There are avenues one and a half and even
two miles in length, some of which are incrusted with beautiful
formations, and present the appearance of enchanted palace halls.
There is a natural tunnel about three-quarters of a mile long, 100
feet wide, covered with a ceiling of smooth rock 45 feet high. There
is a chamber having an area of from four to five acres, and there are
domes 200 and 300 feet high. Echo River is some three-fourths of a
mile in length, 200 feet in width at some points, and from 10 to 30 in
depth, and runs beneath an arched ceiling of smooth rock about 15 feet
high, while the Styx, another river, is 450 feet long, from 15 to 40
feet wide, and from 30 to 40 feet deep, and is spanned by a natural
bridge. Lake Lethe has about the same length and width as the river
Styx, varies in depth from 3 to 40 feet, lies beneath a ceiling some
90 feet above its surface, and sometimes rises to a height of 60 feet.
There is also a Dead Sea, quite a somber body of water. There are
several interesting caves in the neighborhood, one three miles long
and three each about a mile in length.
THE SOUTH SEA BUBBLE.--The "South Sea Bubble," as it is generally
called, was a financial scheme which occupied the attention of
prominent politicians, communities, and even nations in the early
part of the eighteenth century. Briefly the facts are: In 1711 Robert
Hartley, Earl of Oxford, then Lord Treasurer, proposed to fund a
floating debt of about L10,000,000 sterling, the interest, about
$600,000, to be secured by rendering permanent the duties upon wines,
tobacco, wrought silks, etc.
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