56 REPORT— 1867. 



Report on recent Eicploratlons in the Crihraltar Ctwes. 

 By Capt. Feed. Beome. 



The explorations recorded in tliis commuuication were conducted principally in 

 " Martin's " and St. Michael's Caverns. 



Martin's Cave opens on the eastern face of the rock, below O'Hara's Tower. It is 

 an ancient sea-cave, though now upwards of 700 feet above the level of the Medi- 

 terranean. The excavations in this cavern were commenced on the 23rd of June, 

 and continued till the 22nd of July. There were no traces whatever of any previous 

 attempts at exploration. The first operation was to excavate the dark earth all 

 along, close to the south side, which is from six to three feet in depth. At this 

 depth the diggers came upon a stalagmite floor of varying thickness. Here, after 

 a few hours' work, were found deposited two portions of a lower jaw, supposed to 

 be human ; about two bushels of bones of ox, goat, sheep, rabbit, &c. ; several 

 bones of birds and fish : two bushels of broken potteiy of the rudest or unmarked 

 kind, 57 pieces ornamented; 61 handles and pots; 6 stone axes and 70 flint 

 knives ; 1 excellent flint core ; 20 lbs. of flint chips ; 12 pieces of worked bone ; a 

 portion of an annlet and anklet ; 10 lbs of sea shells, and a few land shells, 

 together with three rounded pebbles. On the north side the same class of objects 

 were met with, and in a small chamber on this side, under five or six feet of earth. 

 Captain Erome's son came upon a small chamber containing two ancient swords, 

 one partly imbedded in stalagmite, and both nmch injured ; and on a subsequent 

 occasion, a small enamelled copper plate was found, which appears to have had a 

 design upon it of a bird with its bill open, in the coils of a serpent. The colours 

 are bright, and the object is beautifully made. These interesting relics have been 

 referred by Mr. Franks to the eleventh or twelfth centuries. Excavations were 

 then made in a cavern, situated on the same face of the rock, but a little to tlie 

 south, and at a higher level than " Martin's " Cave, and named by Captain Brome 

 the " Fig-Tree Ca-\-e," in wliich similar rude works of art, consisting of fragments 

 of pottery, flint and stone implements, &c. were found. 



Captain Erome's greatest interest, liowever, was centi'ed in "St. MichneTs 

 Cave," in ^^hich, day after day, numerous human remains were found, some im- 

 bedded in the stalagmite, others loose, associated with stone axes, flint chips, and 

 flint knives of the smallest size hitherto met with in the Gibraltar ca'Nerns. 



On the north side of the upper chamber in St. Michael's Cavern, on breaking up 

 a thick stalagmite floor, a small aperture was discovered. 'SMien this had been 

 enlarged sufficiently to admit of Captain Brome's entrance, he found a series of 

 passages and ca^■erns, the extreme travelling distance of which fi'om the entrance 

 was exactly 200 feet. There were no means of access to it, excepting by the 

 apertm'e by which Captain Brome entered. The walls were snow-white, and the 

 pillars and stalactites of the most variable and fantastic forms. Some of the latter, 

 with the thickness only of a goose quill, were five feet long ! The bearings of the 

 cavern generally run N.^^^ At the south end of this cavern a perpendicular fissui-e 

 was discovered, through which came a strong wind. The fissure was about nine 

 inches wide, but one of the men (military prisoners) employed was found small 

 enough to creep through it. He returned with a wonderful story of what he had 

 seen. On the next day, accordingly. Captain Brome sent in one of his own sons, 

 about twelve years old, who entirely corroborated the statements pre'\"iously given, 

 viz. that there were three caves, the first very small, and about twelve feet from 

 the narrow entrance. At some distance further there was another, abotit twenty 

 feet square, and still further, a cave as large as the upper St. Michael's first 

 chamber. The distance travelled is 2-50 feet fi-oin the entrance, which, added to 

 the distance (200 feet) travelled in the first discovered cavern, make a total of 

 450 feet of hitherto whoUj' unknown caverns in so familiar a locality as the often- 

 •\dsited cave of San Migael. 



At the date of his last advices. Captain Brome was continuing the exploration 

 of St. INIichael's Cavern, with every prospect of further interesting discoveries. 

 But, as he says, " his surmises, that the unexplored caves would yield the same 

 relies as the Genista CaveiTi, have been verified, and the fact is nearly, if not quite 

 established, that at a former period all the Gibraltar' caverns were tenanted by a 

 race havinsi' uniform habits of liviujj'." 



