ON THE EXPLORATION OF THE SETTLE CAVES. 115 



Fourth Report of the Committee, consisting o/Sir John Lubbock^ Bart., 

 Prof. Prestwich, Prof. Busk, Prof. T. M'K. Hughes, Prof. W. 

 Boyd Dawkins, Prof. Miall, Rev. H. W. Crosskey, and Mr. R. 

 H. Tiddeman, appointed for the purpose of assisting in the Explora- 

 tion of the Settle Caves [Victoria Cave). Drawn tip by II. H. 

 Ti DDE MAN, Reporter. 



The Committee have to report that work has been carried on at the Victoria 

 Cave throughout the year, with the exception of the interval from the 24th 

 December, 1875, to January 3rcl, 187G, and that the Settle Local Committee 

 have expended during the year ending August 13th, 1870, the sum of 

 .£90 13s. M., besides the grant of oElOO entrusted to them by the British 

 Association. 



A considerable amount of work has been done in the course of the year in 

 excavating the central chamber A and that wliich lies to the right of it, 

 called D. These, though formerly separate chambers^ are now seen to form 

 one large one. They consisted at first of mere spaces between the roof and 

 the cave deposits, which had not been filled up entirely by the latter, branch- 

 ing off from one another and merely communicating at the bifurcation. 

 From the lowering of the deposits by excavation, thej' now form only one 

 large and long entranee-hall to the remainder of the cavern, and the old 

 line of demarcation can now only be distinguished on the present ceiling by 

 the following circumstance. Chamber A cuts higher into the roof than 

 chamber D, and is marked off from it b)^ a line of joint, along which a thick 

 bed of limestone has fallen down on to the floor in chamber A, but still forms 

 the roof of chamber D. This huge block, which extended a distance of about 

 60 feet, from about Parallel 1-5 to 44, at the extreme end of chamber A, has 

 given us great trouble in the course of the year, partly from its size, and also 

 because, being fissured by cracks here and there and lying on a clayey layer, 

 it was subject to successive slips. Considerable downfalls threatened from 

 time to time, and these had to be anticipated by quarrying it away. The 

 large body of laminated clay which has been described in former reports 

 ended off for the most part against this block towards the north, and must 

 have been deposited against it. This is the mass of laminated clay which 

 overlay the bone-beds containing the older mammals Eleplias anfirpius, 

 Rhinoceros leptorliinns, Hippopotamus, Ilyccna, and others, with Man. 



There can be no doubt now, to whatever agents the formation of that inter- 

 esting deposit be due, that there arc somewhat similar beds also underlying 

 that Pleistocene bone-bed in places. From about 2 feet Parallel 10 as far as 

 present workings inwards at Parallel 30 an exceedinglj' dark, tough, waxy 

 clay lies below that layer. It varies much in thickness, from 7 or 8 feet on 

 the right or east side of the cavern to lesser dimensions towards the west, 

 and eventually loses itself amongst large fallen blocks of limestone on the 

 left. 



A thin layer of stalagmite, varying from 8 inches to a mere film, occurs at 

 the base of the above clay. It is often very fibrous, and in some places it 

 has a distinctly greenish hue. At the suggestion of the Committee, Dr. 

 Marshall Watts kindly analyzed it ; and his report is as follows : — 



" The mineral is as neai'ly as possible pxire Calcium Carbonate. It contains 

 no Phosphoric Acid. Its specific gravity is 2-879 ; that of Calcspar varies 

 from 2-70 to 2-75, and of Arragonite from 2-92 to 3-28, so that for a non- 

 crystalline deposit of stalagmite the agreement is sufhciently close. 



(Signed) \V. M. Waits."' 

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