VIRGINIA. 07

merits of a war between rivers and mountains, which must have shaken theearth itself to its centre.

In the lime-stone country of Virginia there are several caves of considerableextent. The most remarkable one is Wier’s Cave , which is on the north side ofthe Blue Ridge, and on the south fork of the Shenandoah. It is in a hill, which isabout 200 feet in perpendicular height, and so steep that you may pitch a bis-cuit from its summit into the river which washes its base. It was discoveredin 1304. Its entrance is only about 100 yards from that of Madison’s Cave ,another celebrated cavern, which, though it has been much longer known, isgreatly inferior to Wier’s Cave . The following is an account of a visit to thisextraordinary place.

There were three of us, besides our guide, with lighted torches, and our loinsgirded, now ready to descend into the cave. We took our lights in our lefthands, and entered. The mouth was so small, that we could descend only bycreeping one after another. A descent of almost 20 yards brought us into thefirst room. The cave was cold, dark, and silent. In this manner we proceeded,now descending 30 or 40 feet—now ascending as high—now creeping on ourhands and knees, and now walking in large rooms, the habitations of solitude.

The mountain seems to be composed almost wholly of lime-stone, and, bythis means, the cave is lined throughout with the most beautiful incrustationsand stalactites of carbonated lime, winch are formed by the continual drippingof the water. These stalactites are of various and elegant shapes and colors,often bearing a striking resemblance to animated nature. At one place we sawover our heads what appeared to be a waterfall of the most delightful kind,descending 12 or 15 feet. Nor could the imagination be easily persuaded thatit was not in reality a waterfall. You could see the water dashing and boilingdown, with its white spray and foam, but it was all solid, carbonated lime-stone.

Thus we passed on in this world of solitude; now stopping to admire thebeauties of a single stalactite; now wondering at the magnificence of a largeroom; now creeping through narrow passages, hardly wide enough to admitthe body of a man; and now walking in superb galleries, until we came to thelargest room, called "Washington Hall. This is certainly the most elegant roomI oversaw. It is about 270 feet in length, about 35 in width, and between 30and 40 feet high. The roof and sides are very beautifully adorned by the tin-sels which nature has bestowed in the greatest profusion, and which sparklejke the diamond, while surveyed by the light of torches. The floor is flat,smooth, and solid.

I was foremost of our little party in entering this room, and was not a littlestartled on approaching the centre, and by my small light seeing a figure as itwere rising up before me, out of solid rock. It was not far from seven feethigh, and corresponded in every respect to the common idea of a ghost. Itwas very white, and resembled a tall man clothed in a shroud. I went up toit sideways, though I could not really expect to meet a ghost in a place like this.On examination, I found it was a very beautiful piece of the carbonate of lime,very transparent, and very much in the shape of a man. This is called Wash-ington’s Statue.

In one room we found an excellent spring of water, which boiled up, slakedour thirst, sunk again into the mountain, and was seen no more. In anotherroom was a noble pillar, called the Tower of Babel . It is composed entirelyof stalactites of lime, or, as its appearance would seem to suggest, of petrifiedwater. It is about 30 feet in diameter, and a little more than 90 in circumfer-ence, and about 30 high. It would appear as if there must be many millionsof stalactites in this one pillar.

Thus we wandered in this world within a world till we had visited 12 verybeautiful rooms, and as many creeping places, and had now arrived at the end,a distance from our entrance of between 2,400 and 2,500 feet, or about half a

N