phesidbnt's address. ' 229 



started for Victoria Cave, the first part of the ascent to which 

 inTolvecI a steep climb over rough roads till we reached a moor- 

 land rougher and steeper still. There- a heavy shower drove us 

 for shelter to a lonely farm outhouse, where we were glad to 

 rest. For a mile, just in front of us, there extended a high range 

 of grey cliffs, probably in glacial times old sea cliffs. The en- 

 trance to the cave, which was in the cliffs, was over a high wall ; 

 then we had to climb at an angle of about 45° a steep bank of 

 rubble, made slippery by the recent rain. Any one accustomed 

 to the sea coast caves of Durham might conclude that the noted 

 Victoria Cave before us was an old sea cave ; but this notion be- 

 ing heretical must be advocated with caution. The favourite 

 theory is that it existed before the Ice period set in, and was the 

 abode of all sorts of Carnivora. This opinion seems to be based 

 on a peculiar view of ancient glacial history. That it was for 

 long the cavern-home of our unfortunate Romano-British ances- 

 tors cannot be doubted, and this fact alone must ever give an 

 intense interest to the spot. "We were prevented by want of 

 proper appliances from penetrating far into the cave. "We peered 

 into its recesses as far as we could, but discovered nothing, and 

 learned nothing that could add to our Club's achievements. Mr. 

 Howse, our indefatigable Secretary, ever-mindful of what the old 

 logicians would have called the '^terminus ad quern" of our visit, 

 lingered long and searched carefully over the mass of debris 

 thrown out from the cave, but no bone of '■^ Homo sapiens," not 

 even a piece of flint or brass, rewarded his labours. We re- 

 treated ignominiously from the cave, and wandered over the bare 

 and weather-worn limestone rock to conveyances which waited 

 on us below. Driving to Malham Tarn we had fine views of 

 the noble Penyghent and other famed hills of the district. The 

 tarn lies on one side of a great peat bog accumulated in a hollow 

 of the limestone. It is open to the south. On the north it is 

 guarded by the lofty mountain fells. Heavy rain prevented us 

 fi-om examining the spot where the water of the tarn disappears 

 in the fissured limestone, only appearing again, after a subterra- 

 nean run of more than a mile, at the base of Malham Cove. 

 There it issues from a wide cavity as a powerful stream, the 



