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The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction - Volume 19, No. 548, May 26, 1832 by Various
page 12 of 49 (24%)
called, on account of its magnitude, the Mammoth Cave. I have an
account before me of its being explored by a party in 1826, who
penetrated into this gloomy, though spacious, hollow for _fifteen
miles_, and were prevented from proceeding from extreme fatigue; they
found the names of persons written at the farthest part. There are
numbers of rooms as they are called, which are yet unexplored. In one
of these, a few miles from the entrance, there was discovered many
years since, a female figure sitting with a mat wrapped round her
shoulders; she was quite dried to a mummy, and has for many years been
exhibited in a caravan, through the United States.

The river Ohio is here a quarter of a mile wide, and, as there is no
bridge, the traffic into Kentucky is accommodated with steam ferry
boats. Newport and Covington opposite, are pretty objects to look
at from this side, but will not bear a nearer inspection. _Big Bone
Lick_, where abundance of Mammoth bones have been discovered, is not
far hence. Mr. Bullock of the London Museum is here, and has at the
Lick discovered many rare specimens of bones, amongst which is a
mammoth's head, with evidence of its having been furnished with a
trunk, and of course having been an elephant of immense size. He has
also found hoofs of horses with their bones in a fossil state, proving
that the horse has been indigenous. The horses in this town being
a mixture from those of South America, where they are wild--are of
various colours. Some are brown and white, like pointer dogs, others
are spotted like Danish dogs, and some with curled hair. I saw one
which was white as far us the fore-quarter, and the rest sorel.

An eye-witness has just related to me the following, which lately
occured in New Harmony:

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