The workingman's advocate. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1864-1877, 1868-06-20

Oae Of party Of gentlemen who. on the
5th inst, visited the Canadian Mammoth
Cave, 10 miles from Ottawa, writes to the
Ottawa Times the following account of the
newly discovered wonder:
The mouth Of the cave 10 on the side Of
the mountain, and faces . beautiful lake
The whole height of the mountain 10 be-
tween two and three hundred feet above the
ienelb OF the lake, and the opening Of the
care appeared nearly one third Of the, dis
lance from the top, having overhanging il
besutifnl pines and cedars Of considerable
dimersions. In shape, the entrance was
eomewhat like that of . horse shoe, and
fully eighteen feet, both ~ TO height and
breadth. IL looked downward and upwards,
having gradual descent for a distance OF
fully "a feet, becoming funnel shaped and
contracted to height of Eve feet aud
width Of Is feet. At this point, our lamp
being lit and in good order, not knowing IL
foul air existed, We cautiously progressed in
8 bent posture until We ertered the fret
grand chamber, which afforded no small de-
gree Of interest. 1t appeared OF an oval
shape, 80 feet in length, q feet across, and
about feet In height. Passing ipvards in
an oblique direction TO the left we observed
an opening somewhat contracted, and lead
ing to second chamber. Here the heigh,
was 5 feet. This we entered on our hands
and knees, and came within the chamber.
which measured in diameter Is feet, the
height throughout beng little oyer S feet.
Do our fetuFn we observed fwo Openings 70
the left Of the first chamber, one anterior
and the ether posteri0r. The latter was en-
eaRaA h. - L. -
visa found % ascshd obliquely upwards, q
distance OF 3 feet, more or less shallow,
and beautifully encrusted with carbonate Of
lime, soft and cheesy, about thu centre Of
the cavity was observed Q most exquisite
column extending from the ceiling 20 the
floor, formed no doubt by the union of q
stalactite and stalagmise. The anterior
lateral chamber was next entered, and found
TO pass upwards distance Of 80 feet, at
which point the summit of the cavern was
fully so feet, more or less Of q Gothic
shape, and beautifully crnainented with
stalactites, and fripged Like sncrustatiOns of
carbonate Of lime.
Here We returned TO the entrance Of the
cave, and having observed a very narrow
passage 80 the left also, only in fact two feet
high. we crawled through and found our
selves in chamber By far the most inter-
esting of the whole. Is ascendsd distance
Of 80 feet and was mAgni6esasly sschsd.
On the way up, We were somewhat aston
ished upon observing the existence of re-
Elected light in the chamber above and OBJ
scured from our vieT more or less, by an
arch thrown across.
Here and there in each chamber were OBJ
served, on the sides and roof particularly,
VARIOUS portions OF rock composed OF
quartzite and other crystalliEed mineral
formations. Occasionally the surfaces Of
projecting masses Of imbeddeds rock pro-
sented beautiful and starlike appearance,
owing to the light reelected from small tubes
Of iron pyrites. In many places the stalsc-
titles were exquisitely formcd-and IN the
middle Of the largest Of the lateral cham-
bers, L centEs piece which surpasses in
beauty even the richest ofnamentation Of
the skilled artizan Of either ancient or
modern times. sEs M