ON Kent's cavern, devonshiue. 7 



Nos. 6 and 10 are in ordinary written cliaracters. 



No. 7 is within a rectilineal figure which has not been completed, or has 

 been obliterated, towards the right. There has been a considerable recent 

 accretion of stalagmite, which has probably obliterated a portion of the 

 enclosing figure and some of the letters there; thus MARTY has perhaps 

 lost a terminal N. 



Not far from the centre of the Chamber a considerable boss of stalagmite 

 rises from the fioor of the same material, having on its sides several badly 

 scratched letters, and the following very well cut inscription in characters 

 about an inch high : — 



ROBERT HEDGES 



OF IRELAND 



FEB. 2 0. 16 88. 



On account of the attention which this inscription has attracted and the 

 name in it, the mass of Stalagmite has been named " The Hedges Boss." 

 It can scarcely be necessary to say that the Committee have left it so far 

 intact as they found it. The earlier explorers had broken the Stalagmitic 

 Floor all around it, and they, or probably some earlier visitors, seem to have 

 contemplated its removal or destruction ; for its apex is broken off, and a hole 

 7 inches deep has been bored into it, no doubt with the intention of blasting 

 it. In basal circumference it measures about 30 feet ; its present mutilated 

 top is about 4 feet high, and the Floor of Granular Stalagmite from which 

 it rises is about a foot thick. It is not possible to believe that Mr. MacEnery 

 countenanced the attempt to destroy the Boss, as he attached much import- 

 ance to the inscription on it, mentioning it at least four times in his ' Cavern 

 Researches.' The effort may, no doubt, be ascribed to an earlier period, 

 when it is stated by a writer in the ' Monthly Magazine ' for June 1805, 

 twenty years prior to Mr. MacEnery's first visit, when the Cavern was open 

 to all comers without let or hindrance, that " attempts have been made to 

 work the stones and spars [in Kent's Hole], but they do not prove orna- 

 mental" *. 



It is not a little strange that though the name " Robert Hedges " is per- 

 fectly legible, Mr. MacEnery not only never so renders it, but actually gives 

 it in three distinct forms; twice he speaks of it as " Robert Hodges "f, 

 once as John Hodgson J, and once as " J. Hodges "§. Nevertheless, his 

 description of it is of great value. " The letters," he says, " are glazed 

 over and partly effaced "||. Again, " The letters in the inscription are over- 

 laid "•[[. In short, the terms he applied to it are still perfectly apposite, and 

 justify the belief that the inscription is as old as it professes to be. The di-ip 

 on it at present is somewhat plentiful iu wet weather, and there is no doubt 

 that calcareous matter is still in course of deposition. Of all the cha- 

 racters, the terminal 8 in the date is probably most in danger of obliteration. 



It was stated in the Tenth Report (1874) that the exploration of the Cave 

 of Inscriptions had been completed up to 16 feet from its entrance, when, the 

 moutb of Clinnick's Gallery being completely exposed, the investigation of 

 the deposits in the latter branch of the Cavern was undertaken. This, as 

 already mentioned, was carried on until December 1st, 1874, when the work 

 in the Cave of Inscriptions was resumed. 



In that portion of this Cave explored in 1 874, the Committee found that there 



* Monthly Magazine, London, vol. xix. p. 435. 



t See 'Trans. Devon. Assoc' vol. iii. (1S69) pp. 275 and 459. t Ibid. p. 314. 



§ Ibid. p. 459. II Ibid. p. 276. •[ Ibid. p. 450. 



