me indicates, the walls are
vividly colored and represent the uncertain line which separates the
Carboniferous strata from the Triassic rocks. The color is handsomely
brought out here in contrast with masses of calcite crystal, so as to
present by the combination a charmingly beautiful room, from which we
retired, feet first, down a "squeeze" to the Bridal Chamber, where we
found ourselves perched on an irregular narrow ledge, high up on the
wall, and cherishing a private conviction that exploration had met a
checkmate; but the guide reached the floor and my nephew, Herbert,
scrambled down with as much ease as the chipmunk he had chased to the
house top a while before; so a little application settled the difficulty
and re-united the party. The room is an artistic study in red, and the
only reason for its being called the Bridal Chamber is that the way out
is decidedly more rough and difficult than that by which the entrance is
effected; this, however, is an observation not based on official
information.

Off to one side of this room is Lost Man's Paradise, also in red and
crystal, named in honor of the timely rescue of one who had faced the
possibility of becoming a lost soul.

Another Fat Man's Misery, on a lower level, leads from the Bridal
Chamber to the Big Dome, a large room with a fine dome-shaped ceiling
from which heavy masses of crystals have fallen to the floor; and down a
steep incline from here is Reef Rock, an immense fallen rock with box
work on the under side, which at one time served to ornament the
ceiling; and now this rock marks the beginning of Poverty Flat, a broad,
low passage of great extent, that has been robbed of all its wonderful
treasure of crystal and ends in a steep, rough declivity named Bunker
Hill by the guides who dreaded to mount it when going out loaded with
specimens. At the foot of the Hill is a bowlder of enormous size and
with a pointed top, known as Pyramid Rock and giving the same name to
the large room in which it stands.

Every portion of Crystal Cave has at one time been heavily crusted with
calcite crystals, mainly of the dog-tooth variety, and any barren places
are so either because the surface has been removed for specimens, or
thrown down by the violence of an earthquake. But where the latter has
been the cause of removal, the crystals have in most cases been renewed,
which is amply evidenced by the fallen masses being crystallized on all
sides; and these as well as mo