[ 27 ] 



the centre and thinning out to six inches towards the circum- 

 ference, and this did not extend to the sides by 18in. The 

 remainder of the debris, i.e., from 16 feet to the bottom, was pure 

 chalk but it differed from the layer above in that the blocks, 

 tbou-'h loosely thrown in, had their interstices filled with small 

 chalk, rubble and loam. Throughout this layer were distributed 

 the implements, which would hereafter be more fully described, 

 and with which he concluded the original sinking was done. They 

 consisted for the most part of the broken pieces of the antlers of the 

 red deer, showing more or less marks of usage and manufacture, 

 four scapulffi (shoulder blades) of bos longifrons, and one of the 

 common pig, one or two flint implements, and a few broken flmts. 

 The thickness of the last deposit made up a total of 20ft. from the 

 ground, and which was tabulated as follows :— 



Surface soil 2ft., chalk rubble 3ft., red earth, &c., 5ft., chalk 

 blocks 3ft., red earth, &c., 3ft., chalk blocks 4ft., total 20ft. At a depth 

 of 17ft. from the surface in the north-west corner he, not altogether 

 unexpectedly, came upon the mouth of a cave. He said not 

 altogether unexpectedly, because he had previously seen similar 

 cave"s in another pit in the camp, though on a much smaller scale. 

 And as the workmen proceeded, one by one were displayed to 

 view the series of eight caves, which constituted the chief interest 

 in their work. These caves, as could be seen by the ground plan, 

 ran laterally in all directions, and were filled before the excavation 

 to within from 1ft. to 2ft. from the top with loose blocks of 

 chalk partly converted into a kind of stalagmite by being 

 cemented together by carbonate of lime, derived from the percola- 

 tion of rainwater through the chalk above; it was exceedingly 

 hard, and required a considerable blow to detach the pieces which 

 it wJs necessary to remove, but this hardness was not so observable 

 at the entrances, and from the mouth, running in a few feet, there 

 was distributed some red earth, containing a few pieces of bone 

 and an implement or two. The caverns were of an irregular 

 hei<'ht, owing to the roof giving way more in some places than 

 in Others, but the variation was from three to five feet; the width 

 of each was imdetermined, as in some instances the separation 

 from one another was merely effected by a barrier of this stalag- 

 mite, and had it been considered safe to remove this they would 

 probably have found that, with the exception of a block of chalk 



