KIRKDALE KLIPSPRINGER. 



575 



mode in which hyaenas deal with bones given to 

 them as food, has been examined, and the result is 

 entirely confirmatory of Buckland's supposition. 

 We give the account of this examination in his 

 own words : " I have had an opportunity of seeing 

 a Cape hyeena at Oxford, and of observing the ani- 

 mal's mode of proceeding in the destruction of 

 bones ; the shin-bone of an ox being presented to 

 him, he began to bite off, with his molar teeth, 

 large fragments from its upper extremity, and 

 swallowed them whole, as fast as they were broken 

 off." A part only of th'e bone, of harder texture, 

 was leit by the hyaena, and " the state and form of 

 this residuary fragment are precisely like those of 

 similar bones at Kirkdale." On some of the Kirk- 

 dale bones are marks of teeth, which marks fit ex- 

 actly the teeth of the hyaena's jaws fouiid in a 

 cavern ; a very strong corroboration certainly of 

 Buckland's opinion. Now, the marks of teeth, 

 on the bones munched by the living hyaena, "en- 

 tirely resemble the impressions we find on the bones 

 at Kirkdale ; the small splinters, also, of the freshly 

 gnawed bone, in form, and size, and manner of 

 fracture, are not distinguished from the fossil ones." 

 But the strongest fact yet remains. In the mud 

 and stalagmite of the Kirkdale cave, were found 

 considerable quantities of what appeared to be the 

 refuse of animals that live much on bones, and 

 which is known by the name of Album Grcecum. 

 On the day following that on which professor 

 Buckland fed the living hyaena with bones, " the 

 keeper (says he) presented me with a large quantity 

 of Album Graecum, disposed in balls, that agree 

 entirely in size, shape, arid substance, with those 

 found in the den at Kirkdale." We will add to 

 these only one other confirmatory circumstance. 

 On some parts of many of the fossil bones, there 

 appeared a smoothness and polish, which could not 

 result from the action of moving water, as other 

 portions of the same bones were splintery and an- 

 gular. Water would have rounded the whole 

 equally. Professor Buckland therefore concludes, 

 with probability, that the partial smoothness in 

 question must have been produced by the repeated 

 touch of the living hyaenas' feet and skin, in their 

 movements to and fro in the cave. 



The extreme voracity of the hyaena accounts 

 sufficiently for the number and variety of the ani- 

 mals found in its den. It is quite consistent with 

 our knowledge of the creature's habits that it 

 should have preyed on rats and mice, in the occa- 

 sional absence of larger victims. Hyaena bones 

 are found in the cave in the same fractured state 

 as those of other animals ; but this is a circum- 

 stance of no moment, as at this day hyaenas prey 

 on the young and helpless of their own kind, when 

 pressed by hunger. It might be expected, to com- 

 plete the chain of proof, that hyaena skeletons 

 should have been found in some instances entire. 

 Though this was not the case as far as the Kirk- 

 dale cave was concerned, the greater part of the 

 bones of a complete hyaena were actually dis- 

 covered in another bone-filled cave of the same 

 kind. 



All the change that has taken place on the cave 

 since the hyaenas inhabited it, is the formation of a 

 layer of mud of about a foot deep. This profes- 

 sor Buckland is now inclined to ascribe to the last 

 of the many geological revolutions that have been 

 produced by violent irruptions of water, and to 

 which last irruption the present diluvial matter of 

 the earth's surface owes the disposition it bears. 



The wide extent of the geological revolution in 

 question, as well as all the other conclusions drawn 

 from the phenomena of the Kirkdale cave, have 

 received the amplest confirmation from the dis- 

 covery of various caves of the same kind in 

 Britain, and also in Germany, where bears for the 

 most part seem to have been the tenants of the 

 excavations. The great cavern of Gailenreath, in 

 Franconia, which seems to have been the residence 

 of white bears of an extinct species, contained 

 cart-loads of bones of nearly the same animals as 

 those on which the hyaena preyed. In every re- 

 spect the position of the fossils corresponded with 

 those of Kirkdale. 



It thus is rendered almost certain, that there was 

 a time when climes now cold must have once en- 

 joyed a higher temperature, since our wilds and 

 forests teemed once with animals now only found 

 in hotter and southern latitudes, that many gene- 

 rations of these lived and died, and were the prey 

 or the tyrants of others; that the hyaena, accord- 

 ing to the instincts which still actuate it, dragged 

 the bodies of those it killed or found slain, into 

 its den, and there devoured them at its lei- 

 sure ; and that, finally, some great catastrophe 

 brought destruction to the whole race, involving 

 the remains of the dead in one mass ; since which 

 the temperature of. this country has changed, and 

 the wild animals of southern latitudes are now here 

 extinct. 



KIRKSTALL ABBEY. Kirkstall is a vil- 

 lage situated on the river Aire, three miles from 

 Leeds, in the West Riding of Yorkshire: the ruins 

 of the abbey occupy a considerable space, measur- 

 ing from north to south three hundred and forty 

 feet, and from east to west four hundred and forty- 

 five feet. It is probable that the vicinity was of 

 considerable importance even in remote antiquity, 

 being the site of a considerable Roman station, as 

 Roman coins have frequently been dug up at Cock- 

 bridge, a village two miles north of Kirkstall 

 abbey; and on an adjacent moor, traces of a Ro- 

 man town have been discovered, consisting of frag- 

 ments of urns and other pottery, with the ruins of a 

 large stone aqueduct; and also the remains of a camp 

 may be observed, admeasuring about five chains by 

 four, with a single vallum. The choir of Kirkstall 

 abbey extends fifteen yards by eight and a half, and 

 has three chapels on each side : the transept is a 

 square of nine yards and a half each way. The 

 nave is forty-eight yards long, by eight and a half 

 wide. Kirkstall abbey was founded in 1152 for 

 Cistercians ; they were first settled at Bernolds- 

 wick, near Gisburne, in Craven. The revenues of 

 the house at the dissolution of the monasteries 

 were estimated at three hundred and twenty-nine 

 pounds per annum a very large sum in those days: 

 the site of the abbey was at that period granted to 

 archbishop Cranmer and his heir. Among the 

 monastic remains of the north of England, this 

 ruin may justly claim an elevated rank: for, as a 

 picturesque feature in landscape scenery, it is in- 

 ferior only to Bolton abbey, and as a specimen of 

 architecture, it need hardly yield the palm of su- 

 periority to any other northern ancient edifice, the 

 celebrated Fountain's abbey only excepted. Nearly 

 the whole building yet remains, as only the lead 

 and timber were removed at the dissolution. The 

 whole exhibits that struggle between the Norman 

 and early Gothic styles, which marks the buildings 

 of the reign of Stephen. 



KLIPSPRINGER. This animal is one of the 



