Hollick: Housman's Cave 71 



The hill is composed of soapstone or serpentinoid rock and 

 where the cave is located the jointing is strikingly conspicuous. 

 Evidently excavation was made comparatively easy by taking ad- 

 vantage of this natural feature and as a result the sides and roof 

 present even surfaces with sharply defined comers where the joint 

 planes intersect, giving the appearance of having been carefully 

 cut or blocked out. The rock is somewhat more dense and dark 

 in color than is characteristic of the surface rock in general 

 throughout the region, but otherwise it is no different in its char- 

 acters, and there is no apparent reason why this particular outcrop 

 should have been selected as possibly gold-bearing. 



