58 report — 1877. 



took the careful exploration of very small parts of the Cavern, and their Report 

 was entirely confirmatory of the statements of their predecessors — that undoubted 

 flint implements did occur, mixed with the remains of extinct mammals, in the 

 cave-earth, beneath a thick floor of stalagmite. The sceptical position of the 

 authorities in geological science remained unaffected, however, until 1858, when the 

 discovery and systematic exploration of a comparatively small virgin cavern on 

 Windmill Hill, at Brixham, led to a sudden and complete revolution ; for it was 

 seen that whatever were the facts elsewhere, there had undoubtedly been found at 

 Brixham flint implements commingled with remains of the Mammoth and his 

 companions, and in such a way as to render it impossible to doubt that Man occu- 

 pied Devonshire before the extinction of the cave mammals. 



Under the feeling that the statements made by MacEnery and his followers 

 respecting Kent's Hole were perhaps, after all, to be accepted as verities, the British 

 Association, in 18G4, appointed a Committee to make a complete, systematic, and 

 accurate exploration of the Cavern, in which it was known that very extensive 

 portions remained entirely intact. This Committee commenced its labours on 

 28th March, 1865 ; it has been reappointed, year after year, with sufficient grants 

 of money, up to the present time ; the work has gone on continuously throughout 

 the entire thirteen years ; and the result has been, not only a complete confirmation 

 of Mr. MacEnery's statements, but the discovery of far older deposits than he sus- 

 pected — deposits implying great changes of, at least, local geographical conditions ; 

 changes in the fauna of the district ; and yielding evidence of men more ancient and 

 for ruder than even those who made the oldest flint tools found in Kent's Hole 

 prior to the appointment of the Committee. 



The Cavern consists of a series of chambers and passages, which resolve them- 

 selves into two maiaDivisions, extending from nearly north to south in parallel lines, 

 but passing into each other near their extremities, and throwing off branches, occa- 

 sionally of considerable size. 



The successive deposits, in descending order, were : — 



1st, or uppermost. Fragments and blocks of limestone from an ounce to upwards 

 of 100 tous weight each, which had fallen from the roof from time to time, and 

 were in some instances cemented with carbonate of lime. 



2nd. Beneath and between these blocks lay a dark-coloured mud or mould, con- 

 sisting largely of decayed leaves and other vegetable matter. It was from 3 to 12 

 inches thick, and known as the Black Mould. This occupied the entire Eastern 

 Division, with the exception of a small chamber in its south-western end only, but 

 was not found in the other, the remoter, parts of the Cavern. 



3rd. Under this was a Stalagmitic Floor, commonly of granular texture and fre- 

 quently laminated, from less than an inch to fully 5 feet in thickness, and termed 

 the Granular Stalagmite. 



4th. An almost black layer, about i inches thick, composed mainly of small frag- 

 ments of charred wood, and distinguished as the Black Band, occupied an area of 

 about 100 square feet, immediately under the Granular Stalagmite, and, at the 

 nearest point, not more than 32 feet from one of the entrances to the Cavern. No- 

 thing of the kind has occurred elsewhere. 



5th. Immediately under the Granular Stalagmite and the Black Band lay a light 

 red clay, containing usually about 50 per cent, of small angular fragments of lime- 

 stone, and somowhat numerous blocks of the same rock as large as those lying on 

 the Black Mould. In this deposit, known as the Care-earth, many of the stones 

 and bones were, at all depths, invested with thin stalagmitic films. The Cave-earth 

 was of unknown depth near the entrances, where its base had never been reached ; 

 but in the remoter parts of the Cavern it did not usually exceed a foot, and in afew 

 localities it "thinned out " entirely. 



6th. Beneath the Cave-earth there was usually found a Floor of Stalagmite 

 having a crystalline texture, and termed on that account the Crystalline Stalagmite. 

 It was commonly thicker than the Granular Floor, and in one instance but little 

 short of 12 feet. 



7th. Below the whole occurred, so far as is at present known, the oldest of the 

 Cavern deposits. It was composed of subangular and rounded pieces of dark red 

 grit, embedded in a sandy paste of the same colour. Small angular fragments of 



