As a
concert hall its capacity has been tested by musicians who are said to
have been enthusiastic over the success of their experiments. Several
years ago a piano was lowered into the cave for use on a special
occasion, and still occupies a position on the dancing platform, where
it will probably remain indefinitely under the scant protection of a
small canvas tent.

The chief ornament of the Auditorium is the White Throne, a stalagmitic
mass that when viewed from the stairway appears to rest solidly against
the most distant wall, and looks so small an object in that vast space
as to render a realization of its actual measurement impossible. The
height of the Throne is sixty-five feet and the girth two hundred. It is
a mass of dripstone resting on a limestone base reserved from the
ancient excavation to receive it, and on careful inspection the
perpendicular lines, observed on the front, are found to be a set of
rather large organ pipes. A fresh fracture shows the Throne to be a most
beautiful white and gold onyx. The outer surface has now received a thin
coating of yellow clay which was, of course, regretted, but later
observations on onyx building reveals the pleasing fact that if the
crystal-bearing waters continue to drip, the yellow clay will supply the
coloring matter for a golden band of crystal.

The Throne is hollow and has a natural opening in one side by which it
may be entered, but the space within is too limited to invite a lengthy
stay. That portion of the outside which is nearest the wall is formed
with sufficient irregularity of outline to admit of an ascent to the
top, and the view obtained is well worth the difficult scramble up and
the apprehensive slide down. Being raised so high above all objects that
divide attention or in some degree obstruct the view, permits a freedom
of outlook that sensibly increases the appreciation of the vastness of
the enclosed chamber and its enclosing walls. Efforts to establish the
age of the deposit by observations on the yearly growth, would afford
little satisfaction, for the obvious reason that conditions governing
the growth are dependent, in a measure, on each season's vegetation.
Deposit began, of course, after the erosion of the chamber ceased, and
therefore represents only a fraction of the age of the cave itself.
About thirty feet west of the White Throne and against the wall, stands
the next onyx attraction in the form of a beautiful fluted column nearly
t