Guise and Symonds on Belgian Bone-caves. 567 



Challeux — quite a little republic of its own in tMs remote, out-of- 

 the-way spot. It is most pleasingly situated on the banks of the 

 stream, embosomed among trees, and having opposite, bold lime- 

 stone cliffs, in which is a Bone-cave called the cave of ' La Challeux,' 

 which, in the number and variety of the remains it has yielded, is 

 surpassed by none in the valley. Unfortunately, we did not ex- 

 amine this cavern, being hurried on by our guides, and it was not 

 until afterwards that we were made aware of its importance. In 

 less than a mile the carriage came to a halt at the nearest approach- 

 able point to the ' Trou du Frontal ' and the ' Trou des Nutons.' The 

 way lay through a dense, woody jungle, in which all trace of a track 

 was nearly obliterated. These were the first opened, and the ' Trou 

 du Frontal ' received its name from the frontal or forehead bone of a 

 human being, the first which was discov-ered in the course of these 

 important excavations. Having read and translated the original 

 report of Dr. Dupont on these caves, I was especially careful in 

 their examination. The structure of the ' Trou des Nutons ' is par- 

 ticularly well shown. At the base, a river-gravel with rounded drift ; 

 next the ' Lehm,' a fine granular deposit ; then the ' Loess,' con- 

 sisting of stratified sands and clays, the latter of red colour, of so 

 close and compact a structure that they break with a conchoidal 

 fracture, and, when cut or scraped with a knife, exhibit a shining 

 surface. Over all these, and unconformably to them, lie heaped 

 against the side of the mountain a mass of angular debris, doubtless a 

 sub-aerial drift accumulated by the slow action of atmospheric causes, 

 and telling eloquently of the vast lapse of time during which they 

 have, bit by bit, been gathering. 



" In returning, Symonds and some of the party scaled the lime- 

 stone rocks by a precipitous track leading on the summit to the 

 ancient Eoman fortress of Hauteraiscenne, considered by M. Van 

 Beneden to be one of the last strongholds of that people before they 

 were driven across the Ehine. Coins of GaUienus have been found 

 there, which seem to point to the date of its final abandonment. 



"After dinner, Symonds and myself went by appointment to 

 inspect the museum of Dr. Dupont. This collection fills three rooms 

 and is itself such an illustration of primeval man as cannot be 

 paralleled elsewhere, while it bears no less striking testimony to the 

 energy and enthusiasm of the collector, who has himself personally 

 assisted at the disentombing of every specimen. The cave of Challeux, 

 which we unfortunately failed to visit, appears to have yielded the 

 richest results, no less than 34,000 worked flints, the teeth of as 

 many as 40 horses, the bears JJrsus spelceus and arctos, horns of rein- 

 deer, C. tarandus and C. Guettardi, in many cases showmg the marks 

 of human handiwork, bones of badger, fox, goat, water-vole and land- 

 vole, etc., the latter in vast quantities, all of which had been used 

 for food. No human bones were, however, so far as I could learn, 

 found in this cave. But without question the most remarkable object 

 in the collection is the human jaw from the " Trou de la Naulette :" 

 this jaw appears to be more ape-like than any yet attributed to man. 

 Yet to MAN it is decided to belong. The bone of the chin is entirely 



