164 KELIQULE AQUITANICJi:. 



of these grooved recesses occur one above the other. They vary considerably in 

 depth, but frequently extend as much as 20 or 30 feet into the face of the rock, and 

 are occasionally continuous for some hundreds of yards. The roof is sometimes 

 flat, but more generally arching over the recess ; and the floor generally slopes 

 outwards, partly in consequence of the accumulation of debris, where the recesses 

 have not been artificially altered or enlarged. For, as may well be supposed, 

 these natural shelters are made use of by the inhabitants of the country, and 

 have been, as we shall shortly see, from the earliest ages. Numbers of cottages 

 along the sides of the valley consist, even at the present day, of merely front 

 and side walls, the native rock serving for floor, back, and roof. But a few 

 centuries ago, even some of the chateaux were built on shelves in the rock, with 

 their terrace-walks extending along these natural cloisters, with the rock arching 

 overhead and the beautiful valley of the Vezere forming the landscape. [See 

 " Sketches on the Vezere," Nos. 3 and 4, in Part IX.] The whole valley teems 

 with the remains of these rock-habitations ; and there are hardly any of the 

 natural galleries, however inaccessible, but show some traces of human occupa- 

 tion, by recesses, or even chambers of various sizes, cut into the cliff, by mortices 

 for beams, or eyes through which ropes might pass, or by remains of steps cut 

 in the rock. Such is a general outline of the principal features of the valley of 

 the Vezere between Condat and Les Eyzies, and of the " Petra " along its course 

 between Le Moustier and the latter place ; and, as far as my observation went, 

 the same description would be applicable to many other valleys in that part 

 of France. 



Caves and Rock-shelters on the Vezere. I now come to the Bone- and Cave- 

 deposits which form the more immediate object of this notice. [The relative 

 positions of the Caves and neighbouring villages are shown in the Map at page 29, 

 and the corrected Map at page 126, and by the Woodcuts, figs. 37^0, at pages 64 

 and 65.] 



Badegoule. The first of these which we visited was the Cave of Badegoule 

 (fig. 59), mentioned by the Abbe Audierne*, where, however, no recent excavations 

 had taken place, and the Cave itself had been emptied. It faces the south at an 

 elevation of about 250 feet above the Cerne (a small tributary of the Vezere), and is 

 about a mile from the Condat Railway-station, on the right-hand side of the road 

 leading from Terrasson to La Bachelerie. 



* De 1'Origine et de 1'Enfance des Arts en Perigord (1863), p. 18. 



