HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



37 



ill some few cases in considerable numbers, and in 

 small patches. Now leaving all other considerations 

 out of the question, it would be remarkable to find 

 flints buried in the peat overlying the syenites and 

 other old rocks of a small island like Jersey ; but in 

 nearly every instance these chips show unmistakable 

 signs of having been brought there and fractured by 

 artificial and not natural means, the bulb of percussion 

 being clearly seen on them, particularly those that 

 are newly excavated — for many are to be seen on cul- 

 tivated ground that, through long exposure and damage 

 by farm implements, are by no means so conclusive, 

 and these we would prefer to pass over altogether in 

 favour of those that were actually taken from beneath 

 the surface. 



It was not, however, until we had the good fortune 



;Fig. 35.-DnlI (N.S.) 



to obtain a large number of these flints from a cave 

 deposit on the north coast of the island that we 

 appreciated the extent to which these very early 

 implements occurred. 



The cave in which this most interesting discovery 

 was made is one of the kind already alluded to as 

 occurring in the syenite ; and the boulders, which not 

 only protrude through the floor, but form a sort of 

 rough shelf outside, are evidences of the breaking out 

 of the internal core by the continuity of the lines of 

 fissure. The cave itself is situated some sixty feet 

 above the sea-level, hence its floor has been un- 

 disturbed by the wash of the waves ; it is of rather 

 small dimensions, being only about twenty-five feet 

 long by ten or fifteen feet wide and about the same in 

 height. Its floor is covered by a clay formed by the 

 decomposition of the felspar from the roof and sides ; 



the present depth of this clay varied much, owing to 

 the cave being so exposed to the weather, the rain 

 having evidently washed a considerable quantity from 

 that part of the floor near the entrance, forming a 

 little platform outside and exposing many of the flint 



Fig. 36.— Small Celt (N.S.) 



F'S- 37' — Duck-bill Scraper (N'.S. 



implements which were sticking out here and there, 

 and in some cases quite uncovered. 



Below the " clay," which might possibly have been 

 about six or nine inches in thickness, there was a 

 stratum of sand of about four inches thick, below this 

 again was a band of about two inches of a dark brown 



