THE CAVE. 
153 
1849.] 
formed figures, which 1 have no doubt were the work of 
some travellers who wished to show that they knew how 
the others were executed, and to record the date of their 
i visit. Near some of the higher figures were two or three 
impressions of hands in the same colour, showing the 
palm and all the fingers very distinctly, as if the person 
I executing the upper figures had stood on another’s 
shoulders and supported himself with one hand (smeared 
with the red colour) while he drew with the other. I 
also took copies of the figures at this place, which, being 
large and exposed, are visible from a considerable distance 
I round, and are more generally known than the others, 
I which are in a secluded and out-of-the-way situation, 
' and were probably not visited by any European traveller 
before myself. 
We walked some distance further, to get some water, 
before returning towards the cave. There we found that 
our guides had arrived, and they soon led us up a steep 
path to its mouth, which is so well concealed by trees 
and bushes that our failing to discover it was not to be 
wondered at. The entrance is a rude archway, fifteen 
or twenty feet high ; but what is most curious is a thin 
piece of rock which runs completely across the opening, 
about five feet from the ground, like an irregular flat 
board. This stone has not fallen into its present posi- 
tion, but is a portion of the solid rock harder than the 
rest, so that it has resisted the force which cleared away 
the material above and below it. Inside there is a large 
irregularly arched chamber, with a smooth sandy floor, 
and at the end there are openings into other chambers ; 
but as we had not brought candles we could not explore 
