The Hickman courier. [volume] (Hickman, Ky.) 1859-current, 1878-08-16
A BAT CAVE.
A Curious Cavern IN sosth~estern Te,as.

inhabited by BATS lsttoM the pen of a
gentleman who hasseeently visited the
place. and who furnishes it to rs for
publication
A very curious cave is found not far
from san Antonio, Texas The interest
attaching to it is not y much in its ex-
tent, or in the brillisney Of its crystal
lizations, as in the extresrdinary number
of its inhabitants, and in the enormous
deposits of valuablss chemical sub
stances which it eonta
After a drive of twenty two miles in
northeasterly direction, tue last ten miles
being exceedingly IousA, We ascended a
high limestone ridge E verlooking the
country for twenty -ets9SI y miles in
e,oiy direotio9 - ,Ss=ssta III
the direction Of the q country, as
far as the eye could reacA, Lsy spread out
before US, clothed in the deNp green of
the early SIMMER, and dotted fere and
there win cultivated fields of the
settlers; while to the nohhward
the country is broken into rug
ged but picturesque ranges Of hills,
rising almost to the dignity OF nouns
tsins, and closed in cedarsnd dwarf live
oak. On this ridge we were told we
should find the object OEour visit, and
very soon after ascending an unmistak-
able odor of ammonia greted our nos
trils and continued % increase in
strength until we reaGed the cave,
where it was at first alDst overpower-
/ ing. The mouth of tie cave, some
thirty or forty feet wide by twelve or
/ fifteen high, is at the bottom of ''sink
hole about forty feet blow the surface
of the ride.
Here we made our arrangements for
entering and exploring, " lighting our
candles and leaving behid our surplus
clothing. For some 2Otfeet the day
light, entering by the cse's mouth, WAS
quite sufti cient to enabltus to see that
the walls and ceiling Fere composed
of a hard, BLUSH limesOne, and that
there was a total s5senc OF stslactites,
stalagmites, and other OSCILLATIONS or
coDcretions arising from Eater peTcoiat-
lug thi ough the roof of ne cave, which
appeared to be perfectlyEater tight.
If we failed TO fiud hose geological
and meteorological wondrs that make
other caves so interesting we found such
an extraordinary prodiality OF animal
life everywhere around and about us
that, if we were not tilsd with awe, we
were at lesst sstonishedIeyond measure.
The cave was perfectF alive with un-
counted millions Of lesner-winged bats
hanging to the walls nd the ceilings
were everywhere seen Enots of these
creatures, like bees thatiave settled"
and the air seemed litrally alive and
vocal with the incessail hum of these
a,XLiads in eessele.,a gGaLently
for distance of fiftyOr sixty yards, all
the while sinking up 70 our ankles in the
dry bat manure, we reached the main
floor of the cavern.
Here the depositof guano seemed
more solid, but still perfectly dry. By
this time the light from the mouth of
the cave failed us, md the bats, which
had before avoided us, were now
incessantly slapping us in the face,
knocking off our hat, and extinguishing
our candles, not from any resentment at
our invasion, but owing to their multi
tudes and their utta insbiiity to keep
out Of our way They were particularly
troublesome and numerous in the narrow
passage into which ou guide now led us,
and it seemed impossible to go forward.
Dozens of these disgusting creatures
would strike US ever, second, but finding
them harmless we pushed forward snd
reached the main cae.
1t is oblong in shap, being about 200
feet long by nearly 100 feet wide. The
walls are of gray limestone, are nearly
perpendicular, and support dome>like
ceiling, some thirty FEET high. Our guide
was of the opinion that there is near the
ceiling an opening into another cave of
still greater extent, but as we had no
ladders we were unable to verify the
truth of this statement.
The owner of the property, few days
before our visit, set some workmen to
sinking a shaft from the top of the
ridge, so as to penetnte the dome of the
main cave, and during our visit we could
distinctly hear the sound of the blows
of the sledge and drill above our heads
The depth OF the deposit is not known,
but we were informed by the proprietor
that he had penetraed to the depth of
twenty-five feet. without reaching bot
ten. How much deeper it is he could
not tell. He said hehad had some cal
culatiOns made by aeompetent engineer
as to the number of lsps in the deposit,
on the basis of depth of twenty-five
feet, and superficial area of four acres,
and the amount was over $4,000 tons.
1t is very certain at least that the amount
Is enormous, and constantly increasing
by daily deposits,
ne SudIL, WHcH Will ldCIll-
tate the removal of tn. guano to the
surface, where it is to be put in sacks and
sent to market. We were told there is a
ready sale for the article in Europe.
where it commands price which affords
handsome profit to the shipper.
The proprietor showed us the results
of several analyses made by chemists in
London, Hamburg, Charleston and Balti-
more, which showed the guano to contain
from eight TO twelve per cent. of ammo
MIA and from three and half TO four and
half per cent. each of phosphoric acid
and nitric acid, comparing fayorably in
percentage ofammonia with the Peruvian
cuano, now being Imported in such guam
titles into this country The amount OF
inorganic matter (ssnd, etc., } was shown
by these analyses to be very small, less
than two per cent.
The cave seems perfectly dry, and the
fact that it has neither stalactites nor
stalagmites shows that there has been
no drippings from above, which would
have worked out the valuable salts ol
the ruano AMI renderedit valueless.
Alter spending an hour in this weird
csva-n nntiI our ears felt banumbad h.,