Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1878-11-23

M the Illusion | clambered up
nj some loose stone and passed II
nf hand between two of the slabs Wi
he my candle; the effect was gran
nd I'm mediately opposite Is most 81
oil perbly shaped canopy of viii
a stone, the folds looking as soft as
. made of white cambric. This cal
or opy, with its draperies, is full
os eight feet from end to end and abol
~ the regular size in other respect
- In the middle of the room is a mas
- of blue and colored stone, Whic
- could easily be taken for roughl
- made altar; the walls are brillian
- = with stalactite. From the ceilin
:, !, are thousand pendants as white a
,; the driven snow, looking as if the,
had been cut and fashioned fron
3 the purest marble. Leaving thi
ii chapel we pass through large hall
,f way, in which we find a beautiful
!. little stream of the purest water con
:, stantly flowing; j never drank bet
o ter. Proceeding few feet further
, we came to a trap door in the floor
and were informed that there were
: four small chambers under our feet
Passing on we come into a larger
room, whose brilliancy was even
greater than any we had yet seen.
AN IMPERIAL CHAMBER.
Everything here was in immense
!, masses-glittering stone of all de-
! scriptiOns. From one side of the
wall, at height of five feet, with a
width of nearly the same, and on it,
as if sitting in chair, was a perfect
figure, the profile of which we all
simultaneously exclaimed resem-
bled Napoleon /. A little to the
right an immense formation re-
sembling an eagle extended two
i huge wings over third of the en-
closure, while further on to the
right were two perfect anvils, their
bases imbedded in the rock of the
floor. This room has been named
"the blacksmith shop" Leaving
the ladies at this point we climbed
a small hill, wet and rather muddy,
passed through O. low archway and
found ourselves in another chamber
on the verge of miniature lake
five feet deep, and so clear that,
with the aid of our candles, we
could discern every stone i'm the
bottom. This lake is about twenty
five feet long and fifteen feet wide.
In this room | collected several
specimens of stalactites, and also
the most perfect imitation OF pieces
1 of sponge have ever seen. In the
middle of this room is a mound of
blue stone with a polish that re-
| f1ected our faces. Masses of cauli- 4
flower seemed to be growing over I
abe mound, and on one side several /
punches of grapes. One OF these
| punches was so perfect could
scarcely realize that it was natural
formation. / could with little .
trouble have cut it off, stem and all,
and was very much tempted to do
So. The ceiling of this chamber
seemed to be composed of the soft
est sponge, interlarded with clus-
ters of diamonds. Immense slabs
hanging from the ceiling of differ
ent thickness, about two feet wide Z
and tapering to four or five inches.
twelve and fifteen feet long, almost
as thin as sword blades and of
beautiful buff color, added to tho
beauty of the scene. When struck
by any hard substance they gave
out musical sounds similar to sounds
made by bells. Our guides proposed
to US TO cross the lake over q small
bridge they had recently construct
ed, but we declined, as the structure
looked rather fragile, and took an
other route to the vaults beyond.
THE GREAT THEATRE.
Retracing our steps through seve-
raj rooms aud corridors, our guides /
took an opening TO the left and led {
us through several other rooms and ;
over several beautiful little streams |
of limpid water to the edge of :
small precipice. Following the
edge of this precipice few yards {
we found place to cross, and sud- {
denly found ourselves in the vesti- &
bule as if of large theatre. On {
every side of us WeSe beautiful
white columns and pillars, looking ]
as if they had been sculptured from s
the whitest marble. A few steps t
further brought us into the audito- c
rum of the theatre. In all my life c
] never saw a grander structure i
above ground. Three tiers of gale '
ries seemed to stand out before us i
we seemed to be in the orchestra /
circle, with the pit at our feet. q
Where the stage should have been t
a dark pail seemed TO obscure the $
scene. 1t looked terribly grand. |
We could not help recalling those I
powerful and beautiful lines of Poe Z
on "The WOrm''-"Once upon a c
gala night" etc. Moving around I;
our SO-called theatre we selected q a
different position, and holding our r
candles near each other a scene of T.
brilliancy seemed to 4
burst upon us, From every corner h
and creyice of this chamber spar n
kted the hues Of the rainbow O
Oies, emeralds, Sapphires, daZzled Il
our eyes, while blue and buff colon t,
lades, mounds of silver and bronze, n
huge clusters of icicles, some twenty Il
feet in length, appeared, and again o
the front of an organ, nearly as large Il
IS the great organ at the Centennial, 81
the slabs with my cane the r,
most melodiOus sounds came from G.
hem, and echoed and re echoed I
through the hundreds of small @
chambers contained in the cave. a
THE SKELETONS CHALBER. = =
Leaving the chamber we walked s
through q brilliant corridor and b
'ound ourselves in a room with a I
ow ceiling and less brilliant than "
some others, and here, somewhat to ti
our horror and greatly to our sur q
prise our candles flashed upon the il
Detrified skeleton of man in kneel- =
ne posture, with head thrown hack G.
Is If he had died in agony and Il
prayer. Several medical men have II
examined ii and have come to the
that 1t must have been
here for centuries. That it is the
skeleton of man there is no doubt; II
It is perfectly formed throughout /;
he knees have grown to the rock in
he floor. Leaving the skeleton 10 #
axe care Of himself we crossed in a .,
small skiff (Which had been hastily -
constructed for the purpOsel what Is u
,alled Muddy Lake, body Of \
water three or four feet deep and a,
,bout thirty in length.
THE GIANTS HALL. n
Here we disembarked and walk G
ng through a long corridor found Il
ourselves in probably the most inn fl
nense chamber in the world. The h
have endeavOred to a
il in rough way, and find r.
t covers an area of at least eleven d
acres, but this may be low esti- q
nate. We renewed our candles a
md walked through it for several u
hours and yet did not see the half b