258 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [Nov. 30, 



I have also identified the skull-bones of nine existing insectivorous 

 Marsupials, and one Bat, all of the size of existing species. There is 

 one thing more in this cave which deserves notice : it is the body of 

 a native which lies in a crevice of one of the inner chambers. The 

 remains are perfectly shrivelled and dry, and the skin, tough like 

 leather, broken through in some places and showing the bones under- 

 neath. It was partially imbedded in stalagmite some time since ; 

 but, having been moved by some settlers, there is no such appearance 

 visible now. At first sight one would imagine the remains to be of 

 great antiquity, but in reality they are very modern. It is only 

 fourteen years since the man died in the spot where his body is now 

 seen. He was shot in a quarrel between the settlers and aborigines, 

 and was known to have crept to the place where he died, in order to 

 escape pursuit. I cannot help thinking that the fact of human 

 remains becoming almost fossilized by being imbedded in stalagmite 

 is rather a valuable one. Dr. Lund, who found some bodies in a 

 similar state in caves in South America, took from that circumstance 

 the idea that the Indian race must have been in America much 

 longer than we supposed. Would not the fact to which I am drawing 

 attention modify the supposition of such immense age ? 



Close to this cave there are two more ; neither of which, as far as I 

 am aware, have ever been examined. One of them is 30 feet deep, and 

 the other 60; and there is no means of descending into them without 

 pulley and ropes, which are not easily procured in the unfrequented 

 part of the Australian bush in which the caves are situated. Next 

 in importance to the above are a series of caves in the vicinity of 

 Mount Shanck, and between that and Mount Gambier. (The two 

 most southerly craters marked on the map.) Some of them do not 

 run very deep, but others have never yet been explored. They all 

 resemble each other in one particular, and that is in the possession 

 of water at a depth varying from 70 to 100 feet, dependent on the 

 height of the eminence upon which they are. One is just like a 

 round hole, about 100 feet in diameter ; and the passage to the 

 bottom is by a winding footpath to the water's edge, 75 feet below 

 the surface. The cave then seems to shelve away to a great depth ; 

 but no more is positively known than that at about 10 feet from the 

 side the soundings are 60 feet. At another cave very near this the 

 descent is very sudden, so that the water stops further progress very 

 near the entrance, and it is so deep as to appear of a deep sea-blue. 

 The cavern is seen to continue in a fine arched passage, high above 

 the water-level, to a distance far beyond what has ever been explored. 

 In a cave at Mount Shanck the water is so deep that no bottom 

 could be found with 120 feet of line. In every one of the above, 

 and in many more that I have not described, the water is beautifully 

 clear, and where deep of a sea-blue. 



At certain seasons of the year (I have been informed) a distinct 

 motion is perceptible ; but I have been only able to verify this in one 

 instance. This was at a short distance from Mount Gambier, where an 

 extensive subterranean passage occurs. The opening to it is narrowand 

 perpendicular, and from above the water is just discernible. Upon one 



