304 GEOLOGY. 



to them, preserved them from destruction ; and a few 

 months after the discovery of the cave, Dr. Buckland, 

 the famous English geologist, visited Kirkdale to exam- 

 ine its strange contents, which proved, indeed, stranger 

 than any one had imagined, for many of these remains 

 belonged to animals never before found in England. The 

 bones of hyenas, tigers, elephants, rhinoceroses, and hip- 

 popotamuses were found mingled with those of deer, 

 bears, wolves, foxes, and many smaller creatures. The 

 bones were gnawed, and many were broken, evidently 

 not By natural decay, but seemed to have been snapped 

 violently apart. After the most complete investigation 

 of the circumstances, Dr. Buckland convinced himself, 

 and proved to the satisfaction of all scientific men, that 

 the cave had been a den of hyenas at a time when they, 

 as well as tigers, elephants, rhinoceroses, etc., existed in 

 England in as great numbers as they now do in the wild- 

 est parts of tropical Asia or Africa. It was evident that 

 the hyenas were the lords of this ancient cavern, and the 

 other animals their unwilling guests, for the remains of 

 the latter were those which had been most gnawed, bro- 

 ken, and mangled ; and the head of an enormous hyena, 

 with gigantic fangs, found complete, bore ample evidence 

 to their great size and power. Some of the animals, such 

 as the elephants, rhinoceroses, etc., could not have been 

 brought into the cave without being first killed and torn 

 to pieces, for it is not large enough to admit them. But 

 their gnawed and broken bones attest, nevertheless, that 

 they were devoured like the rest ; and, probably, the hy- 

 enas then had the same propensity which characterizes 

 those of our own time, to tear in pieces the body of any 

 dead animal, and carry it to their den, to feed upon it 

 apart." 



