202 REPORT— 1873. 



pletelj filled np the space beneath the Bridge, and was neither discovered nor 

 discoverable until the workmen had advanced 11 feet in the difficult work of 

 reopening this passage. 



At the entrance of the Arcade, the Granular Stalagmitic Floor was con- 

 tinuous in every direction for considerable distances. At the right or 

 northerly wall its thickness exceeded that hitherto found in any other part of 

 the cavern, measuring fully 5 feet for a length of about 8 yards ; but at the 

 opposite wall it was very rarely more than 2 feet thick. Beyond the point 

 just specified it became gradually thinner, disappearing entirely at 37 feet 

 from it on the right wall, but extending somewhat further on the left. Still 

 further in, such floor as ever existed appears to have been but thin and occa- 

 sional only, until reaching the Bridge, where it appeared again in considerable 

 volume*. Almost immediately bej^ond this, there rose from the Stalagmitic 

 Floor a large boss of the same material, in the form of a paraboloid, 2 feet 

 high and 6 feet in basal circumference. As it* bore no inscription, and was 

 in the direct line of the work, it was dislodged and broken up, when it was 

 found to consist of pure stalagmite without any extraneous substance. In 

 the earthy deposit adhering to its base were one tooth of bear, a fragment of 

 bone, a ball of coprolite, and a few bits of charcoal. Not far beyond it, but 

 near the right wall of the Arcade, a much larger boss presented itself, having 

 near its summit the inscription " R. L. (or E.) 1604." The mass has been so 

 mutilated by early visitors as to render it uncertain whether the remaining 

 part of the second letter is the lower portion of L or E. The date, however, 

 which is quite distinct, and appears not to have been noticed prior to June 6, 

 1873, is the oldest at present known in the cavern, though there are several 

 others of the seventeenth century. In excavating, care was taken to leave 

 the mass, as well as the deposit on which it was formed, intact and undis- 

 turbed. 



The only objects found in the Granular Stalagmitic Floor, in the Arcade, 

 since the Eighth Report was sent in, were a tooth of Hysena, a few bones 

 and bone chips, a " charcoal streak " about 3 inches above the base of 

 the floor, where its total thickness was 42 inches at one end and 10 at the 

 other, a few pieces of charcoal, and a flint tool. The tool (No. 5990) is of 

 very white flint, having, as shown by an accidental fracture, a very chalk-like 

 texture. It may be described as a hammer-like " core," broad at one end, 

 round-pointed at the other, and formed by several flakes having been struck 

 from the original nodule. Its pointed end shows that it has been used as a 

 hammer. It is 3-2 inches long, 2 inches in greatest breadth, 1*7 inch in 

 greatest thickness, and was found August 19, 1872. 



As already stated, remnants of the old (the Crystalline) Stalagmitic Floor 

 occurred in situ in various parts of the Arcade, all attached to the right or 

 northerly wall, and above the level of the Granular Floor. The first of them, 

 about 60 feet within the entrance and 6 inches thick, had between it and the 

 Granular Floor an unoccupied space of 15 inches in height. The second, 

 20 feet further up the Arcade, was a very large mass displaying strikingly 

 the characteristic prismatic crystalline structure ; it has suffered much at the 

 hands of visitors ; and on one of its fractured surfaces is the date 1836. The 



* It is worthy of remark that at the entrance of the Arcade, where the Stalagmitic Floor 

 is so very tliick, the drip of water from the roof is at present very copious in rainy 

 seasons, and commences within a few hours of a great rainfall ; whilst those parts of the 

 same branch of the cavern where there does not seem to have ever been any stalagmite 

 are perfectly dry at all times and seasons. 



