ON KENT^S CAVERN, DEVONSHIRE. 17 



without, however, reaching the bottom of the cavern ; and that some pro- 

 gress had been made in the South Sally-port. 



The Sally-ports were so named by the late Rev. J. M'Enery, who firmly 

 believed that if excavated they would be found to lead to new external 

 openings in the eastern slope of the hiU, through which, indeed, burrowing 

 animals, especially foxes, had found ready access to the body of the cavern. 

 The year which has elapsed since the Fifth Eeport was presented has been 

 spent in the exploration of these branches and their ramifications, the cha- 

 racters and contents of which are to be the subjects of the present Eeport. 



The South SaUij-port. — The entrance of the South Sally-port is in the 

 eastern wall of the Lecture Hall. It is about 10 feet wide, SO feet west 

 and 52 feet south of the Arched or Southern Entrance of the cavern. Its 

 direction is, ou the whole, towards the south-east ; and with its ramifications 

 it occupies a space of about 80 feet from east to west, and 40 feet from north 

 to south. Its width, however, varies from 21 to 2 feet, and averages about 

 10 feet. There is not the least indication that it leads to an external opening, 

 or that any animals ever found or formed a passage into it from the exterior. 

 Indeed, its direction is not such as to take it to the hill -side. 



Before the Committee commenced their operations in it, the height of its 

 roof above the deposits at the entrance was about 4 feet. At 45 feet in the 

 interior this had so diminished as to render it necessary to excavate to the 

 depth of 5 feet, instead of the customarj' 4 feet, in order to secure sufficient 

 height for the workmen ; and through nearly 30 feet before reaching the 

 inner end the deposits and roof were in contact. 



At the entrance, and for some distance within it, the roof and walls bore 

 no indications of either the corrosive or erosive action of water, the edges of 

 the beds of limestone being everywhere sharp and angular. Beyond this 

 they assumed a corroded or fretted aspect ; and still further in, the roof had 

 the appeai-ance of a fissure, in wbich the walls gradually approach at higher 

 and higher levels, and a large mass of limestone threatens to fall at no very 

 distant future ; indeed a block of great size, which had fallen over the en- 

 trance in what may be called comparatively very recent times, gave the work- 

 men a great amount of labour in blasting and removing it. It is probable 

 that the sharp, angular character of the roof and walls at this part, already 

 mentioned, is due to the recent severance of this mass. It may be doiibted 

 whether the fissure-like character of the roof just spoken of is any thing more 

 than one of the "joints " so common in all the palaeozoic rocks of Devonshire 

 and Cornwall, which has been slowly widened by the action of acidulated 

 water percolating through it. At and near this part the walls are much cor- 

 roded, and not unfrequently fretted into holes rudely resembling the so-called 

 lithodomous perforations met with in limestone rocks in various localities, 

 and which have been recently much discussed. Beyond the " fissure" there 

 are several conical holes in the roof, which, as they ascend, rapidly diminish 

 in size. Most of them are more or less tortuous, thereby rendering it impos- 

 sible to say whether they pass upwards to the surface of the hill in the form 

 of " swaUets " or Swallow-holes. Some of them are lined with stalagmitic 

 matter, whilst others, showing the naked limestone, have a very decided 

 water- worn aspect. A few of both kinds have faint traces of reddish soil or 

 loam, whilst others are perfectly clean. Near the inner end of this branch 

 of the cavern the walls in several places indicate the long- continued erosive 

 action of water. 



A floor of granular stalagmite, varying from 21 inches to 1 inch in thick- 

 ness, extended from the entrance to about 15 feet within it. Beyond this 



1870. C 



