o this real Inferno we proceeded to descend by narrow, ladder-like
stairs provided with a light hand rail, and trembling slightly with the
responsibility they assumed. If any one's courage trembled too, no
notice was taken of it, and a record of exploring experiences does not
necessarily include a confession of any doubts.

On all the ladders in this Gallery was a fine white fungus growth in the
form of a thick, heavy mold, that the lightest touch destroyed. In caves
where some care is taken to protect this mold, it attains a growth of
six or more feet and assumes the forms of sea-weed.

Once down the first and longest flight of stairs, without any signs of a
Dore dragon raising its huge body by heavy claws to a resting place
among the rocks, awe divides more evenly with admiration; and being
already well besmeared with mud, we climbed over the clay-covered
bowlders and crawled through narrow holes with perfect satisfaction,
enjoying each novel scene to the utmost.

Off from the Dore Gallery is a small chamber containing the Fountain of
Youth, that must be seen, but the way, like that of the transgressor, is
hard. Arrived at the entrance we hesitated a moment, for although
getting in looked possible, the way out again seemed not so simple; but
finally trusting to Providence, through the direct agency of our careful
guardians, of course, we sat down on the edge of the large slippery
bowlder on which we stood, and reaching out caught a projection of the
wall on one side and a bowlder crag on the other, swung off and dropped
into the soft mud below. This chamber proved to be a little gem; small
but high, and beautifully adorned with calcite crystal. Down a wall of
red onyx on one side clear water flows into a basin in the irregular,
rocky floor, just behind the bowlder we had used for a hand-rest at the
entrance; the perfectly transparent water in the basin appears to be
only a few inches deep, but measures three feet, and is several degrees
colder than the air, which in this portion of the cave is warm. The
other wall of this room is an almost perpendicular bank of the soft dark
red clay, in which small selenite crystals are sprouting like plants in
a garden.

Suddenly we heard a heavy, rolling noise like distant thunder, and
asking if it were possible to hear a thunder storm so far below the
surface, were told it was the protest of angry bats against a further
advance on the quarters to which they have retreated from