10 REPORT—1874. 
base consists of the Older or Crystalline Stalagmite, and the upper portion 
(without any intervening Cave-earth) of the Granular variety, which not only 
surmounted and completely encased the former, but, by flowing in vast sheets, 
formed the thick Granular Floor spreading far and without a break in every 
direction. 
The inscriptions occupy its outer or most accessible semi-surface, where in 
certain places they form quite a network. Letters of all sizes, from some 
fully three inches in height to others as small as ordinary writing, cross each 
other and add to the difficulty of decipherment. Some of them were cut 
with great care and finish, and must have occupied a large amount of time, 
whilst others were but hasty scratches. 
It seems to have been somewhat fashionable to surround the inscriptions 
with rectangular parallelograms, varying from 6:5 to 3°75 inches in length 
by 5:5 to 3:5 in breadth. In, at least, one or two cases the cutting of the 
parallelogram preceded that of the inscription, as the latter extends beyond 
the space intended. Not unfrequently several names occur together, whether 
within a parallelogram or not, and in each such case the entire work seems 
to have been performed by the same hand. The following, which are the 
most legible, may suffice as examples :-— 
*1, PETER LEMAIRE 2, THOMAS TRENHELE 
RICH: COLBY OF 1617. 
LONDON. 1615. 
3. [ANE 4. 16 [22] ¢ 
PRIDE EMBROSE LANE 
ELIXI MILDRED 
1626 + TORKINTON 
5. JOHN TAYLOR 6. VIZARD 
1700 1809 
7,R. H. THOMAS 8. RICHARD 
LONDON LANE. FEB. 
1811 
9. M. CHAMPERNOWNE 10. DELYVO 
GILBART 11. W. P. WILLIS 
STAPLYNS 
12. N. I. FURSE 13. W. WISH 
14.1. WISH 15. R. LEAR 
16.8. CRAMPTON 17. J0B. F. LIEVR 
* The numerals prefixed to the inscriptions form no part of the original. Mr. Mac- 
Enery, who copied some of these inscriptions, appears to have made a few mistakes. 
Thus, in No. 1, instead of “ Lemaire” he copied “ Lemaine,” and instead of “Colby,” 
“Calley ;? and in No. 4, instead of “Torkinton,” ‘“Torkington.” (See Trans. Devon 
Assoe. vol. iii. p. 275, 1869.) : 
+ The first three lines of No. 3 are within a parallelogram, 4°75 in. X 3:25 in., having 
the date, which seems clearly to belong to it, immediately below. It does not seem easy 
to attach a meaning to the third line. 
t The two last figures of the date in the upper line of No. 4, represented aboye by two 
notes of interrogation within brackets, are illegible. 
§ The characters employed in No. 9 are very peculiar, and are the same for the three 
names, which are close together, and clearly were inscribed at the same time. 
