NOTE ON OLIVEU’S (!AVE. 
173 
The lower end of this sloping passage is filled with water 
(I), which bars any further progress in the cave. This sloping 
well of water was sounded with a pole, but no bottom was found. 
The water in the well was found to stand at the level of the 
alluvial deposit which fills the valley of Simond’s brook at this 
point, and in the alluvium opposite the site of the cave is a weak 
spring, supposed to mark the discharge of the cave drainage. 
Though there are several small passages leading out from the 
sides of the cave, none of these were large enough for exploration, 
and they seem to mark points where contributory streams may 
have entered the cave. 
A partial examination was made of the loam which occurs at 
two points on the floor of the cave, for remains of man or of 
animal occupancy. Nothing was discovered to show that 
aboriginal man had ever used this cave for residence or sepulture. 
Nor does it seem to have been much resorted to by beasts of 
prey ; some bones of a lamb were found, whose presence 
in the cave may have been due to this cause; and the thigh bone 
of a porcupine (Hystrix dorsata) was also met with. Had a 
skeleton of this animal been found, it would not have been sur- 
prising, as this creature is in the habit of resorting to caves and 
clefts of the rocks. 
Origin of the Cave. 
The origin of this cave goes back to an early period of Geo- 
logical history, since the topography of the neighborhood has 
been greatly changed since the cave was formed. The cave is 
evidently an old water passage, worn by a strong current. That 
it is an old water-course is specially shown by the tunnel and 
well at its lower end. But now, except for this well, the cave 
is quite dry, and no water from a distant source flows through it. 
A shallow valley coming westward from the direction of Dark 
lake (a small pond a few hundred yards away) runs by the 
mouth of the cave, but this valley is also dry, and it is necessary 
to postulate a barrier in this valley west of the cave’s mouth, to 
