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over the rocks from a large hog at the top of them, where in summer adders may 

 be frequently seen basking in the sun and coiled up. The water, holding a large 

 quantity of carbonate of lime in solution, yields a tufaceous deposit, encrusting 

 objects which come in contact with it. The open ground near the river just 

 opposite is called " Slaughter, " probably from some bloody struggle which had 

 taken place there in former times. The occasion of this conflict has been 

 attributed by tradition — for there is no authentic history — to the time when the 

 Roman general Ostorious Scapula, having been appointed by the Emperor 

 Claudius, A.D. 50, to effect the conquest of Britain, attacked the army of the 

 British General Caractacus who is believed to have posted himself on Little Doward. 

 A gigantic skeleton, discovered about 200 years ago in the neighbourhood, was 

 thought to be that of a man 11 or 12 feet high (possibly one of Vortigern's 

 officers), but it was more probably the remains of some fossil animal. Vortigern 

 retreated into Wales after the battle at Amesbury, in Wiltshire, in a.d. 469, 

 and it is thought took refuge at the Doward before going into Radnor- 

 shire, where he was burned in his castle. But there is no doubt that this 

 neighbourhood was the scene of many a desperate encounter between the Saxons 

 and the Welsh, and even so late as 1640 property was very insecure, and great 

 losses were sustained by the incursions of predatory marauders. The Roman 

 station Blestium is supposed to be Monmouth, and Ariconium to have been 

 about two miles from Ross. A large number of natural caves or caverns occur in 

 places on both sides of the river, in some cases 200 to 300 feet above the present 

 level of the water ; two or three on the left bank, of which the largest and most 

 curious is "The Diblin," although but little visited, from its isolated and rocky 

 situation, is entered by a small opening four feet wide by two feet high. After a 

 short scramble on hands and knees you reach a cavern in the deepest part of which 

 you can just stand upright. Two openings lead inwards and downwards, but 

 unite at a distance of from 30 to 40 yards. From this point you may wander for 

 an hour or more through small passages and some considerable caverns beautifully 

 ornamented by stalactite and stalagmite. One is called the Devil's Chapel. 

 Another cavern has recently been opened out by a mine shaft ; this has an arched 

 roof about thirty feet high ; and is about one hundred feet long, by fifty feet wide. 

 But the most famous is of course that which has long been known as King Arthur's 

 cave or hall. In reference to this cave, it is reported that the rhinoceros bones 

 were so plentiful that a neighbouring farmer carted them out to manure his land, 

 and thus, it is said, led to the explorations and discoveries which have since been 

 made by the Rev. W. S. Symonds, M. A. , of Pendock, and other gentlemen. In 

 clearing out the rubbish on the upper surface, they found portions of two human 

 skeletons, and pottery of the Roman-British period. The top mould was evidently 

 modem, but below was a stalagmite floor, so thick and hard that gunpowder had 

 to be used. In a layer of earth below this, were found bones of the black bear and 

 beaver. Beneath this was a second bed of stalagmite, and below this again 

 fossilized bones of extinct animals, a mammoth's tooth, and bones of the woolly 

 rhinoceros, cave lion, gigantic Irish elk, horse bison, cave bear, and very 



