conditions. There is also a
small channel along the top of the earth, filled with gravel and sand,
as if the overflow of a stream far back in the mountain had been
diverted in this direction after the laminated deposits had become dry
and settled.

The walls are 10 feet apart near the entrance, but are not more than 8
feet elsewhere and in some places the width narrows to less than 3
feet. They also have an inward slope at the bottom, so the cave is
either shallow or else so narrow at no great depth as to be
uninhabitable. This fact, and the character of the material deposited
by the ancient drainage stream, make it hopeless to expect result from
exploration.

MCDERMENT'S CAVES.--There are two caves 100 yards apart, in Brown's
Valley, 11 miles southwest from Guntersville. The larger has a descent
of 21 feet from the front to the general level of the first floor. All
this part is well lighted. The drainage from several acres of the
mountain side above pours over the roof at the entrance and runs down
the inner slope. It has worn a gully, and the first level it reaches
is quite muddy. Leaves and trash 3 or 4 inches deep are piled on and
against the loose stones toward the side where the water seeks an
outlet. It has worn a crooked channel along this side of the chamber,
and falls into a hole which at a depth of 10 or 11 feet below the
floor makes a turn and passes from sight. So it is certain that soft
wet clay extends more than 30 feet below the level of the entrance.
The drier deposits of this room have been extensively worked for
saltpeter, and a much greater quantity of earth would have been
removed but for the fact that masses of stalagmite, too thick to break
off with a sledge hammer, and scores of columns, some of them 6 or 8
feet in diameter and many tons in weight, cover a considerable part of
it. The first room is succeeded by several others, all of which are
dry and of large size, but in total darkness, and the floors in all
have been more or less disturbed in the search for niter. The general
direction of the bottom is downward. The last floor is probably 50 or
60 feet lower than the entrance, and is reached by a slope on which it
is difficult to retain a footing. In nearly every part the earth is
covered by stalagmite, much of it so heavy that the miners could not
remove it, but were compelled to dig under it as far as they could
reach; and in no place is a rock floor to be seen.

The thickness of stalag