of pearl is lost to view; and from there an up-hill trip is
taken through a narrow crevice to Whale Flat, which is the natural
history room, with a large whale as the show specimen.

Going out from here we enter another crevice which serves as a steep
stairway descending to a lower level, and measures from top to bottom
one hundred and eighteen feet. This is called Rip Van Winkle's Stairway,
and although merely a high and crooked crack in the rock, is very
beautiful because heavily coated with crystal, the effect being
especially striking at the top where the crystal is partly worn away and
leaves exposed patches of red rock.

At the foot of the Stairway is the first room containing water, and is
called the Gypsy Camp. It is the most charming chamber yet visited, with
not the smallest spot of plain or common rock visible. The ceiling,
walls, floor, and groups of fallen rocks, are all unbroken masses of
pearly calcite in crystals of varied sizes, with here and there a patch
coated over with pure white carbonate of lime, or supporting a bunch of
fragile egg-shell, which is a thin, hollow crust of lime carbonate,
almost invariably having the pointed form of the dog-tooth spar. And
there are also beautiful mats and banks of dainty white carbonate
flowers. While waiting here for the guide to go in quest of the lunch we
had carelessly left behind, the time was utilized in measuring the room,
which is a small one. The size of the cave and our limited time for
seeing it, prevented much-desired measurements from being taken in all
parts of the cave.

This room was found to be forty-eight feet long, the irregular width
varied from fourteen to thirty feet and the height from four and
one-half to ten feet. The crystal water basin is especially beautiful
and the water so clear that we stood looking into it with
disappointment, being thirsty and thinking it dry, until the guide
laughingly dipped and offered a cupful. The basin is the segment of a
circle rounding beneath a massive, overhanging crystal ledge of
wonderful beauty, and is nine feet long by two in width. This room and
the Stairway into it are alone worthy of a visit, but there is much that
is finer still.

Out of Gypsy Camp by way of Gunny Sack Crawl, so named by the workmen
who spread gunny sacks to relieve the torture of crawling over the
beautiful floor of sharp crystals, we enter the first chamber, where
active operation is still maintained and certain branches of