^8 Mr, Dela Becheon the Diluvium of Jamaica. [July, 



from being situated in Portland Ridge, Vere. The following is 

 a section of part of this cave, in which two or three circum- 

 stances deserve attention, as they cannot fail to remind the reader 

 of some of Prof. Buckland's cavern sections. 



..-A. 



A stalagmitic floor (A) rests upon a fine silty clay (B), the 

 d^th of which I could not ascertain ; one or two large stalac- 

 tite columns appear also to rest upon the clay ; but of this I am 

 not certain; the heat, in fact, was so oppressive (from being 

 near the surface) during the time I visited it, that I was prevented 

 from remaining long in the cavern. 



This cave is situated on the side of a hill, and is a short dis- 

 tance from the sea, but sufficiently elevated above it to prevent 

 the possibility of the clay being derived from it at its present 

 level. The crust of stalagmite is of sufficient thickness to show 

 that it must have taken a long time to form. I did not observe 

 any bones beneath it, and am now sorry that proper search was 

 ■not made, as the depth of the silty clay has not been ascertained, 

 •and as it might contain bones. 



Portland Cave has been visited by hundreds of persons, most 

 of whom have written their names on almost every accessible 

 porti(»n of it: the floor, therefore, cannot be expected to be in 

 the condition in which it was first discovered, and it would be 

 difficult to say how far the stalagmitic crust might have 

 extended. The portion that I observed was not large, and is in 

 itself of little importance ; but it becomes interesting as con- 

 nected witli the sections of caverns, beneath the stalagmitic 

 floors of which bones have been discovered. 



J\^OH^> ,ai'i/jii 



