Kent’s hole. 
375 
be called, for his implements of chert and flint have been found 
wherever the stalagmite has been broken through, in intimate 
association with the bones and teeth of the other animals. To 
pass over the implements found by Mr. McEnery, Mr. Grodwin 
Austen, and others, those discovered by the Kent’s Hole Com- 
mittee, up to the year 1867, amount to over 700. They are 
divisible into three classes — mere flakes, lanceolate imple- 
ments pointed at one end and truncated at the other, and oval 
implements, convex on both sides and worked to an edge all 
round the margin.” * The largest specimen of the first class is 
nearly five inches long ; they all belong to the types found in 
such abundance by Messrs. Lartet and Christy, in the Keindeer 
caves of the Dordogne. Near the entrance, indeed, a black 
layer occurred, underneath the stalagmite, that was perfectly 
crammed with ashes and the relics of feasts, which furnished no 
less than 366 implements. A bone piercer also, and a harpoon, 
were found associated with the remains of rhinoceros, hyaena, 
and the other cave mammals. Three other bone implements 
have also been met with — a portion of a highly-finished 
harpoon, with barbs on either side of the axis, a bone pin, and 
a bone needle. In fine, the human implements in Kent’s Hole, 
whether they be chert, flint, or bone, so strongly resemble 
those found in the Keindeer caves of the Dordogne, both in form 
and workmanship, that there can be little doubt of their having 
belonged to savage tribes of precisely the same habits, who lived 
on the chase, and eked out their miserable lives by fishing. 
One of the most remarkable facts, brought to light by Mr. 
McEnery, is the former presence of the sabre-toothed tiger in 
the cave. Its characteristic canines were found associated with 
thousands of the teeth of the horse and the hysena, in a spot 
fat with the sinews and marrow of more wild beasts than would 
have peopled all the menageries in the world.” Kent’s Hole is 
the only place where this fell carnivore is found along with the 
remains of the mammoth, reindeer, and other characteristic 
postglacial mammals. It belongs to an archaic type which 
sprang into existence during the Miocene times in France, 
Germany, and Switzerland, that preyed upon the Hipparion and 
Antelope on the plains of Marathon and on the Indian flanks of 
the Himalayahs — to a type that coexisted with Elephas ineri- 
dionalis and Mastodon, during the Pliocene times in France, 
Germany, Britain, and Italy, and in South America preyed on 
the gigantic Sloths and peculiar Horses of the Brazilian caves. 
We have already mentioned the large masses of stalagmite 
which occur in the cave earth ; they prove indisputably that 
there was a stalagmite floor in the cave before the introduction 
Keport, 18G6, p. 8. 
