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dark and silent abode; being so constituted as to possess an external covering, whose sense of touch is peculiarly delicate, enabling it to perceive the slightest impulse given to the water, and from whence it proceeds. The fish, as a whole, resembles the ordinary catfish of our rivers, but it has no thorns for its defense, its delicate sense of touch answering in the place of all warlike weapons. Some few miles beyond the river, we came to "Cleveland's Cabinet," which cannot be adequately described. Conceive, if you can, yourself standing under an arch, some twenty feet in height and fifty in width, incrusted with a thick coating of frost, through which is protruding in all directions, buds, vine-tendrils, rosettes, sun-flowers, cactus leaves-everything from the most exquisite and perfect lily, to the elegance and taste of the most elaborate Corinthian capitol, fashioned from a material the most delicate, and all of a pearly white; and you may have some conception of this unique cabinet. At some points, the roof is entirely studded with snow-balls, which have apparently been frozen there, and present innumerable mirrors to your lamps, wherein the light is reflected with sparkling brilliancy as if from millions of diamonds. Sulphate of soda, as pure as it can be, is under your feet in piles. Every turn you make presents some new and beautiful vegetable form of the utmost delicacy.

After leaving the cabinet, which is near a mile in length, you are arrested by the "Rocky Mountains"-truly and appropriately named, as any who may ever cross them will surely acknowledge. Gloom of a peculiar nature characterizes this spot above all others. Pen and pencil will both fail in giving the slightest idea of the magnitude and grandeur of this awful place. We lit our Bengal lights, and were silent with awe.

Still further on, and thirteen long and weary miles from the entrance, we came to the end; here is the gem of this whole cavern. It is named "Serena's Bower." This beautiful spot is guarded by an aperture which is very difficult to enter. The interior of the Bower is a fit termination to so vast a cavern, amply repaying the determined explorer for his energy in reaching it.

It is small and deep, bottom, roof, and sides being entirely covered with stalactite formations. From the ceiling, the stalac tites join on the sides, and run down to and form the floor of this most beautiful grotto. The roof is shaped much like an umbrella. The idea that strikes you is, as if from a common center in the roof, that the long hair from the heads of a hundred females had been let down, and that it had been dropped from that center in the most graceful manner imaginable to the walls, down which it flows in most grotesque confusion, forming miniature grottoes, surrounded with fan like pillar, and when illuminated interiorly, producing a most exquisite picture. This is a fairy realm, and this the abode of their queen.

In the side of the bower, and about three feet from the floor, is a basin of the most limpid water, around the edge of which the

most curiously shaped pillars form, as it were, a fence for its protection. Hanging a lamp inside of the columns and above the water, it illuminated this magic fountain, and drew from each one present an exclamation of wonder and delight. We sat down and quietly feasted our eyes with the rare and exquisite beauties of this lovely spot. We had been over six hours constantly traveling and wondering, and were now much impressed with our utter exclusion from our fellow-beings.

Six hours longer, and we were again within sight of the heavens, with the sun, red, and low in the west.

ADVENTURES OF OLIVER.

IN August, 1812, immediately after the disgraceful surrender of Hull; about five hundred Indian warriors laid siege to Fort Wayne, a dilapidated structure of wood which had been built in Wayne's campaign, near the northeastern corner of Indiana, at the junction of the St. Joseph's and St. Mary's Rivers, main branches of the Maumee. The garrison, amounting to less than one-seventh of their number, was commanded by Captain Rhea, an old officer broken down by intemperance, and of a timid disposition. As at that period the whole surrounding region was a wilderness, and they were far from succor, their danger was imminent.

They were finally saved from the horrors of an Indian massacre by the daring bravery and address of a young Virginian, named William Oliver. This young man, scarce twenty-one years of age, to a slender and delicate, though active figure, united in a high degree the qualities of undaunted courage, enthusiasm, firmness, and sagacity. A resident of Fort Wayne, he was, at this time, temporarily absent at Cincinnati, and learning on his return route, that the Indians had appeared before the fort, he voluntarily hurried back to the city to urge the troops stationed at that point, to hasten to its relief. This being accomplished, he set out again with all speed toward the fort, intending to reach it and penetrate through its swarm of surrounding savages, in advance of the relief, for the purpose of encouraging the garrison to persevere in its defense until their arrival.

At St. Mary's River he came to an encampment of Ohio militia, with whom was Thomas Worthington, of Chilicothe (afterward Governor of Ohio), then on the frontier as Indian commissioner, to whom Oliver communicated his intention of entering the fort, or of perishing in the attempt. Worthington had been originally opposed to the policy of declaring war; but now that it had been commenced, was zealous for its vigorous prosecution; yet this did not save him from the taunt of an ill-bred brother officer, who accused him of a want of patriotism. Being a highspirited man of the keenest sense of honor, this accusation stung

Worthington to the quick, and he felt eager to embark in any enterprise, however desperate, to show the unjustness of the charge, and his willingness to peril his all for his country. In him Oliver found a zealous confederate, notwithstanding old experienced frontiersmen endeavored to dissuade him from the dangerous undertaking. Unitedly, they induced sixty-eight of the militia, and sixteen Shawanee Indians to accompany them.

On the second day's march, thirty-six of the party consulting their fears, secretly deserted their companions, and returned to the main body. The remainder continued their route, and at sunset in their camp, heard the evening gun from the fort, through an intervening forest of twenty-four miles. As the reduced party was not strong enough to encounter the enemy, Worthington was very reluctantly induced to remain at this point with his men, while Oliver, with three friendly Indians, pushed on. Being well armed and mounted, they started at daybreak the next morning, proceeding with great caution. When within five miles of the fort, they perceived holes which the Indians had dug on each side of the road for concealment, and to cut off all who should approach toward the place. Upon observing these, they abandoned the main road, struck off across the country, and reached the Maumee one and a half miles below the fort. Tying their horses in a thicket, they stole cautiously along through the forest to ascertain if the Indians had obtained possession. Oliver at length discovered, with feelings of joy, the American flag waving above the fort; but not deeming even this as conclusive, he approached on the east side so near as not only to discern the blue uniform of a sentinel, but to recognize in his countenance that of an acquaint

ance.

Having satisfied himself on this point, they returned, remounted their horses, and taking the main road, moved rapidly onward. Upon reaching the gate of the esplanade, they found it locked, and were thus compelled to pass down the river bank, and then ascend it at the northern gate: They were favored in doing so, by the withdrawal of the savages from this point, in carrying out a plan, then on the point of consummation, for taking the fort by an ingenious stratagem.

For several days previous to this time, the hostile chiefs, under a flag of truce, had been holding intercourse with the garrison. In their interviews with Captain Rhea, that officer had shown such a spirit of timidity, that they felt persuaded that it could be made available at the proper moment, to put him and his men in their power. They had accordingly, arranged their warriors in a semicircle on the west and south sides of the fort, and at a sbort distance from it. Five of the chiefs, under pretense of treating with the officers of the garrison, were to pass into the fort, and gain admittance into the council-room with scalping-knives and pistols secreted under their blankets. Then, at a certain signal, they were to assassinate the two subaltern officers, seize Captain

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FEAT OF MIKE FINK.

Carpenter and Mike used to fill a tin-cup with whisky and place it by turns on each other's heads and shoot at it, with a rifle, at the distance of seventy yards. It was always bored through without injury to the one on whose head it was placed."

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