rocks sinks at a point 25 or 30 feet
below the top of the debris in front of the entrance. This indicates
an open way to the river, so the bottom of the cave is probably down
nearly or quite to the water level.

The second cave is 100 yards above the first. A little stream, whose
head is in a valley, nearly a mile away, flows around the foot of the
bluff and into the mouth of the cave. When the Tennessee rises to
flood height the backwater comes into the bed of this stream through
the cave before submerging the low ridge between it and the river.

CALDWELL'S CAVE.--This is on the right bank of the Sequatchie River, a
mile above its junction with the Tennessee. It is said that formerly a
man could walk into it easily for 20 or 30 feet and then crawl 50 or
60 feet farther. This is probably an error of memory. By stooping one
can now go in about 10 feet from the edge of the roof, and with a pole
feel where the floor and roof come together, nowhere more than 10 or
12 feet beyond. It is said, also, that this accumulation results from
throwing in earth to prevent foxes from having a den in the cave. A
small hole might thus be closed, but it is too much to believe that
the people now living around here would carry in many hundred cubic
yards of earth for any such purpose.

Human bones are reported unearthed near the surface; at least bones of
some sort were found which the discoverers supposed were human.

The entrance to the cave is more than 25 feet in width, and about 25
feet above the flood plain of the Sequatchie, or only 15 feet above
extreme high water. It is in the only exposure of rock for nearly half
a mile along the bluff. On either side of the opening the walls are
solid, down to the alluvial earth, but in front of the cavity only
detritus can be seen from top to bottom. For this reason it is
improbable that any solid bottom could be found above the level of the
river. Much of the stone weathers out in small fragments, and the
process of disintegration is going on continually, as shown by the
fresh appearance of the sheltered fragments. How rapid or how regular
it may have been in former time is impossible to guess, so that
excavation, to be of any value, would have to begin at the bottom of
the slope, with the knowledge that the original floor of the cave may
be still lower.

NICKAJACK CAVE.--This is the largest and most widely known cave in
Tennessee. It is half a mile from and within plain sight of the
ra