ON RAIN'S CAVE, LONGCLIFFE, DERBYSHIRE. 243 



half at least, the top bed was introiuced little by little, and not by 

 several great leaps. That this must have been the case is plainly 

 proved in another way. We know that water, wind, and ice, are 

 still doing their slow but sure work of disintegration ; but have 

 the scarps and ravines of our country percepiibly changed in our 

 time ? Have they perceptibly changed since the Romans made 

 their acquaintance ? The fall of blocks from above the entrance 

 and the roof of Peak Cavern has not entered into the prac- 

 tical consideration of the rope-spinners below ; perhaps they 

 have never thought of it. We see the impending rock above the 

 mouth of Rains Cave : probably it was in much the same state a 

 century ago, and may be so a century hence. But, until it falls, 

 whence shall the talus below receive further accretion ? 



Whether the cave was always open to daylight during the 

 accumulation of the top bed, we cannot say. It certainly was 

 frequently accessible to man ; and at one time especially he 

 resorted to it to make a fire in the right region towards the back, 

 when he did a little feasting, and besides leaving bones, left also 

 sundry lumps, chippings, and tools of flint, and potsherds, lying 

 about. But what may be termed the era of human occupancy 

 was considerably earlier. This introduces us to the dark ossi- 

 ferous bed (C). 



Here we tread upon equally firm ground. The animal bones 

 of this layer were undoubtedly the rejectments of human food ; 

 and the layer itself must be regarded as consisting essentially of 

 ancient refuse, its dark mottled earth being loam discoloured with 

 animal and vegetable matters, and perhaps mixed with a little 

 vegetable mould trodden in from without. Its large dimensions 

 implied a good deal of feeding — whether in connection with one 

 stretch of human tenure or repeated visits we cannot tell. But 

 we can picture the primitive folk eating their food, which consisted 

 chiefly of beef and mutton, in the middle part of the interior where 

 the floor was less steep, and throwing the waste down the slope 

 behind. The diffused charcoal suggested cooking : where was the 

 hearth? Charcoal in sufficient quantity was found nowhere 

 in the right region, or the rear, in connection with th'S bed. It 



