Bristol news. [volume] (Bristol, Va. & Tenn.) 1867-189?, 1869-10-15

Here, for centuries and ages and count
less time, deep down into the bowels OF the
mountain, Nature has done its HRreBgttiin1
work. Nowhere more than in one OF these
snbterranean workshops, where the silent
for, es toll 10 darkness, in absolute secrecy,
do we obtain that su FINEST reflection Of
the universe-the cesseless and immcasnr-
able sctiyity Of Nature Busy in the pro il.
found darkness. no measure of time in It,
no intermission, work every moment. nan
sleeping aud resting aud dying, tat the
hidden structure ever, ever going on, going
on as we are looking at II, going on ia stony
indifference to the lights that we hold up,
yet going on when we have turned the
scene into darkness, and travelled away,
and listen to the rock drips until lost in the
dista ace Of our retreat. &
We repeat that our explorations could
only be partial, rs the extent Of the cave is
as yet unknown, and so little has the Curl
osty of the neIghbors been taxed with This
natural wonder thai q Is yet without name
except that which our party agreed to be-
stow upon it: the Gave ofthe Unknown"
1t was said wild animals had been chased
into 1t aud it had been found impossible to
to discover THEFT retreats. There we're sew
eral ap natures noticed by us, which might
be increased 50 as to admit the body OF a
man, and stones cast through some Of these
gave n hollow sound, denoting enlarged
spaces beyond. But our short snd feeble
lights and the ignorance of our guides,
caused us to make hasty and somewhat
lnxiOus return to the light of heaven. One
of the guides once sent n thrill of horror
through us, already chilled in those awful
depths Of cold air and impressed by the
"A s.N., :
that locked at us in the broken da rkness ami
from the saffron walls, calling out to his
companion who had Nandered into another
gallery, and saying, after painful hesita.
ton, that he believed zoe toere lost! But the
cheerful light of day soon shows us Us vel
come again; and right glad are we to emerge
into it, although the atmosphere and it IS
that of an October day--is almost sitting,
rs we pass too suddrnly into it from the
III and buried air of the cave.
The fact is, the structure of the whole
country about here is caver Gus. VIVA, we
heard OF caves and grottoes aud tunnels and
sul'terranean chamrers was enough to give
me n crusty sense of ms curity in traversipg
such u country. Near the house of Mr..
Horton, ab ut three mil, s on the road re-
turning from the Natural Tunnel To Eslill-
vile, Wa were pointed to the partly choked
exit Of tunnel presenting little that was
curious or grand as seen from the roadside,
and that might have b en- passed W thout
notice, but which We were assnrs d opene8
INTO an Irregular passage wa, two hnndrG
feet high in some Of ITS pa Is, and at one
point WED, enough, as coun'ryman dc
cri ed ii, to turn SIX horse uam in il,
aid extending nile and half through the
mountain ridge, We were also told that
there was body of water in it through
which some boys had swum.
BLuoMI>G ROCKS.
The narrator of the wonder just mention.
ed, an old count yman, displayed consider.
y lie ihoneh uncultivai cd yigor of mind "a
| expstlati"g on the attractions of the country
IL he did not al egether murder the King's
English" he yet persisteHtly khocked an
out If cuciosHy. There we're Z" curosities y
lnnumerable in this region. He would like
t., sell to the writer al IN he eviden ly
misc for Yankee specu aor) a thIus-
AID acres of them.
"Wby, SIR" he Continued, pointing with
animated &c lures to n wooded height q
toy, there is rocks blooming up theIe,r
! that boom the time"
| "Wha /" we exc aim. "0h, you meal
| various solored MOSES on the rocks"
"No, sir. There is MOSES plen y; bu
there's yaller blooms, some little as you
hand and some big as bushers bead III
b ightest WALLER you ever saw, in the no K
| can show you n ~ 10 of them, all blooming
around you, same as flower garden"
II re iGdeed was a new feature of noun
tain scenery, a new wonder; and when ",
had ridden 10 zee it, We found that the oi,
countryman had really supplied a graphic
word, asd that he had the unconsciou
e emeuts Of 20 try in his rude desc iption
There were rocks which doomed We coui,
,raco we'll deaded ridge of rock runnini
amile aud haf on which there were no
only patches of rich mosses, back AM
purple, but spots and irregular spaces o
the most brilliant yellow crusted in th
ok, its colors apparently a. live as thos
of the richest plaut or flower. At certai
times Of the yer the colors Of these crust
are found no fade, and then brighten agai
as fiuwars do-so that the term bloom
ever more viAidly cuIrect than we had a
irs: SUPPOSED. IL was new aud strang
appeal to the imagination. Tue long Iidg
which the eye might follow running ava
through the foliage. its spots of black an
purple and yellow gilt ering in the sun, IA
lik the knotted Icing h of a monster serpent
its stripes and patches of differen' csloI
& ancing through the leaves
1t lsa pity to spoil such picture by har
words of hineralOgv. SO we proeose I
leave work so unwelcome TO the Ieonocla
of science or, atleast 10 defer II until "
can get back 10 our books in Lyuchburg.
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