1886.] Mr H. Gadow, On some Caves in Portugal. 389 



Gruta pequena. 



The north-western cave, called, as I have already stated, Gruta 

 pequena, because of its narrow entrance, is by far the larger of the 

 two. Its long axis runs from south to north and is, measured in 

 the curve, about 250 ft. long. At its northern extremity it leads 

 out to the slope of the plateau through an opening just large 

 enough to admit a small boy. The base or floor of the whole cave 

 is more or less horizontal, but enormous boulders have fallen down 

 from various parts of the ceiling and have rendered many parts 

 very uneven. It is a characteristic feature of this cave that there 

 are several large ledges of stalagmite and of harder and more solid 

 strata projecting horizontally out from the walls. There seems to 

 have been such a stalagmitic layer, at least one foot in thickness, 

 which once covered the whole of the space between C, D, E, G, H. 

 It is highly improbable that this mighty shell had been broken 

 through by man; it must have been destroyed hy masses of water; 

 the broken pieces have then been removed by men to enable them 

 to get at the soil below to be used for their fields. The action of 

 the water is plainly visible on the side-walls and on the roof of the 

 large dome, M, all the stalactites having fallen down and the stone 

 having a smooth water-worn appearance. 



At B is a narrow entrance, originally only 4 ft. wide and 1 ft. 

 high, closed with a stone slab which about 10 to 15 years ago was 

 removed by the owner and is now used at Querenca to serve as a 

 door to his hen-house. At that time, as he told me, "thousands of 

 cartloads of bats' dung, together with the rich clay soil, were re- 

 moved by the owner as manure for his fields." Between G, E and 

 D the original height of the soil is still visible on the walls, about 

 5 to 7 ft. above the present level. Whilst digging under the protrud- 

 ing stalagmitic ledge near E he found 3 sepulturas, made as he 

 said of cortica (bark of the cork-oak), containing three skeletons, 

 the skulls perfect, even with traces of hair on them, the rest of the 

 bones soft and badly preserved. Although taken to the houses of 

 various peasants, they are now lost. At least I could not ascertain 

 anything definite about their fate, the people being very reluctant 

 to speak on this point. The same applies to " some peculiarly 

 shaped earthenware pots," likewise found there. I do not doubt 

 these accounts, because I heard them independently from various 

 people, and it was only after I had been told about all this by 

 some other peasants that I was able to force some more information 

 out of the owner of the cave. 



We dug near E, following the advice of the owner, but found 

 nothing. On the eastern side, under a similar ledge of stalagmite, at 

 D and C we found several much broken bones of man but certainly 



