142 report — 1879. 



Indeed, the workmen had to dislodge one large mass of rock which 

 appeared very insecure and threatened to fall. 



The mechanical deposit found in the High Chamber was exclusively 

 Breccia, the oldest the Cavern has yielded. It was covered with the 

 crystalline, or most ancient, Stalagmite over a considerable area (see 

 Report, British Association, 1878, p. 128), but elsewhere it lay immedi- 

 ately beneath the large masses of limestone already mentioned or was 

 without covering of any kind. Its upper surface, ascending continuously 

 from the entrance of the Chamber, reached near the inner end a level 

 about 7 feet above that of the Breccia in the adjacent Cave of Inscrip- 

 tions. From this point it rose at a comparatively steep gradient over a 

 series of limestone terraces or steps, and beneath a well-defined sheet of 

 Stalagmite, until it reached the roof, where the two deposits occupied 

 and completely filled a ' swallow hole ' in the north-western corner of the 

 Chamber. 



After the Fourteenth Report was drawn the High Chamber yielded 

 forty-one ' finds,' of which sixteen were either lying on the surface 

 without any covering or were within a foot of it ; four were in the second 

 foot-level below the surface ; eight in the third foot-level ; and thirteen in 

 the fourth, the lowest excavated. Eight of the ' finds ' consisted of arti- 

 ficial objects only, whilst the remaining thirty- three were almost exclu- 

 sively relics of mammals, and included thirty teeth of bear and one of 

 fox, together with a considerable number of bones and pieces of bone. 



At least some of the objects lying on the surface had no claim what- 

 ever to antiquity. Thus, on September 23, 1878, there were found 

 (' find ' No. 7,214) on the exposed surface of the Breccia, where it con- 

 tained an unusual amount of very fine sand, a large number of quill-like 

 tubes of stalactite, and with them a portion of the stem of a clay tobacco- 

 pipe. The whole, including the sand on which they lay, had the appear- 

 ance of having been washed to the spot they occupied, probably during a 

 period of protracted and heavy rains, when the drip from the roof would 

 be unusually copious. 



Again, on October 22, 1878, a one-bladed penknife ('find' 7,222) 

 was met with on the unprotected surface of the Breccia, without any 

 object of interest near it. 



The presence of these recent articles is in no way surprising, and 

 presents no chronological difficulty, as there was nothing to prevent an 

 adventurous visitor from reaching the spots where they were found ; and 

 it cannot be doubted that some such person lost the penknife, and that a 

 smoker threw away a portion of the tobacco-pipe he had unfortunately 

 broken. 



Many of the teeth of bear occupied jaws or portions of jaws. They 

 were most prevalent in the lowest level ; there being four specimens in 

 the uppermost or first foot-level ; five in the second ; four in the third ; 

 and seventeen in the fourth or lowest. Though many of them were fine 

 specimens, none call for detailed description or special remark. It may 

 suffice to direct attention to the ' find ' No. 7,245, met with on Novem- 

 ber 13, 1878, in the first foot-level, and consisting of an almost entire 

 right lower jaw of Bear, a portion of a left lower jaw, also of Bear, and 

 one bone. The right jaw contained the canine tooth only, and appears 

 to have been crushed after its deposition. The fragment of left jaw was 

 that of an immature animal, and contained one molar. 



The artificial objects met with, in addition to the stem of tobacco-pipe 



