180 THE MAMMOTH CAVE. 
joint, and they equaled my own in length, viz., 
ten and a half inches. From the examination 
of the whole frame I judged the figure to be that 
of a very tall female, say five feet ten inches in 
height. The body, at the time it was discovered, 
weighed but fourteen pounds, and was perfectly 
dry; on exposure to the atmosphere, it gained 
in weight, by absorbing dampness, four pounds. 
Many persons have expressed surprise that a 
human body of great size should weigh so little, 
as many human skeletons, of nothing but bone, 
exceed this weight. 
“¢Recently experiments have been made in 
Paris which have demonstrated the fact of the 
human body being reduced to ten pounds by 
being exposed to a heated atmosphere for a long 
period of time. The color of the skin was dark, 
not black; the flesh was hard and dry upon the 
bones. At the side of the body lay a pair of 
moccasins, a knapsack, and an indispensable, or 
reticule. I will describe these in the order in 
which I have named them. The moccasins 
were made of wove or knit bark, like the wrap- 
per I have described. Around the top was a 
border to add strength, and perhaps as an orna- 
ment. These were of middling size, denoting 
feet of a small size. The shape of the mocca- 
