to Icart Point. 



81 



There is no doubt that the whole cave was filled in every 

 part with pebbles (apparently from the beach below) for small 

 ones, with occasional whole and broken shells, are found adhering 

 to the roof and walls, cemented to them by Secretions of Carbon- 

 ate of Lime, which forms layers and minute stalactites in many 

 parts. The rock forming the roof of the cave is intersected 

 with veins of calcite, and the floor of the gully beneath the 

 cave towards the sea seems to contain a good deal of the sam e 

 material. The members of the society who visited the cave on 

 this occasion ; and nearly all who have seen specimens brought 

 from the place, agree that the conglomerate is a natural for- 

 mation. 



My idea is that ages ago this was the innermost part of a 

 long cave openiug out to the beach, which may have been 

 from ten to twenty feet higher than at present. At this period 

 the back part of the cave was filled with sand and pebbles, 

 as may be seen on the present beach at Moulin Huet, and 

 elsewhere. 



Then a great land-slip took place from the higher cliffs as 

 at the Creux aux Chiens, and thus communication with the 

 sea was destroyed ; perhaps a lifting of the land took place, 

 and during a long period, water percolating from the roof 

 charged with lime from ,the calcite, formed all the conglome- 

 rate, which would be thickest at the roof and along the 

 innermost walls of the cave, especially where a large supply of 

 water tried to force its way through the mass as at the so- 

 called shelves. Gradually the sea would wash away the 

 rubbish which blocked up the entrance, and the cave in its new 

 condition would be exposed to view. The idea of the place 

 having been used as a prison is absurd from the difficulty of 

 access : the supposed walls at the entrance are not in line with 

 each other : and the large masses on the floor in the outer part 

 of the cave may have fallen from the roof. The cave is of great 

 interest geologically, and well repays the risk of visiting it. 



