The daily exchange. [volume] (Baltimore, Md.) 1858-1861, 1860-10-23
To Thaddeus Hyatt, Esq.
DISCOVERY OF A CAVE IN FLoRID

DISCOVERY OF A CAVE IN FLORIDA
The following account Of the discovery of re-
markabe cave in Florida, is from correspondent
of the New York Journal of Commerce, and comes
with such appearance of circumstantialty that we
copy it entire:
the structure of the under stratum of rock and
earth in Florida is cavernous to great extent In
deed, as far as explorations have been made the
ground presents the appearance of a honeycomb on
account OF the numerous cavities which are found
to exist. Those indentatons in the surface of the
earth called "sinks' abound here-some of them
dry and others partially filled with water; while
rivers disappear under the ground and are seen no
more. Florida is not only "the land of flowers"
but also the land of wonders. A few days ago Mr.
Henry Wooten, of New York city, and myself
started on hunting expedition, with the intention
of camping out several days. On Saturday, the
29th day of September we pursued deer into a
hammock, and attempting to ride through it, Mr.
Wooten's horse stumbled into small sink. While
Mr.. Wooten was endeavOring to extrcate his horse
| dismounted, and was engaged in examining a Gu
rious pile of stones which had attracted my atten-
tion. On one of them found an inscription, as if
craven with some steel instrument, but nearly obli-
| terated by the ravages of time.
Mr.. Wooten by this time had led his horse safely
out of the sink, and, on rejoining me- said he had
| discovered a cave. After yainly endeayorinp To
decipher the strange inscription which had found
| we each collected an armful of pine wood to serve
| for torches On arriving at the entrance we saw
by the light OF our torches that the bottom of the
cavern several feet below us. Handing nv
torch to my friend, prepared to descend, which
accomplished with ease, the rocks serving as steps
Wooten then handed me down an armfu of light
wood and TORCH and prepared to descend further
| We now found ourselves in subterraneous passage
| ten feet high and fifteen wide. We pursued this
passage for nearly half mile, it growing larger at
every step, and appearing to descend into the earth
by an easy inclination, when we unexpectedly found
| ourselves in cave of immense extent. We ex-
| plored it in every direction sometimes entering
small caverns which led off from the main cave
| We finally entered a sort of square doorway and
| found ourselves IN cavern of most beautiful ap-
| pearance, the reflection of our lights against the
sides producing magnificent effect. For the first
time in my life felt the full force of that beautiful
description which Goldsmith has given of the grotto
| of Antiparos.
| But the most wonderful thing that met our view
in this cave was Latin inscription, craven in the
solid rock. The inscription stated that party of
| Danes had visited this cave in the wear 1850 and
that priest who had accompanied them had left
| this memorial of their visit. The name of this
priest was Marcus Poleus. 1t also stated that those
navigators had embarked on a voyage of explora-
tion, and had been driven far SOUTH also that they
had visited many large islands, and finally bad
! landed in a thickly populated country, where the
people received them kindly, thinking them supe-
rior bengs that several of their number, together
with some Greek artisans and two priests had been
left there as colony This is the substance of the
| inscription as far as it could be deciphered Now
does not this suggest an important inquiry to the
antiquarian? Is it not probable that the islands
mentioned were the West Indies and NAV not the
country where they landed be Mexico? We all
know that the ancient Mexicans had a tradition
that about four hundred years before the landing
of Cortez in that country, "Children of the Sum-
with white faces, came to them and taught them
the arts of civilization. 1t is probable that this
| colony of Danes and Greeks with their two Latin
priests, were the persons referred to by tradition
| Perhaps many buried secrets concerning the early
history ofAmerica may be revealed by that strange
| devce2
This wonderful cave is easy of access, and situa-
ted a few miles from the Florida railroad, and
about ten miles from Waldo.
THE TRADE IN BREADsTUFFs AT THE WEsr.-The
| receipts of breadstutfs at Buffalo this year have
been on the grandest scale and have severely taxed
| the capacities of that town, in handling them. But
| it seems that still further increase is expected
with the re-opening of Lake navigation in the en-
| suing spring. Three new elevators are in process
of erection. The first in the catalogue will store
250,OOO bushels, and the next $780, 900 bushels, and
| the third 100000. The Buffalo Courier in noticing
| these improvements, says
There is also rumor of still another elevator pro-
ect, but this is not yet determined. As it is, Buff
falo, at the commencement of another year. will be
able to store 24000 900 bushels of the riches Of the
West, in her majestic Golfers