for
a cloud burst over us the other night and nearly drowned us all."

It was evident the millers were working the same stream, which ran for
thirty miles underground, similar to the lakes in Florida, called sinks
(for Americans call everything by gross-sounding names), which suddenly
disappear, leaving all the fish stranded. Sometimes the water returns,
sometimes not....

Independent of the caves, the scenery around, to a lover of nature, is
well worthy of a visit, and for a summer resort is unsurpassed; shady,
romantic walks through the woods; a delicious air breathed from the
gigantic mouth of the cavern, whence, in the hot months, it blows cool
and refreshing; in the cold ones soft and warm; the actual temperature
of the cave never varying. The sensations of heat and cold are produced
by comparison with the outer air.

It occurred to a medical man some years ago that the _uniform
atmosphere_ of this cave might be a specific for consumption.

Possessed with this theory, the doctor had a dozen small houses
constructed in the cavern, about a mile or two from its mouth, and to
these he conveyed his patients. From the appearance of these places of
abode, the only wonder is that the poor invalids did not expire after
twenty-four hours of residence in them. They, however, contrived to
exist there about three months, most of them being carried out _in
extremis_. The houses consisted of a single room, built of the rough
stone of the cavern,--which, in this part, bears all the appearance of a
stone-quarry,--and without one particle of comfort beyond a boarded
floor, the small dwelling being constructed entirely on the model of a
lock-up, or "stone-jug." The cells of a modern prison are quite palatial
in comparison with them. The darkness is such as might be felt; and it
is impossible to realize what darkness actually is until experienced in
some place where a ray of sunlight has never penetrated.

From the mouth of the cavern to that part where the doctor's houses were
built was a continual, though gradual, descent, and at that spot there
was a solid roof of a hundred and fifty feet of earth. The houses--or
rather detached stone boxes--were so small that without vitiating the
air only one person could remain in them at one time; so that, besides
the darkness,--in case of any accident to their lamps,--these poor
creatures must have endured utter solitude. Their food was brought from
the hotel, two or three miles away, on