658 



PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



surface at the present time may be traced 13 petroglyphs, all of 

 which are reproduced in figure 6, their relative positions being indi- 

 cated on the plan (fig. 7) . These include four bird forms, one hand, 

 one small human footprint, six circles, and one small figure prob- 

 ably intended to represent the footprint of a large bird. Other fig- 

 ures were formerly to be seen on the eastern side of the channel, but 

 they were removed many years ago and taken to St. Louis. It is 

 known that two of the carvings represented human footprints. They 

 were near the bird figure, on the edge of the channel, and a large 

 block of stone was cut away, as is indicated by the dotted line. 



Water to a depth of an inch or 

 more is flowing down the channel 

 at all times, but a rainfall of not 

 to exceed one-quarter inch in 

 several hours wiU cause the chan- 

 nel to overflow, and the grit car- 

 ried down by the water scours 

 the surface of the limestone. 

 This readily explains the faint- 

 ness of the petroglyphs at the 

 present day. The high land a 

 short distance from the cave 

 is dotted with sink holes, and 

 it is quite evident that one or 

 more find an outlet through 

 the cave, thus accounting for 

 the great increase of the vol- 

 ume of water flowing through 

 it after a slight rainfall in the 

 vicinity. 



Before mentioning the petro- 

 glyphs in detail, it will be of 

 interest to compare an account 

 of the cave written a little more 

 than one-half century ago. 

 At a meeting of the American Ethnological Society, held in New 

 York City during the month of January, 1861, "Mr. Squier read 

 extracts from the Ste. Genevieve County Plaindealer (Mo.) of a recent 

 date. * * * Higher up on the Saline is a cavern in which is a 

 spring of water flowing over a large flat or table rock. The water 

 has worn a little channel in the rock, through which it flows. In this 

 flat rock are round holes, similar to mortars, about the size of a tin cup. 

 These places were no doubt made by the ancients, as a place to pound 

 with stones their corn into hominy or meal. Entering the mouth of 

 the cave a short distance, we discovered footprints of a pappoose just 



Fig. 6.— Thieteen peteogltphs on the flooe of 

 THE CAVE. Their relative positions aee indi- 



GATED ON THE PLAN OF THE CAVE, FIG. 7. 



