rn. No objection being made, Peter produced some provisions from a
basket he had brought on his back. Having discussed them, we slaked our
thirst from the pure water of the rivulet. Once more moving on, in a
short time we reached Echo River, on the shore of which we found a boat.
Our guide invited us to embark. Looking upwards it appeared as if a
canopy of black clouds hung over our heads, while on every side we could
see precipices and cliffs rising up, apparently into the sky; silence
and darkness reigned around us, the smooth sluggish water alone
reflecting the glare of our torches. Not a word was uttered by any of
our party, until the Indian's voice suddenly burst forth into one of the
melancholy chants of his race, echoed as it appeared by the spirit of
his departed brethren. I clung to my father's arm, and asked where all
those sounds came from.

"They are but the echoes of the Indian's voice," he answered. Now they
rose, now they fell, as he gave forth the notes with the full force of
his lungs, or warbled softly, sometimes finishing with a melancholy wail
which produced the most mournful effect.

"Come, this is more than I bargained for," exclaimed Uncle Denis; "now
stand by for a different kind of sound. Don't be alarmed, it's only the
barrel of my pistol going to try what sort of noise it can make." He
pulled the trigger, when there was a flash and then there came a
succession of crashing, thundering sounds echoed from every angle in
those enormous vaults. Backwards and forwards tore the sounds, rolling
and reverberating from wall to wall with terrific crashes. Half a dozen
pieces of artillery fired in the open air could not have produced a more
tremendous uproar.

Scarcely had the sounds died away, when Peter and Caesar struck up a
merry negro melody, contrasting curiously with the melancholy notes of
the Indian's song; they made Uncle Denis and me, at all events, burst in
to hearty fits of laughter.

"Come, I like that style of song far better than the music of our
red-skin friend," exclaimed my uncle. The guide told us that although
it was perfectly safe at most times of the year to traverse the cavern,
there were occasions when the waters rising suddenly had prevented the
return of explorers, but that a way had been discovered, through a
narrow passage, the course evidently at one time of a stream, up which
they could climb over the mud and save themselves from being either
drowned or starv