CAVE EXAMINATION IN HANTS CO., N. S. — PREST. 91 



As a liiiman habitation, even for the lowest savages, it seems 

 to he out of consideration, owing to its snsceptihility to floods, 

 and the limited floor space above the water or mud level. It 

 might, however, have furnished a refuge for a limited number of 

 people for a short time. I therefore dismissed the idea that 

 it had any archseological value in spite of the entertaining 

 stories told about it. 



Five-mile River Cave. — This cave is situated in Hants 

 County on the south bank of the Five-mile Kiver, a western 

 tributary of the Shubenacadie. It is -|th mile south of the 

 Midland railway, the nearest stations being South Maitland 

 (2f miles) and Burton's (2^ miles). The river, green hills, and 

 towering white gypsum cliffs give a wildness and beauty to the 

 surroundings not often seen outside IsTova Scotia. ISTearly half 

 way up the pure Avhite cliffs, is the mouth of the cavern. The 

 mouth is wide and easy of access, being reached by an inclined 

 plane of debris fallen from the cliff. It is, however, being 

 slowly blocked up by rock as the fall of the friable and frost- 

 riven gypsum is yearly adding to the obstruction. The entrance 

 is probably 20 feet wide and 7 or 8 feet high, but the oldest 

 inhabitants tell me that it once was over 20 feet high. The 

 river, which once kept the face of the cliff clear, has long since 

 been diverted to the opposite side of the narrow valley. 



Procuring a guide and a couple of lanterns, I descended 

 the pile of fallen rock at the entrance, and penetrated about 250 

 or 300 feet before lighting the lanterns. Here I stood beneath 

 a vast dome over 150 feet wide and 60 feet high. On the left 

 were several ponds and water-holes, deep and transparent, 

 reaching to the wall. On the right was a slope of broken rock 

 reaching to the right wall and almost to the roof. Proceeding, 

 the lower part of the cave became muddy while the roof became 

 higher and the cave wider. ISTear the first sink-hole it must 

 have been nearly, if not quite 200 feet wide, and the white 

 gypsum roof stretched almost flat, without a support, from one 



