420 
St» Jerome describe many of the Celtic nations, in the first 
century, as being anthropophagi. Be this, however, as it 
may, from the depth at which the various fractured bones 
have been found — in one instance even upon the limestone 
floor of the cave — their interment must date much earlier 
than those just beneath the deposit of charcoal and rubbish 
on the surface, which clearly indicate a residence of consider- 
able duration long subsequent to the former, and conse- 
quently point, if not to two distinct races of men, at least to 
two separate and distant periods of occupancy. Still a proof 
may appear wanting that the bones at the greatest depth 
indicate residence at all, but may have been washed down to 
the lowest part of the cave. The subsequent deposition, how- 
ever, of hard and soft stalagmite and clay is, in my opinion, 
of itself sufficient evidence of the improbability of the above 
supposition; and I have this morning (February 18th, 1864) 
received the results of another exploration, carried on during 
the present week, which is of the most important and conclu- 
sive character, and supplies incontrovertible evidence of the 
correctness of the supposition as to distinct and distant 
residence. In an exjDloration in the west chamber, about four 
yards from the spot where the skeleton of the red deer was 
discovered on the former occasion, and on the same level, a 
slight hollow or grave was disclosed, which had been dug in 
the bed of hard stalagmite, measuring 1 foot long, 8 inches 
in width, and 1^ inches in depth, in which were the remains 
of the skeleton of a child of probably 2 J years of age. It 
was in a very imperfect and fragile condition, arising, doubt- 
less, from the immature condition of the bones ; the teeth are 
good, but the elementary portions of the skull were all 
disunited, and, from the adhesive nature of the bones when 
applied to the tongue, the animal matter has been nearly all 
destroyed. The human bones were covered by a deposit 
of softer stalagmite, 2 feet 6 inches in thickness, in which 
occurred several shells of the helix nemoralis, in a perfect 
