, Reports and Proceedings — Rev. E. Jones— ElboUon Cave. 527 



having been gnawed by other animals ; they either perished in the 

 fissure or their bones were washed down through pot-holes into the 

 cave. The bones from the lower layer are darker, much harder, 

 and less porous than those from the upper one. 



After the meeting of the Association at Leeds the efforts of your 

 Committee were first directed to the careful examination of the 

 lower clay bed in the centre of the chamber. A pot-hole, about 

 10 feet deep and 3 feet in width, was cleared out. This contained 

 a few of the limb bones of a Bear. A great part of the rock floor at 

 the foot of the first ladder was blasted. It consisted apparently of 

 a quantity of rock fallen from the roof and cemented by stalagmite. 

 We were hopeful that underneath it we should find an old deposit. 

 So far, however, it is solid. Further west the excavation was con- 

 tinued, the difficulty of working in the soft adhesive clay increasing. 

 The pei'centage of bones was small, and in the next six feet not 

 a single bone was found. The cave has now developed into a deep 

 fissure, and is from 4 to 6 feet in width at a depth of about 45 feet 

 from the original level of the cave floor. The attention of your 

 Committee was next directed to find any possible entrance to the 

 cave in addition to the present one : the floor was tested along the 

 sides of the cave east of the first ladder, but the miners report that 

 there the ground was all solid rock. 



Between the barren clay section and the second ladder there is a 

 quantity of unexplored material. Huge blocks of fallen rock are 

 wedged in the fissure, and it was found unsafe to remove them as 

 they underpin an immense overhanging side of the cave 60 feet 

 in height. The second ladder was then descended, and a level 

 driven beneath the fallen blocks at a depth of 45 feet from the 

 first floor. For the first 6 feet this level was as ossiferous as any 

 of the material yet examined, and of similar character, containing 

 bones of the Bear and Hare. Beneath was a barren clay, followed 

 by beds of sharp quartz sand, until the level is barred by solid rock. 

 In the descent two or three stalagmitic floors were pierced, but the 

 material continued the same above and below the stalagmite. The 

 new chambers that were opened last year are extensions of this 

 fissure. The miners have put a steel rod 8 feet lower than present 

 level, forcing it through another stalagmitic floor. While the east 

 part of this level is sand, containing no bones, the western part and 

 the passage up to the new chamber is a bi-eciated mass of bones and 

 stalagmite. 



At the further extremity of the new chambers, and about 60 yards 

 from foot of second ladder, there was a deep pool into which the 

 roof dipped. In the floor of the passage leading to the pool a hole 

 8 feet deep was dug. The material was comminuted limestone. 

 Here also bones of young Bears were found. They had evidently 

 been washed down from the first chamber. By means of this ex- 

 cavation the pond was lowered 4 or 5 feet. A ladder was placed 

 across it, and an entrance effected into a further passage leading to 

 a large natural chamber. 



So far the cave has been interesting. What may be entombed iu 



