The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1870-11-04
r. ..':-wooa's Work on the Mammoth Cave

Dr.. ":-wood's Work on the Mammoth Cave.
The following article, from the Phila-
delphia Eoening Bulletin of October Sd, is
from the pen of the managing editor of
that journal, who, it seems, paid visit to
the Cave after having read DR.. Forwood's
historical and descriptive account of the
same. No higher compliment could be
paid to this unique work:
GA visit to the Mammoth Cave in Ken
lucky has enabled the writer of this to
judge of the value of recent publication
Of Messrs. ]. B. Lippincott s. Co., called
Historical and Descriptive Narrative of
the Mammoth Cave of Kentucky by w.
Stump Forwood, NJ. d. The book was
briefly noticed in this paper when it first
appeared last spring; but a personal
knowledge Of the Cave is needed to under
stand its full value ; and, after obtaining
this knowledge, we are able to say that DR..
Forwood has written description of this
most marvellous of natures maryels, which
is faithful without being in the least ex-
travagant and which can be read and re-
read with delight by every one that has
ever visited the Cave. Repeatedly, since
our visit, have its mysterious passages :,
silent waters, awful domes, and vast cham
ocrs been brought before the minds eye
on reading his pages, and for this reason
we wish to recommend the book to all
who have ever been in the Cave. Aud to
those who have not been in it, but who
hope to visit it, we also recommend the
work as one to study preparatory to the
most novel and awe-inspiring ofall the pos
sible experiences of a tourist. 1t is true
that no description can fully prepare
visitor for the wonders of the Cave; but
this book of DR.. Forwood's contains much
which, if carefully studied, will help ex-
ceedingly in first exploration.
During the war of the rebellion the
business of the Mammoth Cave suffered Sc
verely, because pleasure travel was not
possible or not safe in that region. 1t is
recovering since the peace, but the num-
Der ofvisitors is still very small and it is
rather remarkable that there are in the no.
tel register almost as many names of for
eignes-English especially-as there are
of citizens of the United States beyond
kentucky and Tennessee. These latter
Stats of course, furnish good many cas-
ual visitors, some ofwhom come ON cxcur-
sion frolics, or to get subterranean mar
riase ceremony, or for some other trivial
purpose. We made no accurate count, but
wedoubt if among the names of the past
summers visitors, there were fifty from
Philadelphia, New York or Boston COM
bi1ed. And yet the Mammoth Cave is the
most wonderful of the worlds wonders;
the most awful, but yet the most captiva-
ting. 1t is almost enchanting, in the old
sense of that word, as used IN the Arabian
Nights and as Irving used it in his early
stories; and it is enchanting, too, in the
commonG sense of the word. No one can
90 through it without fancying that he is
in the mythic realm
"Where Alph, the sacred river ran
Through caverns measureless to man,
Down to a sunless sea;
for that the Cave, with its numerous branch
es, was once the passage for great subter-
ranean river and its tributaries, no intelli-
gent visitor can doubt. He walks over q
deposit of river sand in the avenues, the
walls of which show the attrition of water
through countless years. There is singu-
lar resemblance in the wearing away of the
limestone qualification, to that one NAV
see In various rivers not subterranean, in
the Limestone regions Of daylight; and in
the vast halls that are passed before enter
ing the narrow, intricate, and difficult
aisles, there is, under the faint light of the
lamps, wonderful illusion of atmosphere,
sky, stars, clouds, and infinite space over
head, that makes one fancy he is voyaging
on some mysterious river, with the peculi
arity OF having around him not particle
of natural light, and not an atom of vege-
table life. The skies of this underworld
are rocks; the shores of these mystic lakes
and rivers are herbless; the fishes that
dwell in then are eyeless the beetles, the
bats, the rats, and the other creatures that
illustrate the mysteries of life in these cav
ernous depths, are of distinct natures un-
known in the sunlight
description Of such scenes is apt to be-
come rhapsodical. Pictures of them are
sure to be failures. But the magnesium
light has enabled the photographer to
give faithful illustrations of certain objects
in the Cave and some of these have been
well reproduced by TYPOGRAPHY for DR..
Forwood's book. Failing, like all others,
to give any idea of the Mammoth Cave,
we can yet honestly recommend this book
as valuable study for new explorer,
and delightful means Of recalling its
strange scenes to those who have already
explored it,