organization by one of its workers.

[Illustration: Top of Glacier. Page 155.]

At last the upward journey is ended at the Silent Lake in the first, or
highest, level. This, as has already been observed, is the only body of
water now standing in the cave, and is not more than ten feet long by
six in width and twelve inches deep. The scanty volume is maintained by
the very limited inflow of acidulated percolating water which reaches
the small receiving basin charged with calcium carbonate; and being
cold, the charge is being precipitated on the bottom instead of forming
a crust over the surface as in former times when the controlling
influence was a degree of heat sufficient to sustain solid matter
without disturbing motion.

Rising above the Silent Lake is the Glacier, its moist surface
suggesting that the lake is fed by a slight thaw, while the
perpendicular front at the water's edge gives the impression of a berg
having recently broken off and floated away.

The Glacier flows between two high walls of dark rock, and the steep
incline of perhaps seventy feet, covered with a smooth deposit of
calcite and shining with moisture, has the appearance of ice and is as
uninviting for a climb. The top is connected with the roof above by a
group of short, and for this region, heavy columns of dripstone, the
oldest formation of that character in the cave.

An occasional overflow of the lake passes out to one side, then turns
and goes under the Glacier where its first few feet of descent are
called the Pearl Beds, where a variety of water-polished pebbles are