama can ever
furnish correct representation Like Philipss Ma
poleon, 1t is "grani, gloomy, and peculiar;" aud,
while we are talking Irish, we may as well say that
nothing but itself can initiate it. What pencil can
represent the gloomy grandeur Of these suberraaean
clifs2 Who would venture to paint Gorns Dome or
the Star Chamber? The Paint King, when ne wish
cd to paint the eyes OF the Fairy Queen, obliged
tiiul maiden He who shouli wish to represent the
darkness Of the Mammoth Cave must grind into
pigment the darkest feather Of the wing of night.
The lights which you take into the cave sometimes
seem TO shine against solid wall OF darkness.
If this subterraneau world had been known
to the ancient Greeks, its dark chambers would
have been poopled with beings adapted to its
gloom. The same imagination that filled the green
woods and the bright waters with sportivo nymphs,
would have furnished beings of gloom and terror to
these dark regions. Here, perhaps, Ulysses would
have evoked the discontinued shades of the dead,
and through the mouth Of this cavern would have
been the passage to che abodcs Of the internal gods.
Here would Orpheus have looked back for his lost
Eurydice and along these dark passages would Her
cules have dragged the three headed Cerberus Over
these waters ChaIon would have lcrried the unwilling
souls and here Pluto would have swayed his dark
sceptrc. Here Sisyphus, Iyon, and Tantalus would
have suffered their ceaseless tOrments. From the
mouth Of this cavern would the Furies have issued
when some mortal was TO be exposed to their terOrs
But perhaps the stern, dark spirit Of the Scandina-
Wan mythology would have been more at home here.
No filter place than this for the Hall Of Odin, or for
tho reycs Of those heroes whose cups the skulls
OF their enemies. When one stands at the mouth OF
this cave, il is easy to imagine it an enormous dra
gon, ccncealing its huge folds beneath the ground,
and sending forth its chilli breath against those who
dare to approach. Indeed there is scarcely any
gloomily sublime idea which may not be connected
with this cave.
After entering the cave, however, every idea that
partakes of the unpleasant vanishcs The pure air
nfnses life into every yen even OF the invalid.
The system is braecd the muscles and the spirit
qurc elasticity Tho laugh and the merry shout
seem TO come of themselves, and because they can
not help 1t. Every momont something new Is pre-
eented--somc enormous chamber, some massive
rock, some deep abyss, some fantastic form, some
strange apparent imitation OF objects in the outer
world. There arc rivers and lakes, mountains and
plains, flowers and traits, churches and pulpits.
There are caves within the cave and caves within
those caves. There is no end to this subterranean
world. man might travel in il during his whole
li!e and never find his way out OF those deep soil
tudcs and awful cells" As the largest cascades of
Europe spouts in con- purison with Niagara;
az the Danube and Volga orc mere riils compared
with tho Father Of Waters; SO the largest caverns
Of tho Old World are mere mouseholes in compar
sou with the Mammoth Care. Whoever returns to
Europe without seeing this wonder, ought to wonder
ut his own stupidity.--LogiSrilk Journal, dug 10.