a niche of great size in the wall on
the left, and reaching from the roof to the bottom of a pit more than
thirty feet deep, down the sides of which, water of the purest kind is
continually dripping, and is afterwards conducted to a large trough,
from which the invalids obtain their supply of water, during their
sojourn in the Cave. Near the bottom, this pit or well expands into a
large room, out of which, there is no opening. It is probable that
Richardson's Spring in the Deserted Chambers is supplied from this
well. Passing the Well Cave, Rocky Cave, etc., etc., we arrived at the
Giant's Coffin, a huge rock on the right, thus named from its singular
resemblance in shape to a coffin; its locality, apart from its great
size, renders it particularly conspicuous, as all must pass around it,
in leaving the Main Cave, to visit the rivers and the thousand wonders
beyond. At this point commence those incrustations, which, portraying
every imaginable figure on the ceiling, afford full scope to the
fanciful to picture what they will, whether of "birds, or beasts, or
creeping things." About a hundred yards beyond the Coffin, the Cave
makes a majestic curve, and sweeping round the Great Bend or
Acute-Angle, resumes its general course. Here the guide ignited a
Bengal light. This vast amphitheatre became illuminated, and a scene
of enchantment was exposed to our view. Poets may conceive, but no
language can describe, the splendor and sublimity of the scene. The
rapturous exclamations of our party might have been heard from afar,
both up and down this place of wonders. Opposite to the Great Bend, is
the entrance of the Sick Room Cave, so called from the fact of the
sudden sickness of a visiter a few years ago, supposed to have been
caused by his smoking, with others, cigars in one of its most remote
and confined nooks. Immediately beyond the Great Bend, a row of
cabins, built for consumptive patients, commences. All of these are
framed buildings, with the exception of two, which are of stone. They
stand in line, from thirty to one hundred feet apart, exhibiting a
picturesque, yet at the same time, a gloomy and mournful appearance.
They are well furnished, and without question, would with good and
comfortable accommodations, pure air and uniform temperature, cure the
pulmonary consumption. The invalids in the Cave ought to be cured; but
I doubt whether the Cave air or any thing else can cure confirmed
Phthisis. A knowledge of the cur