APPENDIX. 



387 



France, November, 1831. The opening of the cavern is situated on 

 the steep declivity of a rock of magnesian limestone, subordinate to 

 lias ; it is about 27 feet in height, and 13 feet in breadth. The floor 

 of the cavern, at some distance from the entrance, rises so rapidly to 

 the roof, that it is difficult to stand upon it. The soil is composed of 

 dolomitic sand, more or less intermixed with a greasy mud, and cov- 

 ered, in some parts, with stalagmite. About 170 feet from the en- 

 trance, on the lower part of the ascending floor, under a bed of sandy 

 mud from eight to sixteen inches thick, human bones are found in 

 abundance : they are very fragile and light, and intermixed with frag- 

 ments of pottery. The grotto divides into several low tunnels (hoyaux.) 

 M. Tessier crawled along some of these descending tunnels, and found 

 numerous bones of bears intermixed with those of men and infants, 

 among dolomitic sand. But the most remarkable circumstance he 

 mentions is, that bones of bears are incrusted with mud, and attached 

 to the roof of the cavern. This proves that the cavern had been filled 

 with bone mud (Union d ossemens) by the violent action of water, 

 otherwise the bones of bears that inhabited the cavern would all have 

 been found at the bottom. It is most probable that the cavern was 

 originally inhabited by bears, and afterwards inundated by mud and 

 water; that, at a later epoch, it became the residence or sepulchre of 

 a rude people ; but was subjected to a second inundation, which drift- 

 ed the bones of bears and men into the distant low passages. At a 

 still later period, the cavern had been occasionally used for a sepul- 

 chre by the Romans, as a skeleton, with a lamp and bracelets, were 

 discovered on the surface of the floor. M. Tessier says, that the river 

 Gardon, before it had excavated its present deep bed, might have oc- 

 casionally caused great inundations, which filled the cavern with wa- 

 ter. Whatever theory may be adopted respecting the former inhabit- 

 ants of the cavern of Miallet, the bones attached to the roof prove the 

 agency of water, and sufficiently explain the cause by which the re- 

 mains of bears and men may have been intermixed. 



