ON Kent's cavern, Devonshire. 21 



inky band is from -2 to -3 inch broad. It was found, with a tooth of 

 Horse, bones, and a coprolite, on October 2nd, 1869, at 63 feet from the en- 

 trance, above the stalagmitic floor. 



The two specimens hist described are in their colours unlike any other 

 flint implements, or flakes, or cores found in the cavern. Specimens white 

 on the surface and dark in the interior are very common ; but in those under 

 notice the succession is reversed. 



Amongst the remains of animals there is part of an antler of the Eeindeer 

 (No. jhVt)' ■"'liich has been gnawed. One of the grooves or scores on it, 

 however, is unusually deep and extends almost completely round it, being 

 interrupted at two opposite points only. It is so utterly without a parallel 

 amongst the multitude of gnawed bones which have been found in the 

 cavern, that it seems less unreasonable to ascribe it to human agency than to 

 the teeth of any animal. It was found, with a tooth of Horse, bones and bone- 

 fragments, and a coproUte^ on September 23rd, 1869, at 59 feet from the 

 entrance, in the third foot-level of cave-earth, and beneath a floor of sta- 

 lagmite 16 inches thick. 



The exploration of the South Sally-port absorbed nearly six months, and 

 was completed on November 12, 1869. 



The North Sally-port. — The entrance of the North Sally-port is in the 

 east waU of the Great Chamber, 28 feet south and 42 feet west of the 

 Arched Entrance of the cavern. All that was known about it when the 

 Committee commenced its exploration was, that it was a rude tunnel about 

 27 feet long, and at its entrance 8 feet high and 6 feet wide, having a rugged 

 floor of stalagmite more or less interrupted by large and small masses of 

 limestone, and rapidly descending from the mouth to the inner end, where 

 it was about 3 feet wide, having the floor and roof in contact, with the ex- 

 ception of a small aperture on the ' right, and a slightly larger one on the 

 left, which suggested that on being excavated it might prove to be of greater 

 length and to bifurcate. It is now known to be a low labyrinthine passage, 

 varying from 1'5 to 9 feet in breadth, but rarely exceeding 3 or, at most, 

 4 feet, ramifying very tortuously, and with sundry bifurcations and transverse 

 passages, through an area measuring about SG feet from north to south, and 

 84 feet from east to west, and terminating in an external opening in the eastern 

 slope of the hill, in the same vertical plane as the well and long-known 

 Arched or Southern Entrance of the cavern, but about 18 feet below it, 

 and 10 feet further eastward. 



The North Sally-port, then, has an external as well as an internal mouth 

 or entrance. The former, that just discovered, is nearly due east from the 

 latter, and by the least circuitous route is upwards of 140 feet from it. Ex- 

 cursions, however, may be made in various other directions ; and, indeed, one 

 or two of what are supposed to be minor branches remain to be excavated. 

 In one part, nearer to its internal than to its external mouth, the labyrinthine 

 passages have cut the limetitone rock into thi'ee insular masses, known as the 

 « Islands." 



Up to 20 feet from the internal entrance the excavation was limited to a 

 depth of 4 feet below the base of the stalagmitic floor, as in the other 

 branches of the cavern generally ; but beyond this point it was found neces- 

 sary to sink to 5, and in some places 6 feet, on account of the lowness of the 

 I'oof ; and even now those who traverse the various passages have to be 

 careful in their movements, so as to avoid collision with the various projec- 

 tions and pendants. 



In what may be termed the first " reach " of the SaUy-port, that which 



