ANTHROPOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 31 



He also alluded to the complicated character of savage and barba- 

 ric languages, and regarded this tendency towards simplification as 

 constituting a true progress towards practical economy in speech. 



Dr. Elmer R. Reynolds read a paper giving a description of an 

 Aboriginal Burial-Cave in the Valley of the South Shen- 

 andoah. 



The cave in question is situated in Limestone Hill, an eastern 

 spur of the Massannutton Mountain, nine miles northwest of Luray, 

 Va. The hill lies on the southern bank of the river, from which it 

 is separated by a narrow valley a few hundred yards wide. An old 

 village lies about a fourth of a mile west of the cave, and nearer 

 by is, or rather was, an extensive cemetery. The entrance to the 

 cave itself is situated about forty feet above the valley, on a steep 

 and thickly wooded hillside. The opening is oblong, six feet east 

 and west by two feet north and south. The descent is vertical for 

 six feet, and from thence slopes very steeply down in a south- 

 westerly direction. This room, or passage, is about twenty-five feet 

 long by twelve or fifteen feet high ; the floor is covered with large 

 boulders and slabs of limestone intermixed with human bones and 

 dkbris washed down from the hillside above the opening. 



Leading from this chamber is a passage seventeen feet in length 

 by fourteen inches in height and twelve inches in width. This 

 passage, or gallery, ends in a room ten feet long, eight feet high, and 

 from four to six feet wide. Beyond this chamber and approached 

 through a narrow opening is a third chamber from four to six feet 

 high, six feet long, and four feet wide, the length being transverse 

 to the others. Another passage leads from this by two openings, 

 one extending in a westerly direction on a line with the floor and 

 the second situated about four feet above and partially closed by 

 depending stalactites. This superior passage slopes downward, and 

 joins the lower opening about three feet from the floor. The 

 smaller of these stalactites was broken away, and an ineffectual 

 effort made to force a passage beyond. The largest stalactite at 

 this opening was from seven inches to a foot in diameter and about 

 three feet long. 



