3 REPORT— 1876. 



H E. Roscoe and W. C. Williamscn, and Messrs. A. S. Bicknell, G. E. 

 Bicknell, H. C. Browne, J. L. Budgett, T. Budgett, G. Cheney, A. H. Clerk, 

 E. Conway, W. W. Crowfoot, C. D. Engelhart (Stockholm), A. E. Fletcher, 

 W. Francis, H. Green, C. Hart, H. Hayes, P. Hickson, S. J. Hickson, T. A. 

 Hickson, E. Howard, A. D. Jessup (U. S. A.), A. J. Jones, E. C. Lang, C. J. 

 Lilly C Pannel, G. Pycroft, N. F. Eoberts, E. G. Stone, E. C. Tancock, 

 E. H. Tiddeman, W. A. Trail, F. F. Tuckett, A. M. TurnbuU (Natal), P. S. 

 Wilkinson, E. W. Williamson, J. E. Wolfe, G. WoUen, and a large number 

 of ladies. The Cavern has also been visited by numerous persons who have 

 been attended by the " Guid*e," i. e. the foreman of the work, under arrange- 

 ments laid down by the Superintendents. 



The Great Overu — Your Committee stated last year that on the 27th of July, 

 1875 (five days before their Eleventh Eeport was drawn up), they began the 

 exploration of the small passage or tunnel known as " The Great Oven," 

 which connects with one another " The Cave of Inscriptions " and " The 

 Bear's Den," the two remotest chambers of the Cavern. The Great Oven may 

 be said to consist of three Beaches, the Eastern, Central, and Western, all of 

 them, and especially the Central, being very contracted in height and width. 

 The Western Eeach (the only one which has been explored) extends tortuously, 

 from its commencement in the south-west corner of the Cave of Inscriptions 

 towards E.S.E., for a distance of 58 feet, where it is succeeded by the Central 

 Eeach, and throws oft' two branches, one in a northerly and the other in a 

 southerly direction. At its mouth, or junction with the Cave of Inscriptions, 

 it is 8 feet high from the limestone roof to the bottom of the usual four-feet 

 excavation made by the Committee. Its width is commonly about 4 feet ; 

 but at one point it contracts to 3 feet, and at another expands to 7 feet. 

 Throughout its entire length, and especially at and near the entrance, the 

 roof and walls have the aspect of a well-worn watercourse. A few small 

 lateral ramifications open out of the walls, almost all of them being quite 

 empty and well worn by the action of flowing water. How far they extend 

 cannot be determined, as they are too narrow for investigation. 



In the Western Eeach of the Great Oven there was no continuous Floor of 

 Stalagmite, though here and there portions of such a floor, perhaps never 

 continuous, adhered to and projected from the walls ; and pieces of stalagmite, 

 as well as detached " Paps " of the same material, occurred in the deposit 

 below. There was no reason to suppose that earlier explorers had ever 

 worked in this branch of the Cavern. 



As in the adjacent chambers and galleries, the deposits consisted of a thin 

 layer of " Cave-earth " above, and "Breccia" below ; and throughout the Eeach 

 the one lay immediately on the other, without any intermediate Crystalline 

 Stalagmite, such as occurs in typical sections. At the entrance, and up to 

 34 feet from it, the usual four-feet sections failed to reach the bottom of tho 

 Breccia, so that its depth is undetei mined; but at the point just named, 

 the limestone floor was found at a depth of 3"5 feet below the upper siirface 

 of the Cave-earth ; and thence to the inner end of the Eeach the floor was 

 found everywhere at a depth of 4 feet at most, and frequently at but little 

 more than 2 feet, thus displaying a continuous Limestone Floor for a length 

 of 24 feet — a fact without a parallel in the history of the exploration. At the 

 innermost end the height of the Eeach was 8*5 feet, from Limestone Eoof to 

 Limestone Floor. The upper surface of the Cave-eaith was an irregularly 

 inclined plane, ascending 8 feet from the entrance inwards, or rising at a 

 mean gradient of about 1 in 7 ; whilst the Limestone Floor was inclined in the 

 same direction at a higher mean gradient and with still greater irregulai'ity. 



