on kent'b cavern, Devonshire: • 



of 2 foot, where it was least. When found, however, it was in two parts, 

 having been divided along an almost horizontal plane where it was thinnest. 

 Each of the segments stood perfectly erect, but not one on the other ; for 

 though the bottom of the upper segment was on precisely the same level as 

 the top of the lower, the upper portion had been moved towards the right, or 

 west, to tho extent of 15 inches horizontally, and stood there on the Breccia. 

 In other words, the pillar had been " faulted," so to speak, about 5 inches 

 more than its thickness. It cannot be doubted that when the dislocation 

 occurred the pillar had reached its full height, and the Breccia had accumu- 

 lated round it to the height of 2 feet — that is, it had reached the level of the 

 plane of fracture. It is difficult to see how, by any possibility, the deposit 

 could at that time have reached a greater height, and difficult also to under- 

 stand how any thing other than human hands could have shifted the upper 

 segment of the pillar and placed it so as to preserve its erect position. On 

 the other hand, it is just as difficult to see what motive man could have had 

 for such a work. The whole pillar, when found, was completely buried in 

 the Breccia, and the top of tho upper segment was about a foot below the 

 bottom of the thick remnant of the Stalagmitic Floor, which Mr. MacEnery 

 had left intact, and which contained no cracks of any kind. 



Rats still continue to follow the workmen into the Cavern. The foreman, 

 George Smerdon, whose special work is that of excavating the deposits, uses 

 a lump of clay, but little, if at all, less than 2 lbs. in weight, as his candle- 

 stick ; and when ho leaves work he removes the candle and places it in a 

 box lest it should be carried off by rats, a precaution which experience has 

 taught him to be necessary ; but the lump of clay, which, it is needless to 

 say, is more or less covered with candle-grease, he leaves to its fate. During 

 the latter end of February and beginning of March 1877 he observed 

 every morning that, not only had the candle-grease been removed during 

 the nigh,t, but almost half of the clay (that is, nearly a pound in weight) 

 had disappeared also, as if it had formed a part of the meal of the depredator 

 or depredators. Having observed no rats for some time, he was inclined 

 to ascribe the work to bats, of which he had frequently seen several flying 

 about. On Saturday, 10th March, however, seeing a rat crossing tho Bear's 

 Den, he at once prepared a gin for it, and when he next entered the 

 Den he found the rat was caught. 



The Tortuous Gallery. — As soon as tho work in the Bear's Den was 

 completed, the exploration of a narrow passage opening out of its southern 

 end, and termed " The Tortuous Gallery," was begun. At and near the 

 entrance this Gallery is from 13 to 15 feet high ; but at 11 feet from tho 

 Bear's Den a second, or branch, Gallery presents itself, almost immediately 

 above it, the two being divided by a continuous sheet of limestone, forming 

 the floor of one and the ceiling of the other. The branch extends, with 

 some irregularities of direction, towards the south-cast for a distance of 

 30 feet, where it becomes too narrow for a man to pass. Immediately 

 beyond this point it is seen to be somewhat broader, but its further character 

 and length are unknown. At tho entrance, where its dimensions are 

 greatest, it is 7 feet high and 3 feet broad. Throughout its entire accessible 

 length its walls and roof have .strongly marked indications of the action 

 of water. With the exception of a few largo blocks of limestone, it was 

 entirely empty. 



The principal gallery, "The Tortuous Gallery"' proper, after throwing off 

 a second and lower branch towards the west, turns sharply towards the 



