12 R. H. Tiddeman — The Victoria Cave, Settle. 



[i.y The debris at the entrance consists of a loose angular talus of 

 Limestone, which at the surface has some clay and vegetable mould 

 included in it, but lower down it is very clean. It is without doubt 

 derived from the rocks above by the frosts of successive winters. 

 It is a point worthy of notice, however, that though for the most part 

 made up of loose, small, independent fragments, in many places you 

 may see, on looking more closely, that very large blocks have fallen 

 and become disintegrated by or after their fall, and their component 

 pieces, although separated by chinks, are still lying in their relative 

 positions. This shows that the rate of accumulation at any one spot 

 is very irregular, and that any calculations with regard to absolute, 

 or indeed relative, time, based upon the thickness of the debris, are 

 very far from being infallible, especially where it is thin. 



(ii.) The debris graduates below at the entrance almost imper- 

 ceptibly into a yellowish-brown clay, with angular fragments of 

 Limestone. This extends, so far as we can tell, over the whole Cave, 

 but is thinnest near the entrance. In a shaft sunk to the depth of 

 25 feet at the junction of Chamber B. with Chamber A. this bed was 

 6 feet thick; and in a 13 foot shaft at the end of Chamber B. it shows 

 a thickness of 10 feet, and is possibly greater. In the 25 foot shaft 

 it contained a good deal of stalagmite, which was very soft and 

 rotten ; three beds, much harder, which had to be blasted, occurred 

 in it in the 13 foot shaft. Very massive blocks of Limestone lie on 

 its surface in several places, but more particularly at the further end 

 of the Central Chamber (A.), where the form of their upper surface 

 corresponds to that of the roof, and shows that they have simply 

 fallen from above. But large and small masses of Limestone occur 

 throughout its whole thickness. The fragments are nearly all 

 angular, and do not show any signs of rolling nor of glacial 

 scratches. 



(iii.) Next below this iTj>per Cave-earth wherever penetrated, we 

 come to a thick bed of fine dark-brown and yellow laminated clay. 

 The laminations are very distinct, tolerably regular, and for the most 

 part very thin ; and the clay, when pulled asunder, flakes off along 

 the planes of bedding, the alternations consisting of excessively fine 

 sand and tenacious clay. In section it has much the appearance of 

 streaky gutta-percha. With acid it effervesces freely, about 8 per 

 cent, of its weight being dissolved. This laminated clay is at the 

 surface near the entrance of the Cave, but dips steadily, though not 

 regularly, towards the inner part. It was well seen in two shafts 

 sunk in Chamber A., in both of which it dips to the right towards 

 Chamber D., and appears to underlie the whole of that chamber. On 

 the left it dips towards and into Chamber B., and was ascertained 

 by Mr. Jackson, the superintendent, to have there an inclination of 

 1 in 9, rather more than 6°. It shows a thickness of 12 feet in the 

 25 foot shaft, the lowest, 12 inches, consisting entirely of a pure 

 yellow clay. The last foot and a half of the 13 foot shaft was in clay, 



^ Although the upper portion of this is necessarily recent, it has probably been 

 forming ever since the Glacial Period, and therefore deserves to be classed with " The 

 Older Deposits." 



