Vol. 60.] NEW CAVE AT GIBRALTAR. 33 



the rise and fall of the tide is 3 feet, the level of the water did 

 not seem to be affected by it. 



At point 1, a small vertical cliff, some 30 feet high, is seen. 

 This is the termination of the floor of the upper gallery. It is much 

 undercut on its southern face, which forms the side of the lower 

 gallery, and is evidently the massif of the Kock. This cliff has 

 to be ascended by a ladder. The gallery has some fine stalagmites 

 and stalactites in it, and is 127 feet long, 20 to 25 feet wide, and 

 30 to 35 feet high. There is a narrow and irregular opening, about 

 f) •"> feet long, from this upper gallery to the lower, on the south side 

 of the former. The western end is waterwom, and has no fissure 

 visible : it is now quite dry, there being no drip from the roof. I 

 opened the floor in the bay at the side, and in the centre. I found 

 a thin coating of stalagmite, and at the side some red soil 2 or 

 3 inches deep, and then reached the solid rock. In the centre, 

 below about 6 inches of moist and clayey earth, probably derived 

 from the decomposition of the limestone, there was a layer of 

 coarse and fine calcareous sand and pebbles, 3 to 4 inches deep 

 over the solid rock. There was very little residuum from the sand 

 when I dissolved some of it in hydrochloric acid. The sides of this 

 gallery are not honeycombed in the same way as those of the 

 lower gallery are. The pittings are not so numerous, and have no 

 regularity. 



From point 1, another gallery (if it can be so called) extends 

 eastward. At first the roof is a thin sheet of stalagmite, which 

 gradually curves over, so that in time the entrance would be com- 

 pletely hidden. A few feet inside the entrance the roof is seen to 

 be composed of breccia, the fragments being very firmly cemented 

 together. Some of these fragments are of large size, measuring 

 6 feet by 4 by 2. The floor is of the same formation, and in 

 places the breccia is being covered with stalagmite. It is a rough 

 scramble to get up the slope. Some 90 feet from the entrance 

 the breccia ceases to be visible, and its place is taken by rubble, 

 large and small. This I attribute to constant falls from the 

 roof, which have perhaps been assisted by the blasting operations 

 outside. It was not possible during my several visits to get more 

 than about 135 feet to the eastward. This is, however, manifestly 

 beyond the present eastern face of the Kock, and therefore outside 

 what must have been at one time the main entrance to the cave, 

 which is now blocked by a large accumulation of breccia and rubble. 

 By scrambling down a steep slope to the north, at a point some 

 30 feet from the entrance of this gallery, the original side of the 

 cave can be reached, and on it honeycombing is visible for a distance 

 of 30 feet or so, and is then again buried under the breccia. The 

 highest point of the pitting is about 28 feet above sea-level. This 

 corresponds with the honeycombing that is visible in the lower 

 gallery, and is to be attributed to the same cause. At no place 

 could I find any evidence of the position of the solid rock in the 



Q. J. G. S. No. 237. d 



