lovely plain stretched below us, as far as the eye could reach; and we,
with our guide, were now standing about half way up a hill nearly two
hundred feet high, and so steep that a biscuit may be thrown from its
top into the river at its foot--we were standing at the mouth of WIER'S
CAVE. This cavern derives its name from _Barnet Wier_, who discovered it
in the year 1804. It is situated near Madison's Cave, so celebrated;
though the latter cannot be compared with the former.

There were three of us, besides our guide, with lighted torches, and our
loins girded, now ready to descend into the cave. We took our torches in
our left hands and entered. The mouth was so small that we could descend
only by creeping, one after another. A descent of almost twenty yards
brought us into the first room. The cave was exceedingly cold, dark, and
silent, like the chambers of death. In this manner we proceeded, now
descending thirty or forty feet--now ascending as high--now creeping on
our hands and knees, and now walking in large rooms--the habitations of
solitude. The mountain seems to be composed almost wholly of limestone,
and by this means the cave is lined throughout with the most beautiful
incrustations and stalactites of carbonated lime, which are formed by
the continual dripping of the water through the roof. These stalactites
are of various and elegant shapes and colours, often bearing a striking
resemblance to animated nature. At one place we saw over our heads what
appeared to be a _waterfall_ of the most beautiful kind. Nor could the
imagination be easily persuaded that it was not a reality. You could see
the water boiling and dashing down,--see its white spray and foam--but
it was all solid limestone.

Thus we passed onward in this world of solitude--now stopping to admire
the beauties of a single stalactite--now wondering at the magnificence
of a large room--now creeping through narrow passages, hardly wide