258 LECTURE IX. 



at once suspected the existence of a cave, and having removed 

 a portion of the talus, he came, after a few hours work, to a 

 thin slab of sandstone, placed vertically, which completely, 

 with exception of the hole used by the rabbits, closed the 

 opening, which led to an arched recess containing a number of 

 human bones. Amongst the bones extracted were two entire 

 skulls, which afterwards could not be recovered. The workman 

 talked of his discovery, the curious flocked to the spot, there 

 was great agitation ; and as nothing can be more disagreeable 

 to the Imperial governors than agitation, the mayor of Auri- 

 gnac ordered aU bones to be collected and to be re-interred in 

 the parish cemetery. Had it been a common provincial village 

 mayor who gave such an order, constituting, as it were, a 

 crime against science, we might have pitied his ignorance ; 

 but this undertaker, we are sorry to say, was a doctor of 

 medicine ! In short, the bones were interred after the mayor 

 had ascertained that they belonged to seventeen difierent indi- 

 viduals ; and when Lartet, after the lapse of eight years, visited 

 the place, no man in the whole community could or would 

 inform him where these bones had been interred, so that these 

 relics, so interesting to science, seem lost for ever. 



Besides the human bones were found some teeth of large 

 mammals, distinguished by Lartet as the grinders of the horse 

 and aurochs, canines of the hy^na and cave lion, and fox^s 

 teeth. There were also found small perforated discs, appa- 

 rently made from the shell of a species of cardium, which could 

 be strung together as a necklace. 



When Lartet, in the autumn of 1860, visited the grotto, 

 then only half a meter in height, there was on the floor a layer 

 of loose earth, which contained some human and animal bones, 

 as well as flint implements. This layer extended beyond the 

 arched sepulchre, and it remained doubtful whether the slab 

 of sandstone which served as a door, was fixed or only placed 

 there. At aU events the upper layer was the same within and 

 without the cave, and it is probable that the slab was removed 

 after every burial. From the dimensions of the grotto and 

 the number of bodies, Lartet concluded that they had been 

 placed in a crouching attitude, like the Peruvian mummies. 



