The Rocky Mountains, the end of the long route, extend about a mile, and are nothing more than an extremely rough surface detrimental to the physical comfort and shoe-leather of those going over them. Women seldom attempt this passage, which has little to commend it except the difficulty of its execution, and the probability of fatigue in its accomplishment.
EYELESS FISH IN THE ECHO RIVER.
I should have mentioned the celebrated eyeless fish, peculiar to the Echo and other rivers. They have been the cause of many scientific theories and speculations among savants, who have deduced from them either that Nature does not furnish organs which are of no use, or that organs unemployed cease to exist. Abundant as the fish are, it is difficult to catch them, and I was considered extremely fortunate because I secured three or four in as many minutes. I gave them to a man who had dabbled somewhat in science, and he was very grateful for the present. I told him he need not be, for I would rather have half a dozen brook trout or a Spanish mackerel for breakfast than all the eyeless fish the Mammoth Cave contained. These sightless little creatures, generally about four inches long, resemble ordinary minnows, though of a rather darker hue, and more inclined to translucency.
On the short route, the Giant’s Causeway, the Gothic Chapel, the Grand Dome, and the Star Chamber, especially the last, have the most reputation and attract the most attention. The Causeway receives its name from its likeness to the Causeway on the coast of Ireland, and the likeness is considerable, as I can testify by actual observation.
The Chapel is striking and picturesque, albeit there is no more reason to call it Gothic than Doric or Ionic. It closely resembles a chapel, and I should fancy Nature might have been in an ecclesiastico-architectural mood when she formed it.
The Grand Dome is seen through a large opening in the wall, and shows to great advantage, being about one hundred feet below the ordinary level, and one hundred feet above, and possessing a vastness and majesty to which few other parts of the cave can lay claim.
WONDERS OF THE STAR CHAMBER.
The amount of rhetoric the Star Chamber has given rise to is beyond calculation. It has supplied innumerable similes, and has been discoursed upon in every language. The Chamber is some seventy feet high, and the roof is composed of crystal of gypsum, and black oxide of manganese. As soon as we entered the Chamber, the guide took several of our lamps, descended into a hollow in the rock, and threw the light therefrom upon the ceiling. The effect was wonderful. The light, striking upon the crystals of gypsum, made them look precisely like stars, and—all the lower part of the vault being in deep shadow—created so complete an illusion that I could hardly doubt but that I was standing under the evening sky. Never was space so elongated. Those seventy feet seemed immeasurable. The longer I gazed, the more the shining ceiling appeared like the heavens. I could scarcely believe that I was under ground, and that the green grass and trees were growing above my head. I was completely lost for a while, just as any one will be after a long and earnest contemplation of the stars; and when the guide stepped out of the hollow with the lamps, and changed the scene entirely, I felt as if I had been awakened from a dream. My companions were unreserved in their expressions of astonishment and delight, and “beautiful,” “splendid,” “magnificent,” “marvellous” were the adjectives that dropped momentarily from their lips. The Mammoth Cave would be well worth visiting, if its only wonder were the Star Chamber. I have seen it a number of times, and each time its beauty is greater, and its illusion more complete.
