4 AN ACCOUNT OF THE ANIMAL REMAINS 



tors ; you might have seen him rising to his stature 

 at the mouth of the explored cavern, equiped with 

 knee caps and trovvsers, his head boand about with 

 an handkerchief, his hands and face patched with 

 mud, and nearly assimilated to the colour of the 

 cave in which he had been immured. Wits may 

 have employed their talents on beholding the no- 

 velty of the scene, and have satirized the luxuries 

 of an Hyaenas' den ; but one in eager pursuit of the 

 evidence produced by it, would consider it as amply 

 repaying him for all his expence and labour. 



Reflecting on the state of Kirkdale before cul- 

 tivation had changed the face of it, we form a thou- 

 sand conjectures, we pursue the clue of history 

 to its termination, and in the confines of that dark- 

 ness which prevents further certainty we stand with 

 regret, we wish to go further, but find our limits 

 circumscribed. This country was once all forest, 

 all wild, all unknown, excepting to beasts of prey, 

 or to other animals which became their victims. 

 The probability of more caves being in the lime- 

 stone, in the neighbourhood, may some day ripen 

 into facts, and make this once obscure place so pop- 

 ular as to kindle poetic fire, and cause it to vie in 

 celebrity almost with that of ancient Troy. 



The bones inhumed in the cave at Kirkdale are 

 not mineralized, but in the state of grave bones ; and 

 are more or less decayed according to their texture, 

 or the probable length of time which they had re- 

 mained in that situation. Some of them werd 

 invested with stalagmite; this was a necessary con- 

 sequence, as the water percolating through 



