8 REPORT 1871. 



dip of the limestone strata in a general way, is extremely rugged, — here re- 

 treating into deep cavities whence huge masses of limestone have fallen, and 

 there ornamented with numerous and heavy masses of Stalactite. Indeed 

 the finest Stalactites in the Cavern occur in it ; and one known as the " Chan- 

 delier" has always been much admired. A very strong light is required, 

 however, to bring out all the features of the ceiling. 



During the autumn of 1866, the upper, or eastern, or level portion of this 

 Chamber was explored, and the results were described in the Third Eeport 

 (Dundee, 1867). Mr. M'Enery, too, had made extensive, no doubt his most 

 extensive, diggings near the foot of the incline, where he " succeeded in sink- 

 ing a shaft to the depth of 30 feet at the bottom of the slope, with the view 

 of reaching the original floor "*, which, however, was not realized. Having 

 broken the floor for his shaft, and finding the work very laborious, he availed 

 himself of the opening thus made to extend his diggings eastward, keeping 

 just beneath the floor, which he left spanning his broken ground like an 

 arch. 



As it was obvious that a very considerable amount of deposit still remained 

 intact, it was decided, on the completion of Smerdon's Passage, to resume the 

 excavation, not only in the hope of obtaining some of the palseontological 

 treasures with which, according to Mr. M'Enery, the Chamber abounded, but 

 also as a pre-requisite to the exploration of the " Wolf's Den " and the " Long 

 Arcade," into which it opened on the north and south respectively. 



The uppermost deposit, as in the adjacent parts of the Cavern, was the 

 Black Mould so frequently mentioned in all previous Reports ; and as the 

 Chamber was the only capacious apartment near the Entrance, and the only 

 road to the Western Division of the Cavern, which, from some cause, seems 

 to have been more attractive than the Eastern to visitors in, at least, all 

 recent times t, it might have been expected that many comparatively modern 

 objects of interest would have been found in the Mould. In reality,how- 

 ever, such objects were by no means abundant — a fact which may be ex- 

 phcable, perhaps, on the hypothesis that they had been collected by Mr. 

 M'Enery and other early explorers. The only things found in this deposit 

 (which, it may be stated, was of inconsiderable depth) were shells of cockle, 

 limpet, and pecten ; two potsherds — one black and of coarse clay, the other 

 brown, in which the clay was finer ; a flint chip and a core of the same ma- 

 terial; a spindle-whorl of fine-grained micaceous grit, 1'5 inch in diameter, 

 •5 inch in thickness, and having its external edges rounded off'; and a bone 

 awl, 3-7 inches long, -7 inch broad at the butt end, and partially covered 

 with a film of stalagmite. 



Beneath the Black Mould came the ordinary floor of granular and lami- 

 nated stalagmite, in which, as well as in the deposit beneath, the rugged 

 character of the ceiling suggested that a considerable number of large masses 

 of limestone would be found. Their presence in the floor, moreover, was 

 indicated by the nature of its upper surface, which, though a continuous 

 sheet, with one exception to be noticed hereafter, was so very uneven 

 as to induce an early guide to the Cavern to confer on it the appellation of 

 the " Frozen BiUows." Accordingly, the Floor proved to be, with an excep- 



* See Trans. Devon. Assoc, vol. iii. p. ^8 (1869). 



t The following fact seems to be confirmatory on this point : — There are in the various 

 branches of the Western Division (sometimes in places of diiBciUt access) numerous 

 initials and dates on the limestone walls and on bosses of stalagmite — some engraved, 

 some smoked, and some merely chalked — while there are extremely few in the Eastern 

 Division, 



