MEN 
others not above one or two; it extends itfelf in length 
about 200 yards. At the farther part of this cavern there 
rifes a good ftream of water, large enough to drive a mill, 
which pafies all along one fide of the cavern, and at length 
Hides down about fix or eight fathoms between the rocks, 
and then, prefling through the clefts of them, difcharges 
itfelf into a valley. This river within the cavern is well 
ftored with eels, and has fome trouts in it, which mull of 
neceffity have been engendered there, and not come from 
without, there being fo great a fall near the entrance. 
In a dry fummer may be feen a number of frogs all along 
the cavern, to the fartheft part of it, and other little ani¬ 
mals in fome fmall citterns of water there. Before arriving 
at the middle of this vault, you find a bed of very fine 
land, which is much ufed by artifts to call metals in. On 
the roof, at certain places, hang multitudes of bats, as 
ufual in all caverns whofe entrance is upon a level, or 
fomewhat afcending or defcending. 
The next cavern of note lies about five miles from this, 
on the fouth-weft part of Mendip-liills, near Chedder. 
From this place you may pafs up a narrow valley about a 
mile in length, being bounded with precipitous rocks on 
the eaft and weft, fome of a very confiderable height. To 
enter into this cavern, before you reach half-way this 
valley, you muft afcend about fifteen fathoms on thofe 
rocks which bound it to the eaft. This cavern is not of fo 
large extent as the former, neither has it any thing pecu¬ 
liar in it. Thefe two caverns have no communication with 
the mines. Phil. Tranj. 16S1. 
At the bottom of a deep ravine on the north-weft fide 
of the Mendip-hills, in Somerfetfhire, near the little vil¬ 
lage of Berrington, four miles north of Axbridge, there 
Jias been difcovered a cavern of confiderable extent, in 
which was found a great collection of human bones. This 
cavern has been defcribed in the Linnaian TranfaCtions 
by Mr. Gibbs, a fellow of that Society. “ As I have ob- 
ferved in this cavern many circumftances which appear 
curious to me, I beg leave to mention them, as I do not 
believe there is another place in the kingdom where the 
different ftages (if I may be avowed the expreflion) of 
bones incorporating with limeftone rocks can be fo well 
feen. From the top and fides there is a continual drip¬ 
ping of water, vi'hich, being loaded with a large quantity 
of calcareous earth, depofits a white kind of pafte on moll: 
parts of the cavern. Many of the bones are incrufted 
with this cement, and a large proportion of them are ac¬ 
tually fixed in the folid rock. I fuppofe therefore that 
this fubftance, which at firft is in aftate refembling mortar, 
by lofing its water hardens into a firm and folid ftone. I 
had an opportunity of examining the procefs in every 
part. Had the cavern not been difcovered, and thefe de- 
pofited fubftances not been removed, I do not doubt that 
the whole excavation would, in no great length of time, 
have been completely filled up. The water was ftill bring¬ 
ing frefli quantities of calcareous earth, and the bones were 
in fome places completely incorporated with the folid 
rock. Every degree of intermediate folidity was plainly 
difcernable. There were feveral nodules of ftone, each 
of which contained a perfeft human Ikull. The fubftance 
which is depofited from the water effervefces with acids, 
and has, in fhort, every character of limeftone. At the 
farther end of this very curious cavern, where the height 
is about fifteen feet, there depends a moft beautiful lta- 
laCtite, perfectly conical, which, when the cavern was 
firft difcovered, reached within an inch of a cone of the 
lame kind which rifes from the floor. By fome accident 
a fmall part of theftalaClite was broken off; but Nature is 
now bufyin repairing an injury which had been done to 
one of the prettieft productions of her mineral kingdom. 
Had thefe two cones met, a moft beautiful column would 
have been formed, of nearly fifteen feet in height. On 
ftriking this ftalaftite, a found is produced fimilar to that 
of a bell, which may be heard at a confiderable diftance 
beyond the mouth of the cavern. I examined the bones 
'with confiderable attention, and I found that there was 
M E N 09 
adhering to the furface of many of them, a fubftance 
w'hich refembled the fpermaceti I have before defcribed 
in the Philofophical Tranfadtions for the years 1794 and 
1795. I have to add, that this cavern was dilcovered 
about the year 1797, by accident; and that no fatisfaftory 
reafon has been given for this fingular accumulation of 
human bones.” Linn. Tranji. vol. v. p. 143. 
Mendip may be called the Alps of Somerfetfhire, qs the 
Peak may of Derbyfhire, and both thefe immenfe re¬ 
markable chains of mountains are extremely alike with 
regard to the materials that compofe them. The rocks 
of the Peak abound with veins of lead and calamine, as 
do thofe of Mendip ; both contain vaft caverns and fub- 
terraneous vaults ; and both conlilt of a fimilar fpecies of 
ftone. The limeftone of Mendip contains various coral- 
loid relics (like that of Derbyfhire) to a certain depth, 
when the miners find it more compaCt, and quite free 
from foffils. Maton's ObJ'ervutions on the Weftern Counties. 
MEN'DLESHAM, a market-town in the county of 
Suffolk, on the road from Needham to Norwich, and 
near the rife of the river Deben. Its market and fair were 
granted in the reign of Edward I. The market, which is 
on Tuefday, is not much frequented, becaufe of its fitua- 
tion in deep miry roads ; but, though this is a poor dirty 
town, it has a handfome church. The fair is on Holy 
Thurfday. In 1758, a gold concave ring was ploughed 
up here, the infcription fuppofed to be in the Runic or 
Sclavonian language ; a fdver crown of confiderable weight 
wasalfodifcovered. Mendlefhamcontainsiofoinhabitants. 
It is twenty-five miles north of Sudbury, and eighty-two 
north-north-eaft of London. Lat. 52.16. N. Ion. 1. 5. E. 
MEN'DLING, a town of Auftria, fituated on a river 
of the fame name : thirteen miles fouth-fouth-eaft of 
Bavarian Waidhoven. 
MEN'DLING, a river of Auftria, which runs into the 
Salza near Reifling in Stiria. 
MELDOCI'NA, a cape of North America, on the coaft 
of New Albion ; off which lie fome rocky iflets and 
funken rocks, about a league from the fliore. This cape 
is rendered remarkable by being the higheft on the fea- 
fhore of this part of New Albion. The mountains be¬ 
hind it are elevated, and break into feparate hills, rifing 
abruptly, and divided by many deep chafms. On both the 
hills and chafms are fome few dwarf trees. The general 
furface exhibits vegetables of a dull green colour, inter- 
fperfed with perpendicular ftrata of red earth or clay. 
Lat. 40. 19. N. Ion. 235. 53. E. 
MENDOLE'IA, a town of Naples, in Calabria Citra: 
three miles weft of Bova. 
MEN'DON, a town of France, in the department of the 
Morbihan : five miles north-weft of Auray, and nine eaft- 
fouth-eaft of l’Orient. 
MEN'DON, a town of the ftate of Maflachufetts: 
thirty-two miles louth-weft of Bolton. 
MENDO'NI, J\ in botany. See GlorioSa, 
MENDO'W, a town of Hindooftan, in Guzerat: thir¬ 
ty-three miles eaft of Amedabad, 
MENDO ZA, ajuril'diftion of Chili, in South America, 
lubjeft to the viceroyalty of Buenos Ayres. It has a 
town of the fame name, which lies on the eaft fide of the 
Cordilleras, about fifty leagues from Santiago. It is 
fituated on a plain, adorned with gardens, and fupplied 
with water by means of canals. The town contains about 
one hundrecl families, half Spaniards and half Indians, 
together with a college founded by the Jefuits, a parochial 
church, and three convents. The jurifdiCtion compre¬ 
hends alfo the towns of St. Juan de la Frontera, on the 
eaft of the Cordilleras, about thirty leagues north of 
Mendoza, and St. Louis de Loyola, about fifty miles eaft 
of Mendoza; the latter is fmall, but has a parifh-church, 
a Dominican convent, and a college founded by the Je¬ 
fuits. Lat. 33. 25. S. Ion. 69,47. W. 
MENDO'ZA, a river which rifes in the Cordilleras of 
the Andes ; over which is a natural bridge of rocks, from 
the vaults of which hang icicles, formed of the water as 
4 it 
