The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1862-01-30

i II, u
even heard of by that vast array of crusaders,
who, epenstock in hand, hunt after the mag
nifcenti will TAX one place for example, Ly-
| ing high back from the Lake of Thun, is the
Justis-Thal a narrow valley of singular grand
eur and wildness. On either side, walls Of rock
| tower perpendlcularly two or three thousand
feet; gushing stream pours with glddy roar
through it's very heart struggling chalet may
| be met with here and there at long intervals
| whilst huge boulders torn by the action of tins
! from she mountain ridges, strew thedew grassy
spots in what it seems paradoxical to cali plain,
and which affords scanty pasture to drowsy
| flock of goats and COWS.
But the most remarkable phenomenon of this
Scared valley is the Schafoeh huge ice cav
ern, bored, as it were, in the solid rock, nine
| hundred feet above the level of the valley, and
apparently inaccessible to human APPROACH
Neither the peasants Of the village nor the noun
| taineers could give any account of the interior.
The oldest inhabitaut did believe that some bold
adventurer in his younger days had reached it,
but it was dangerous enterprise, forsooth, and
even that exploit had faded into tradition. For
tunately on the outskirts of the town of Thun
it might have been at Hilteriigen whose pref
| ty church, on d beechen knoll, overooks the
! bright waters of the lake-there dwelt,I heard,
mi ddle-aged man, who had really once visited
! the cavern but that was many summers age.
and who even boosted that his memory of the
track still served him well enough to reach it
once more He would venture to act as guide
he said, should l or my friends like to explore
| that isolated region. - will leave my wife
and children in pledge with the syndic," he ad-
| ded if don't bring you back again safe.
We wound slowly up out of the village by
a zigzag pathway, at first wide enough for
horse TO traverse. At last, after a four houIs
ascent,we wendell our way through what SEEM
ed to be a natural gateway of the mountains,
and suddenly confronted the valley OF the JUS
tis. Thai A new scene now opened before us
A small plateau lay ait our feet which presented
a scene Of desolation it would be as difficult to
forget as it would be to describe. In addition
to the mighty boulders which seemed scattered
| about by the hands ofgiantsor the sons OF Anak
| struggling in an angry mood, IL was evident
| that the spot had once been forest some
| pines, towering hundred feet,S stood erect
others had been snapped Oft midway, and their
lofty heads dropped downwards to the earth
others, again, lay prone on the ground, smgly,
/ or huddled together, like c0rpses on battle
field But the most extraordinary phenomenon
was theiI trunks and branches which had been
/ literally stripped of their bark Some were black
as though scared by lightning; others were al
g.ady Converted into the softest Lockwood,
which cEumbled into dust on the least handling
Everywhere the melancholy signs of decay and
desoIatiOn presented themselves and it requir-
J
| had reached the outskirts OF nature.
At this point, ne SChatIOch Eas in full view "a
mile or more IN front Of US ; but how was it to
be reached? There no beaten track he
rock was almost perpendicular; the surface
crumbled beneath our feet, AMI the slightest
mistep would precpitaie US thousand feet IN
to the valley beneath. We embarked upon The
crumbling debris, the dust of ages, and sank at
once deeper than our ankles in rho stony detri-
! tus At every step a mass of this uncOmforta-
| bic and unstable terrain was set III motion, aud
! it was scarcely possib TO prevent ourselves
moving downward with it. Occasionally, rhe
force of this sliding mass would communicate u
| locomotive impetus to huge boulder, when
might be heard sound Of something leapiug
aud dashing from point to point, crashing thro'
brakes and bambes, or the branches OF trees,
and at length plungiug, with voice of thunder
into some cryptic ciasm, there 10 rest till dOoms-
dav. | had however, learned 10 walk the noun,
tain side and notwithstanding the almost in
surmountable difficulties OF the path we had to
traverse, / contnved, by the use of the alpen
stock; which served as kind OF Blondin's bal
ancing-pole, as the exercise of anervous eau
ton. to reach the entrance Of the cavern
1t might be thirty feet high by forty wide, the
roof rising internally like domed vault, until
another twenty feet added to the height
The threshold for fifty feet or SO was strewn
with the rough pavement of splintered rock the
sharp edges Of which cut like the blade OF
knife or huge boulders, so smooth and slippery
with perennial damp, that it was almost impos
sible to scramble over them; OF, perhaps, a
! huge quadranguar slab, polished as glass
mirror, on a gradient Of fifteen or twenty de-
prees. invited the foot only to betray. Not many
feet beyond US blazed innumerable stars, which
gstened like splnge, or diamonds in the ebon
/ horizon.
From the roof the water had evidently Oozed
down from time immemorial Its fall however,
had beaz arrested by an icy hand, even at she
roof as fresh streams from rock above penetrated
through and tricked over the cOngeoed surface,
icicles grew aud grew until they reached the
| ground, but instead of falling perpendculaHy
10 the floor they formed outward and bent in
ward Inteilacing these props, as it were, OF
sfrncture built from the top, frozen bands OF
branches which intersected each other, created
the most pei feet trelIiswork, or, more properly
speaking, the most delicate fligree work. Tho
result was a scene of real enchantment, and
seemed Transported in a dream, into the
midst of an Eastern paradise, Kiosks' with iu-
Vulnerable minarets, pavions,oI painted pa
| oodas. or what you will, rose before me, vanish
no, away in the distance, all of the purest crys-
tai NV guide iikened he view to pine grove
clad in snow but he illustration was feeble 1t
MIGHT have been better to have described it as a
i Gnfbic cathedral the pillars in the nave being
copsfruc ed of glass, and lit up from the Interior;
hut eVen this smlitude is faint and imperfect.
--Tcmpia BlT.