CAVE OF BAUMANS HOHLE. 
117 
preservation also is nearly the same, being less perfect than is usual 
in the other caves of Germany and England. Instead of the ordinary 
white or yellow, they are of a dingy brown colour approaching to 
black; and whilst wet may be readily crushed to a dark earth-like 
powder, which I presume to be the black earth said by many writers 
to abound in this cavern, but of which I could neither here, nor 
in any other cave, excepting that of Kiihloch, near Muggendorf, dis¬ 
cover any further traces, though I looked for it very carefully in every 
direction. The circumstances of this exception are very peculiar, 
and will presently be described. The looseness of the earth in which 
the bones are for the most part embedded, both at Scharzfeld 
and Plymouth, and the comparatively small quantity of stalagmite 
that accompanies them, may explain the cause of their greater 
state of decay than is usual where the mud is more argillaceous, 
or the incrustation of each individual bone with stalagmite more 
complete. 
IV. CAVE OF BAUMANS HOHLE. 
This celebrated and much frequented cave, or suite of caverns, 
has already been described by Leibnitz in his Protegaea. It de¬ 
rived its name from an unfortunate miner, who, in the year 1670, 
ventured alone to explore its recesses in search of ore; and after 
having wandered three days and nights in total solitude and dark¬ 
ness, at length found his way out in a state of such complete exhaus¬ 
tion, that he died almost immediately. It lies in a bed of transition 
limestone at the village of Rubeland, about two miles below the town 
of Elbingrode, on the north-east border of the Hartz, and in the 
