CAVES IN THE DORDOGNE. 323 



we had previously very little information. Those which have 

 been most carefully examined are ten in number, viz. Laugerie, 

 La Madelaine, Les Eyzies, La Gorge d'Enfer, Le Moustier, 

 Liveyre, Pey de 1'Aze, Combe-Granal, and Badegoule, most 

 of which I have myself had the advantage of visiting. Some 

 of these, as, for instance, Les Eyzies and Le Moustier, are at 

 a considerable height above the stream, but others as those 

 at La Madelaine and Laugerie are little above the present 

 flood-line, showing, therefore, that the level of the river is 

 now nearly the same as it was at the period during which 

 these caves were inhabited. 



The rivers of the Dordogne run in deep valleys cut through 

 calcareous strata ; and while the sides of the valleys in chalk 

 districts are generally sloping, in this case, owing probably 

 to the hardness of the rock, they are frequently vertical. 

 Small caves and grottos frequently occur ; besides which, 

 as the different strata possess unequal power of resistance 

 against atmospheric influences, the face of the rock is, as it 

 were, scooped out in many places, and thus " rock-shelters " 

 are produced. In very ancient times these caves and rock- 

 shelters were inhabited by men, who have left behind them 

 abundant evidences of their presence. But as civilization 

 advanced, Man, no longer content with the natural but in- 

 convenient abode thus offered to him, excavated chambers for 

 himself, and in places the whole face of the rock is honey- 

 combed with doors and windows leading into suites of rooms, 

 often in tiers one over another, so as to suggest the idea of a 

 Erench Petra. Down to a comparatively recent period, as, for 

 instance, in the troublous times of the Middle Ages, many o 

 these, no doubt, served as very efficient fortifications, and 

 even now some of them are still in use as storehouses, 

 and for other purposes, as at Brantome, where there is an 

 old chapel cut in the solid rock. Apart from the scientific 

 interest, it was impossible not to enjoy the beauty "of the scene 



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