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- 



