drapery of various colours superbly festooned, and hung in the most graceful manner, are shewn with the greatest brilliancy from the reflection of lamps. A part of the Haunted Chamber is directly over the Bat-room, which passes under the Haunted Chamber without having any connection with it. My guide led me into a very narrow defile on the left side of this chamber, and about 100 yards from Wilkins's arm-chair, over the side of a smooth limestone rock, 10 or 12 feet, which we passed with much precaution; for, had we slipped from our hold, we had gone "to that bourne whence no traveller returns," if I may judge from a cataract of water, whose dismal sound we heard at a considerable distance in this pit, and nearly under us. However, we crossed in safety, clinging fast to the wall, and winding down under the Haunted Chamber, and through a very narrow passage for thirty or forty yards, when our course was west, and the passage 20 or 30 feet in width, and from 10 to 18 high, for more than a mile. The air was pure and delightful in this as well as in other parts of the cave. At the further part of this avenue, we came upon a reservoir of water very clear and delightful to the taste, apparently having neither inlet nor outlet.

'Within a few yards of this reservoir of water, on the right hand of the cave, there is an avenue, which leads to the north-west. We had entered it but about forty feet, when we came to several columns of the most brilliant spar, 60 or 70 feet in height, and almost perpendicular, which stand in basins of water, that comes trickling down their sides, then passes off silently from the basins, and enters the cavities of stone without being seen again. These columns of spar and the basins they rest in, for splendour and beauty, surpass every similar work of art I ever saw. We passed by these columns, and entered a small but beautiful chamber, whose walls were about twenty feet apart, and the arch not more than seven high, white as whitewash could have made it; the floor was level as far as I explored it, which was not a great distance, as I found many pit-holes in my path, that

appeared to have been lately sunk, which induced me to return.

'We returned by the beautiful pool of water which is called the Pool of Clitorius, after the Fons Clitorius of the classics, which was so pure and delightful to the taste, that, after drinking of it, a person had no longer a taste for wine. On our way back to the narrow defile, I had some difficulty in keeping my lights, for the bats were so numerous, and continually in our faces, that it was next to impossible to get along in safety. I brought this trouble on myself, by my own want of forethought; for, as we were moving on, I noticed a large number of these bats hanging by their hind-legs to the arch, which was not above twelve inches higher than my head. I took my cane, and gave a sweep the whole length of it, when down they fell; but soon, like so many imps, they tormented us till we reached the narrow defile, when they left us. We returned by Wilkins's arm-chair, and back to the Second Hoppers. I found a remarkable corpse or mummy at this place, whither it had been brought by Mr Wilkins, from another part of the cave, for preservation. It is a female, about six feet in height, and so perfectly dried as to weigh but twenty pounds when I found it. The hair on the back part of the head is rather short, and of a sandy hue; the top of the head is bald, and the eyes sunk into the head; the nose, or that part which is cartilaginous, is dried down to the bones of the face; the lips are dried away, and discovered a fine set of teeth, white as ivory. The hands and feet are perfect, even to the nails, and very delicate, like those of a young person; but the teeth are worn as much as a person's at the age of fifty. The preservation of this body, doubtless, is owing to the saltpetre abounding in the earth of the cave.

'She must have been some personage of high distinction, if we may judge from the order in which she was buried. Mr Wilkins informed me she was first found by some labourers, while digging for saltpetre earth, in a part of the cave about three miles from the entrance, buried

eight feet deep between four limestone slabs, seated with the knees brought close to the body, which is erect; the hands clasped, and laid upon the stomach; the head upright. She was muffled up and covered with a number of garments made of a species of wild-hemp and the bark of a willow which formerly grew in Kentucky. The cloth is of a curious texture and fabric, made up in the form of blankets or winding-sheets, with very handsome borders. Bags of different sizes were found by her side, made of the same cloth, in which were deposited her jewels, beads, trinkets, and implements of industry: all which are very great curiosities, being different from anything of the Indian kind ever found in this country.

'Among the articles was a musical instrument, made of two pieces of cane, put together something like the double flageolet, and curiously interwoven with elegant feathers: she had likewise by her side a bowl of uncommon workmanship, and a Vandyke made of feathers, very beautiful.' These trinkets and garments, exhumed with the mummy, though curious, do not throw much light on the subject of the former inhabitants of the great cave which has been described. If not of an Indian fashion, as Mr Ward avers, neither do they indicate the woman to have belonged to a highly-civilised community. Probably the skull of the mummy, which is still in Mr Ward's possession, might point out, by its shape, the

woman's race.

Much light, however, yet remains to be thrown on North American antiquities, and there is no spot, we think, more likely to assist in this, on further examination, than the Mammoth Cave.

EARLY LIFE OF A COTTAGER'S CHILD.

IN the Edinburgh Magazine for 1821-2, there appeared a series of articles, entitled 'A True and Authentic History of Ill Tam,' understood to be the real autobiography of an eccentric clergyman of the Church of Scotland, who rose to the dignity of a professor in one of our provincial universities. As the author and subject of the articles was the son of a widow-cottager in a remote and primitive part of Scotland, his narrative contains what we are disposed to think a very faithful and interesting picture of life in that lowly but respectable condition; while of its vivacity and drollery in many parts, there can, we believe, be no doubt. For these reasons, and because the articles, in their original form, are in few hands, we propose to revive a few passages under the above new title, which seems appropriate to the object we have in viewthat of conveying a picture of the rise and progress of the child of a Scottish cottager.

'From the earliest period of my recollection, I was known by the designation of Ill Tam, by which, as it may be supposed, I was given to the practice of every species of waggish mischief. I can still distinctly recollect that, instead of being dissatisfied with my title, I was not a little proud of it; and I verily believe that my conduct then, and long afterwards, was considerably modified by my desire to act in consistency with the honourable appellation conferred upon me-namely, to be a worker of all manner of waggery, a contriver of all manner of plot, and a deviser, no matter at what expense, of all variety of fun. I was born and brought up amidst the solitude and the sublimity of mountain scenery. The clear stream ran past my feet at the cottage-door; the birds sang clearly and melodiously from an adjoining bank of wood; and the distant hill-side was covered over with flocks of white and nibbling sheep; but my earliest

impressions, notwithstanding all these external attractions, were connected with the home-department; with that fireside around, and upon which, were nightly assembled, among other more rational inmates, the dog, the cat, and myself.

My talent for mischief was originally called into action by the instincts of these animals; for whilst they stood opposite to each other, the one in the attitude of attack, and the other in that of resistance; whilst he looked to me for encouragement, and she sputtered out her defiance and contempt for us both, it was impossible not to take an interest in what was going on; and, to my shame be it spoken, I always sided with Rover against poor Puss.

'Among the most early impressions which I can now recall, are those of devotion. My mother, from the first twelve months of my existence my sole surviving parent, was indeed a Christian, in the original and best sense of the term. Her object seemed all along to be, to convey instruction, and induce habit, not so much by any direct advice, as by example. Instead of putting words into my mouth, at an early age, when I was totally incapable of comprehending their meaning, she taught me, by her own conduct, to reverence, and to worship, in heart, and in all sincerity, the great unseen source of safety and support, upon which all alike, old and young, weak and powerful, ultimately depend.

'Ere I was five years of age, by the assistance of two excellent old women, aunts of my mother, I was enabled to read, or rather to sing for my style of modulation was somewhat betwixt the two-the fifth chapter of St Matthew's Gospel, and even to convert this premature acquisition into a source of emolument and vanity. The cottage where I lived stood upon the side of a retired road, by which some of the most respectable farmers were accustomed to pass every Sabbath to church; and it was my weekly practice to take my station upon a green bank, in front of our dwelling, and there, from an old brass-clasped Bible, in a most audible and arresting tone, to pour forth upon the Sabbath passengers the whole