130 PKOF. T. M'KENNY hughes 



abutted against tlie rock south of the opeDing, but was never seen 

 running continuouslj^ into the cave as there drawn. 



1^0 direct continuity between the deposits in the cave and the 

 several beds of drift outside can have been observed. The bone- 

 earth and other cave-deposits and the overlying great angular 

 fragments of limestone were, of course, traced for some feet in front 

 of what was supposed to be the upper entrance of the cave, but these 

 were afterwards found to extend only as far as the cave itself was 

 proved to have originally extended. The upper beds were cut off 

 by the mass of clayey drift (see fig. 6) which was looped down 

 over the upper opening, and fell in soon after the backing of cave- 

 deposits had been removed during the excavations. 



The rock rose to the surface within a short distance above the 

 cave, and the chief percolation of water was through the re-sorted 

 surface material down to the rock, and then along the face of the 

 rock and through fissures in connexion with the cave. The prin- 

 cipal line of drainage was, in later times, at any rate, outward to 

 the north from the upper opening of the cave. As stated above, the 

 water now disappears into a large hole in the lower left-hand corner 

 of the cave, as shown in the sketches (figs. 2, 3, and 4). This hole 

 was proved, by thrusting in a stick to a distance of nearly 6 feet, still 

 in limestone ; but even in June of this droughty year, the cave just 

 within the upper opening was so wet that visitors were advised not 

 to attempt to walk through it. And there is a fall of about two 

 feet to the other and original entrance. Thus it appears that the 

 cave sloped both ways from this swallow-hole. 



The occurrence in the cave-deposits of material which must have 

 been derived from the marine di'ift, such as the flints and granites, 

 proves that the drift is older than the cave-deposits, except on the 

 untenable hypothesis that the cave-deposits were marine, or re-sorted 

 by the sea that broke up stalagmitic floors, dashed great boulders 

 about, but did not sweep away beds of cave-earth full of bones. 



So we must turn elsewhere, and either find along the coast con- 

 ditions in which the sea washes terraced crags without removing the 

 subaerial debris from them, or find some operations of nature 

 tending to modify caves and their contents in such a manner as will 

 explain the difficulties in Cae Gwyn. 



The estuary of the Conway offers the most nearly similar con- 

 ditions to those which must have prevailed in the estuary of the 

 Clwyd during the submergence : if we could imagine the whole of 

 the vale of Clwyd submerged to a depth of some 400 feet ; cliffs of 

 ancient drift being wasted in one place, and the solid rock touched 

 in another ; here banks thrown up which divert the currents, and 

 clay and sand and gravel alternating. Fragmentary shells in exactly 

 the same condition, the same part preserved, and most of them of 

 the very same species as those in the Yale of Clwyd, occur in the 

 shore-deposits of Deganwy. But wander on to where the sea rises 

 and falls across the terraced rock, and stand there while the waves 

 are moved by even such a breeze as would just let you sail a boat, 

 and judge whether any loose subaerial deposit could remain. An- 



