all about the same length; while others, a foot or more in length,
have the color and appearance of _vanilla cream candy_; others are set
in sulphate of lime, in the form of a rose; and others still roll out
from the base, in forms resembling the ornaments on the capitol of a
Corinthian column. (You see how I am driven for analogies.) Some of
the incrustations are massive and splendid; others are as delicate as
the lily, or as fancy-work of shell or wax. Think of traversing an
arched way like this for a mile and a half, and all the wonders of the
tales of youth--"Arabian Nights," and all--seem tame, compared with
the living, growing reality. Yes, _growing_ reality; for the process
is going on before your eyes. Successive coats of these incrustations,
have been perfected and crowded off by others; so that hundreds of
tons of these gems lie at your feet, and are crushed as you pass,
while the work of restoring the ornaments for nature's _boudoir_, is
proceeding around you. Here and there, through the whole extent, you
will find openings in the sides, into which you may thrust the person,
and often stand erect in little grottoes, perfectly incrusted with a
delicate white substance, reflecting the light from a thousand
glittering points. All the way you might have heard us exclaiming,
"Wonderful, wonderful! O, Lord, how manifold are thy works!" With
general unity of form and appearance, there is considerable variety in
"the Cabinet." The "_Snow-ball Room_," for example, is a section of
the cave described above, some 200 feet in length, entirely different
from the adjacent parts; its appearance being aptly indicated by its
name. If a hundred rude school boys had but an hour before completed
their day's sport, by throwing a thousand snow-balls against the roof,
while an equal number were scattered about the floor, and all
petrified, it would have presented precisely such a scene as you
witness in this room of nature's frolics. So far as I know, these
"snow-balls" are a perfect anomaly among all the strange forms of